Regarding "Bolton: U.N. flaws result in inaction," (Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2008)
John Bolton's assessment of the U.N.'s flaws is accurate, but he will not change many minds. For years, public discourse on this subject has been hopelessly bifurcated: either you are anti-U.N. or pro-U.N. Ambassador Bolton's comments will embolden the former and be dismissed by the latter.
This mindless debate does not serve U.S. national interests. The country must acknowledge that the U.N. is a large, complex institution that does some good work and is important for our allies but has some parts that are fatally flawed. We must engage with the good parts and try to marginalize the harm caused by the bad ones. By rejecting the take-it-or-leave-it approach, it might be possible to bring the U.N. closer to the noble ideals embodied in its charter.
Pablo Kapusta '05
Golf cart vandalism is hurting vulnerable students
The beginning of this academic year has seen more vandalism to medical transport vehicles (MTVs), the golf carts maintained by University Health Services, than we have seen in past years. When these carts are out of commission, injured students who rely on them to get to class and to their dining facilities for meals are left trying to find alternative arrangements, including using crutches to travel the often long distances to their destinations.
One MTV was pushed down the Frist Campus Center steps, another had the wires pulled out of its connections and the canopy bent, and another cart was found flipped on its side. Given the extensive damage, one of these carts has been removed from the fleet because it cannot be repaired, and others have required costly repairs.
I am asking the student body to respect the property of others. Respect the fact that your fellow student is injured and unable to walk around the campus. When the carts are vandalized and removed from the fleet, it can create a very large burden for another student. Students who are already stressed and frustrated due to an injury are further stressed by not having a cart that they need.
The costly repairs use money that is marked for the purchase of new carts. The cost of renting a cart was reduced two years ago to allow more students who need the assistance of a cart to be able to use them. Acts of vandalism drive up the rental costs. This type of behavior limits a valuable resource that the vandals may someday find they or their friends need. Please think before you act.
Jan Runkle
Business Manager, University Health Services
Some things should be out of bounds
The liberal virtue of tolerance used to mean, roughly, "live and let live." The ideological conquests of political correctness, however, often seem to transform that moderate view into something far more demanding: "live and be indifferent." While there are many things we find objectionable but are reasonably required to tolerate, our freedom to express moral disapprobation can never be proscribed and can sometimes rise to the level of a moral obligation.
This principle applies acutely to last Wednesday's "Sexual Awareness Expo" in Frist Campus Center, part of which displayed a variety of sex toys and other paraphernalia. While initial reactions of disgust or squeamishness are merely emotive, more reasoned disapproval of the display is based on rational grounds and is not simply a matter of taste or style. It is, I think, grounded in the fact that many people do not view sex in the cheap sense the sex toy display suggests. This is an impoverished view that sees the body as nothing more than a means for pleasure-production - a view entirely incompatible with healthy relationships and possibly indicative of narcissism. Whether the purpose of the sex toy display was to shock or to promote awareness for its own sake, I don't see how advancing either goal is respectable.
Kevin Joyce '09
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.
