Here, we can smell endings from miles away. Wood fences damp from the thick night air of May, freshly transplanted flowers, the cooking plastic of huge tents in the sun and fresh mulch and manure spread ironically to impress alumni perfume our final days.
The announced plans for a reopened Campus Club are encouraging. As it stands, the club will provide several social venues that are in short supply elsewhere on campus.
Two months ago, I wrote a column about how the University evaded much of its state-mandated obligation to provide affordable housing. Vice President and Secretary Robert Durkee '69 promptly replied to the column in a letter published on this page.I respond to Durkee today not to get in the last word ? he has been at Princeton for 40 years and will always have the last word on all things Princeton ? but because his letter encapsulates some of what has disappointed me most about the University over the past four years.
Helpful eating tipsRegarding 'Wash your hands clean' (Thursday, April 28, 2007):I commend The Daily Princetonian for running this piece criticizing something we take for granted everyday and seldom question: food.
This is the end. It was the deal since the beginning ? nine months at Princeton University.
Something's missing at Princeton: Something so important, so central to the whole undertaking that its absence is astonishing.
Now that theses are in and Houseparties are over, many seniors are reflecting on their times at Princeton.
The stated mission of the Major Choices initiative is "to encourage undergraduates to be imaginative and open-minded about their choices and to take the fullest advantage of the many intellectual opportunities available to them at Princeton." In order to achieve this goal, the program prints a booklet each year and gives it to undergraduates.
There's something liberating about knowing that your parents are 3,000 miles away. I never understood the people who drank in their basements in high school or had sex while their parents were in the next room.
Last week, the University announced plans to add a program in South Asian studies. Following faculty approval on May 14, students will be able to receive a certificate in that area of study.
The author, David Smart, of the May 9 column, "Not nearly enough," in The Daily Princetonian has his facts quite wrong.For example, in raising questions about the Wilson School's commitment to encouraging government service among its students, particularly undergraduates, Smart inaccurately states that the Robertson Foundation "funds much of the Wilson School's budget." The Foundation only supports the Wilson School's graduate program ? no Robertson Foundation funds are used to support the undergraduate program's operating budget or career services functions.This is an important distinction.
The Robertson Foundation, which funds much of the Wilson School's (WWS) budget, has two complaints concerning the management of their funds: First, their money was wrongly diverted to endeavors involving departments outside of the Wilson School, and secondly, too few graduate students are entering the public sector after graduation.
Comments on KhalidiRegarding 'Khalidi: Constraints on Palestine fueled conflict' (Monday, April 23, 2007):Rashid Khalidi's comments are highly selective and omissive.
During the past academic year, I have written 14 columns for The Daily Princetonian, some of which I am proud and some of which I would change if I could.
During the great Nor'easter of April 2007 (exactly three weeks ago!), there was a flurry of Public Safety announcements to the effect that "nonessential personnel" could stay home rather than face multi-hour commutes over flooded roads.Naturally one wonders, "Am I essential or could they do without me?" That was never spelled out for faculty, and cynics could argue it either way, but at least indirectly one of the messages appeared to answer the question: "The academic schedule is operating as normal." Unlike students, who clearly need not be present for classes, faculty must be.But who are the real "essential personnel"? In various ways, we all are ? the place wouldn't be the same without us ? but let me put in a special plug for a group that is often pretty much invisible and whose contributions are easily overlooked.Think for a moment about the building services people who keep things running, often very early in the morning, probably for modest pay and zero recognition, if indeed they are even noticed as we go about our business.
