Opinion

Rethinking Bicker from the inside

Rethinking Bicker from the inside

For the past two years, I have been a member of one of Princeton's Bicker eating clubs, including a year spent as an officer and a resident.As I near graduation and reflect on my undergraduate experience, I regret the role I've played in perpetuating Bicker and urge Princetonians to work toward ending this frighteningly well-organized system of social exclusion.I value deeply my friendships with fellow members, and many of my happiest memories from Princeton emerge from club activities.

OPINION | 05/11/2004

Drafting Princeton

For over a year now, America has been engaged in a protracted war in Iraq. But here at Princeton, that battlefront between terrorism and democratic ideals feel as distant and remote as it is geographically.Sure, when we choose to, we hear about the casualties in Baghdad, the insurgency in Fallujah and the battles in Basra, but we also have the luxury to ignore it, turn away from the chaos that is Iraq and seclude back to the safe comforts of friends, books, and papers.

OPINION | 05/11/2004

Pro staff deserve better sick leave

Regarding 'CPUC focuses on health task force report' (May 5):I would like to reiterate some of the points made my colleague, Pat Gibney, at last Monday's CPUC meeting about the sick leave policy for professional Research, Technical and Library staffs that were not included in the article.Professional staff members hired before 1997 understood that sick leave was on a par with that of the faculty, governed by an unwritten policy that did not limit the number of sick days.

OPINION | 05/11/2004

The Middle East in Morgantown

My assignment this reading period was to write an essay about what's going wrong in the Middle East.

OPINION | 05/09/2004

Jeunesse dorée

The late spring on campus, with its fragrant verdure, its tidal wave of pressured work, and its round of special ceremonies and parties, becomes ever more poignant as I approach retirement.Houseparties time is particularly bittersweet.

OPINION | 05/09/2004

Can't understand the preceptor, eh?

Ask anyone about his thoughts on the precept system and you will be sure to get an earful. For my part, I have precepted three undergraduate courses over the years.

OPINION | 05/09/2004

The first Freddys

Sure, awards given out on Class Day and accolades like valedictorian are all well and good, but let's be serious: You're not getting those and neither am I, so who really cares?Seniors, I have complied a list of the winners of a new award called the Freddys, in honor of the man who let us into this fine school.

OPINION | 05/06/2004

Snippets of Princeton future

In collaboration with the physics department, the 'Prince' has obtained a copy of the Princeton Review's "Insider's Guide to the Colleges," 2010 Edition.

OPINION | 05/06/2004

A worthwhile education

As much as I would love to write my final column about the moral obligations of those who leave the gate this June, I will not.Anyway, I feel that charity is something that has to come from one's own heart, not from the writings of some amateur columnist.Another part of me, yet, wants to write about the grandiose Princeton edifices, traditions and mores that I will surely miss ? but here I will heed the advice of one of my roommates who criticizes the "over-nostalgic" tone of my columns.

OPINION | 05/06/2004

Keeping competition in check

The fast pace of modern life often requires lunch on-the-go, if it isn't skipped altogether, and attaches an agenda to every hour of the day.

OPINION | 05/04/2004

Anonymous charges can't be trusted

When Chanakya Sethi interviewed me for a story in the 'Prince' ('Isenberg case reveals discord, controversy', March 29), I talked to him about the secrecy of the tenure process here.

OPINION | 05/04/2004

Group coordination

There is always something happening on campus. On any given weekday, the Princeton campus is inundated with high-profile guest speakers, study breaks, and movie screenings.

OPINION | 05/04/2004

Cato and I

My last column but one, 'A Plan's Pitfalls,' generated a large correspondence that elicited from me promises to follow up on the great grade-inflation "debate." So even though it is old news, here it is.I don't pretend to have too many lines from Lucan off by heart, but one I know for certain: "Victrix causa deis placuit, sed victa Catoni." This is a line remembered in various second-rate musical, dramatic, and visual monuments of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and inscribed on the tombstones of various Romantic Big Losers of the same eras ? including, I believe, that of General Robert E.

OPINION | 05/02/2004

Hope abounds on the world stage

Looking at the world stage these days one can be forgiven for getting a tad depressed. Escalating global tensions, the chaos of Iraq, unprecedented antipathy towards America, rising Muslim fundamentalism, increasing partisan polarization and bitterness at home, the list goes on and on.

OPINION | 05/02/2004

'Prince' article insensitive to Christian readers

Regarding 'The art of pregaming before Houseparties' (Street, April 29):I found this article both disappointing and offensive.

OPINION | 05/02/2004

The next big vote

The big story this week was grade inflation, writ large in contraband photos on the front page of the 'Prince' and angry students talking about how the University ignored them.Meanwhile, a smaller story was unfolding.

OPINION | 04/29/2004

Students aren't alone in appreciating Deignan

Regarding 'Deignan's dedication to Princeton is unparalleled' (Letter, April 29):It is pleasing to read a defense of Kathleen Deignan, dean of undergraduate students, by one of the most thoughtful students I have had the privilege to teach here at Princeton, former USG president Joe Kochan '02.

OPINION | 04/29/2004

Rooting for Mathefeller

If you had been in the East Room of Murray-Dodge this past Monday at four, you would have been privy to an amusing example of the absurdities that can follow from rigid application of academic rules.

OPINION | 04/29/2004

Easy labs do little to educate

On Tuesday, a Harvard committee of students, faculty and administrators, concluded that in the future students would be expected to study abroad and take more science classes in an effort to adapt the University curriculum to the 21st Century.While study abroad programs are quickly become the new academic "must" for the university student, an idea slowly becoming embraced by the Princeton community, what is more surprising is the intended increase in the number of science classes required for graduation.The committee said that every student should be "educated in the sciences in a manner that is a as deep and broadly shared as has traditionally been the case in the humanities and social sciences." Students should be able to "understand the news and expository articles in journals such as Science and Nature."As Harvard President Lawrence Summers told the New York Times, "an educational culture where it's an embarrassment to not know the names of five plays by Shakespeare but OK not to know the difference between a gene and a chromosome isn't functional."While I agree that there should be an increased scientific awareness an undergraduate student body, from my experience at Princeton, I question Harvard's conclusion that broad-based survey science courses are no longer sufficient.I would argue that survey courses should remain, but should address more current scientific-issue related survey courses are what are needed.

OPINION | 04/28/2004

Does news like this come from a university?

Regarding 'Dobkin tells 'Prince' to 'destroy' photos of vote' ( April 27):The news that has come out of Old Nassau over the past week has been as depressing as it is appalling.First, Dean Deignan is reported to have policed thought by confiscating hundreds of t-shirts based on their viewpoint and content.Second, Dean Malkiel appeared to win this round in her near-decade-long endeavor to police academic freedom by limiting the faculty's discretion in grading.Third, Dean Dobkin is reported to have attempted to police journalistic freedom in demanding that a pressman destroy photographs of faculty voting on Dean Malkiel's proposal.Has Princeton become a police state? Jo Ern Chen '00 Deignan's dedication to Princeton is unparalleledRegarding 'Deignan sets a bad real-world example for students' (Letter, April 28):I refuse to allow one paraphrased quotation in the 'Prince' to tarnish the image of a person as valuable to Princeton as Dean Deignan.I am of the firm belief that one of the greatest strengths of the University is its fanatically dedicated, student-focused administration and faculty.

OPINION | 04/28/2004

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