To abide by the Honor Code (which I suppose doesn't technically apply here, but whatever) I must admit that I was heavily influenced by an alumna I called recently at my job at tiger call. Normally when I call alumni soliciting funds, they give money without telling me why. Discontent alumni are much happier to share why they don't feel motivated to give. Reasons run the gamut from "I hated it there" to "Princeton admits women" to "I disagree with Professor X." Now, this alumna, whose name I have unfortunately forgotten, was not discontent, so she quite cheerfully donated money to the University and then specifically requested that I write down that she was giving money to the University because she was so happy with the job that President Tilghman was doing. I cannot tell you what a breath of fresh air that comment was, though I'm certain my fellow Tiger Callers can imagine.
So here are some of the things I love about the University, in no parti-cular order:
My room in Whitman College that overlooks the Dinky. The food at Rocky. The architecture of the Graduate College. The fountain by Robertson Hall. The history department. The professors in the history department. The professors in other departments. The Firestone librarians. The department secretaries (I only know a couple, but they are wonderful.) The nifty little bronze key chains that Annual Giving gave out to the Class of 2009. The incredible amounts of funding available. The Mudd Manuscript Library. Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
Then there are the things that aren't as bad as one might make them out to be. The first thing to come to mind is the P/D/F option. We all know the complaints about P/D/F: mainly that students must choose the P/D/F option before midterms and then cannot rescind it after a certain date. I recently changed my mind on the matter. P/D/F is supposed to allow students to take risks, not eliminate them. All in all, I think the P/D/F system serves its purpose fairly well.
All too often we just complain, complain, complain. Not even that. We just whine: I didn't get any sleep last night! I have so much work! I'm not going to get any sleep tonight! Et cetera. Of course, I whine and complain too. Remember how I felt about Labyrinth? Complaints and criticism have their place and are useful tools when used to try and change the system (even if we still have one-ply toilet paper in the dorms). But it's good to offer up praise when praise is due and take note of when things are good. Not only is this the gracious thing to do, but the alternative makes for a dreary existence.
So let's take Harvard. Harvard doesn't have grade deflation. But, from what my friend at Harvard tells me, her junior seminar equivalent was headed by a grad student. Nothing against grad students, but my junior seminar was headed by a professor. Would I trade away the professorial attention to get rid of grade deflation? Not really. So in that sense, I can always know that I'm better off than my friend at Harvard. It's something we should remember more often. We're at one of the greatest universities on earth. Could it be better? Sure. Will I criticize it in my next column? Almost certainly. But today I'm in a good mood; I'm going to enjoy the University and let it know how much I appreciate it.
Martha Vega-Gonzalez is a history major from New York, N.Y. She can be reached at mvega@princeton.edu
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