On Nov. 4, 2008, Americans will elect their 44th president. Every election is hyped as "the most important" election or "crucial to the nation's future." I don't consider this election more crucial than the last one - not least because both our choices are such an improvement on the current situation - but the hyperbole is to some extent justified. People don't often give presidential elections the attention they deserve: Just ask the crowd who voted for "American Idol" but forgot to turn up at the polling stations on Nov. 2, 2004.
So Princeton should encourage interest in this election among its pupils; after all, the University is openly committed to increasing civic interest among its students. The Pace Center and assorted voting drives have energized students such that more than 600 have recently joined the College Democrats and Republicans. The USG has sponsored debate-watching parties at Frist Campus Center, and I know that at least my residential college put up a big screen to show the debate last night. This doesn't even account for the room parties that suddenly went political. I had a dozen guests over just to watch the first debate. Given its motto "in the nation's service and in the service of all nations," Princeton rightly sees itself as bearing some responsibility for encouraging an interest in politics on the part of its pupils. That interest starts right here in America.
It seems to me that one very simple step in doing so would be to suspend the administration of tests or the collection of assigned work on the day after the election. We would expect the heads of the campus political crowds to want to stay up all night, following election returns. But many of us without party affiliations also want to follow the poll results in real time, as they come in.
The University has taken bigger steps before in the name of political participation: namely, Fall Break, which started as an opportunity to volunteer for political campaigns before elections. Suspending academic work for one day is not nearly as drastic as giving us a whole week off.
This is one all-nighter the University should encourage, and the easiest way to do so is a freeze on academic work for the following day. This is not to say that classes cannot meet (though I dream that they wouldn't). But it's one thing to have to show up to an economics lecture the morning after a presidential all-nighter, and it's quite another to have to take a Spanish test. If we're more sleepy than usual at the lecture, it's not an insurmountable problem, but screwing up on the Spanish test could cost us.
It would also not serve the real purpose of such a test: to assess our progress. Administering an exam to sleep-deprived and distracted students is not a particularly effective yardstick to go on. True, many of us have barely slid through a final exam on caffeine fumes before and will likely do so again, but this time it's not because we postponed hitting the books. For once there's a valid reason. So if the University really wants to get a handle on how we're doing in our courses, I would suggest that it officially wait until two days or so after the election.
Fortunately, we'll have just gotten back from Fall Break so I can't imagine that many classes will be testing their students so quickly. But many courses - especially languages - do give nightly homework. I kindly request that any professor who sees this column go easy on the workload for Nov. 5.
Even non-American students at this university will almost certainly want to follow the results of the election because they are studying at an American university and also for the unusual international clout wielded by the American president. And for most of the 90 percent of undergraduates who are American, this will be the first election in which we can vote - many of us newly registered at University-sponsored voting drives.
I doubt that skipping one day of assignments will severely impair the progress of any courses. I do think it would be a generous gesture on the part of professors and TAs to students, and I do think it would encourage greater interest in American political life.
So, President Tilghman: Will you sign this bill?
Brendan Carroll is a sophomore from New York, N.Y. He can be reached at btcarrol@princeton.edu.
Visit the 'Prince elections calendar for more news, opinion, and multimedia coverage of the 2008 election season.
Read More
Why can’t lecturers win the President’s Award for Distinguished Teaching?
Jerry ZhuLet’s acknowledge those who make “boutique teaching” possible, those who work tirelessly to make our rigorous curricula more accessible, and those who dedicate their time to advising and guiding us through all the challenges we face at this University. Lecturers should be eligible for the President’s Award for Distinguished Teaching.
Let’s acknowledge those who make “boutique teaching” possible, those who work tirelessly to make our rigorous curricula more accessible, and those who dedicate their time to advising and guiding us through all the challenges we face at this University. Lecturers should be eligible for the President’s Award for Distinguished Teaching.
Princeton’s administration of justice is Trumpian
Frances BroganThe disparity between the University’s approach to Giberson and its approach to pro-Palestinian protestors reflects a concerning trend of appeasing an increasingly emboldened right rather than resisting the threat it poses to academic freedom and the wellbeing of Princeton students.
Secular Opening Exercises? Don’t throw out the baby with the bath water
Frank StrasburgerThe secular makes no room for the spiritual. What Opening Exercises are meant to convey is the spirit of the institution so that it may be kept alive from generation to generation.
The secular makes no room for the spiritual. What Opening Exercises are meant to convey is the spirit of the institution so that it may be kept alive from generation to generation.
