It’s 5:45 a.m. While most Princeton students are still fast asleep, Sakinah Hofler, lecturer in the Princeton Writing Program, begins her commute to campus from downtown Newark.
Since joining the Writing Program in Fall 2022, Hofler has maintained a rigid commuting schedule via NJ Transit.
After she wakes up and gets ready, she walks 12 minutes from her apartment to Newark Penn Station and rides the 6:56 a.m. train down to Princeton Junction. From there, she takes the “Dinky” service from Princeton Junction to campus and arrives on campus by 8:05 a.m. This leaves her plenty of time to prepare before her 8:30 a.m. Writing Seminar: “The Revolution Will [Not] Be Televised.”
The main reason she takes the train is due to personal preference. “I’m a terrible driver,” she noted. But Hofler has also experienced her share of troubles with the fickle NJ Transit. On many occasions, she has unexpectedly discovered that the “Dinky” is down, so she has to take TigerTransit’s Bus 4, which runs from Princeton Junction to Meadows, to get to campus.
One day last semester, when Hofler’s usual train service shut down at New York Penn Station, she decided to catch an Amtrak instead — which also ended up delayed. She found herself settling for the next NJ Transit train. According to Hofler, this was the first and only time she’s ever been late to class.
Hofler’s commute path is just one of many for the University faculty. Some faculty live scattered across major cities from New York to Philadelphia, while others call Princeton home. In conversations with The Daily Princetonian, faculty shared the primary factors that influence where they live: cost of living, professional life outside of teaching, and family. And where they live, of course, is a major determinant of how they get to campus.
Claire Gmachl, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Head of Whitman College, lives closer to campus than most other faculty members. She lives in the Whitman head house, which is located off Edwards Place, characterized by its colorful porch garden and whale plaque next to the door. Her proximity to campus simplifies her daily commute. Depending on where her day starts, she either walks from home to Whitman or the E-Quad.
The Whitman head house on Edwards Place.
Coco Gong / The Daily Princetonian
“Having a house this close [to campus] doesn’t just allow me to walk. It also allows the students to walk [to my house],” Gmachl said. She hopes her house can be a place of community for Princeton students. “That’s the reason that I can have study breaks at the house and that I can have ‘zee’ dinners at the house,” she added. Zee groups are groups of 12–20 first-year students and one Residential College Advisor.
Living in the picturesque Princeton town, however, can come with some downsides. According to Gmachl, there isn’t a large supermarket within walking distance, so it can be hard to live in the town without a car.
The cost associated with the area can also make living nearby challenging. “It’s my understanding [that] if you live within walking distance and with a reasonable quality house, it’s very expensive,” she noted.
Compared to Gmachl, Senior Lecturer in Dance Tina Fehlandt’s commute is much more time-consuming. The drive from her home in the peaceful neighborhood of Park Slope, Brooklyn to campus takes an hour and a half — a journey she makes in her hybrid car to help reduce her environmental impact. After a day’s worth of teaching ballet, she often doesn’t get home until 8:30 p.m. “Sometimes, because I teach Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, I do often stay over on Wednesday night in a hotel,” Fehlandt added.
She’s been making this commute consistently since 2007. By the time she got her first three-year appointment at Princeton, her family had firmly established Brooklyn as their home.
“My husband had a business. My son was in school. Nobody wanted to move,” she explained. Living in New York was also important to Fehlandt for her career beyond her instructional role. “New York is the dance capital of the world,” she added.
“There’s something about the energy in the city. Things move fast. People think quickly,” said Fehlandt.
Throughout her years in New York, Fehlandt has embraced the opportunities of living in the “dance Mecca,” staging choreography and teaching at the Mark Morris Dance Group, working with the American Ballet Theater, and enjoying performances all across the city.
Fehlandt has considered an alternative method of transportation to campus — the train. In 2010, however, then-New Jersey Governor Chris Christie shut down a popular commuter tunnel between Hudson River and Manhattan, hindering Fehlandt from easily using NJ Transit to commute to Princeton today. In the time it takes to get from her house to Penn Station, she could be over halfway to campus if she drove instead.
Hofler hopes for additional train lines, noting the system’s age and tendency to break down. In an interview with the ‘Prince,’ Hofler shouted-out the “Dinky” workers, but she expressed a hope for new improvements and renovations to the existing line.
“I wish they [tickets] would become cheaper, but that’s just a pipe dream,” she added.
In each interview, the faculty members said that they likely would not live in Princeton after they finish teaching here. A common factor in their reasoning is the cost associated with living in this zip code, as well as the incompatibility with their ideal style of living. In particular, Gmachl hopes to live in a more rural and open area, whereas Fehlandt and Hofler enjoy the interconnectedness and arts culture found in cities.
While these faculty members don’t see themselves settling in Princeton long-term, some still recognize what the University offers here and now.
However, Fehlandt noted that some of elements she loves about city life could still be present in the Orange Bubble.
“I’m sure you find this at Princeton. You get in an environment where you're around a lot of people who are so bright and so creative,” she said. “You need to be around people.”
Andrew Dai is a contributing Features writer for the ‘Prince.’
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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