Regrets from freshman year
Brigitte HarbersBecoming aware of these small Princeton quirks wasn’t the only thing I learned as a first-year. Rather, it was a year of learning through mistakes and adjusting expectations of my abilities.
Becoming aware of these small Princeton quirks wasn’t the only thing I learned as a first-year. Rather, it was a year of learning through mistakes and adjusting expectations of my abilities.
It is problematic that many students feel like their dorms are so uncomfortable that they are forced to spend most of their day away from their room, which is supposed to serve as a private space for students to unwind. The fact that a large chunk of upperclassman housing is called the “slums” is indicative of the dissatisfaction and discomfort that exists among students regarding their housing.
As we enter the school year, it might be a good idea to reexamine our friendships and evaluate the purpose of each one. Are we friends with a particular person because of the joy they bring us or because they help our grades stay up? If it’s the latter, ask yourself how you would feel if that’s why someone maintained a friendship with you. Then imagine how your friend would feel if they knew that’s why you maintain a friendship with them.
Often, the push for gender-neutral bathrooms remains labeled as an issue solely for the LGBTQ+ community and their allies — particularly those who are genderqueer, non-binary, trans, or otherwise gender-nonconforming — which places the entire burden of their struggle to safely enter bathrooms that match their identities on actors who have already been systematically, societally disempowered and pushed aside. In reality, however, though gender binary bathrooms directly and aggressively harm members of the LGBTQ+ community, gender binary bathrooms often present a serious nuisance to cis-gendered people as well.
If the University truly valued increasing the number of female professors on its payroll, it would do well to start addressing the actual causes for the dearth of women at the highest ranks. This unequivocally includes sexual harassment.
On Monday, Sept. 23, a day before the official commencement of the 74th U.N. General Assembly in New York, the U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres publicly announced the formation of a Syrian constitutional committee to bring together the government of the Syrian Arab Republic and the Syrian Negotiations Commission.
In its current state, the junior paper is a time-consuming endeavor for which we are neither properly compensated nor sufficiently empowered to complete to its highest potential.
Offering more specific, diverse major options would grant students much more freedom and flexibility in navigating through their academic career at the University.
We cling tight to the innocence of our beliefs because we think they make us who we are.
The team’s commitment to lifting others up as they rise presents an example for each of us, aspiring World Cup winners or otherwise. They show us how to use our reach to fight for equality, for ourselves and for others, in whatever we do.
My point in writing this has little to do with telling you about all the different options available to you. I have only been an independent for about three weeks and there is so much more out there for me to discover. I simply want to suggest that being an independent is not only possible, it can be deeply enriching.
Unfortunately, the debates have left most audiences with only the following: fleeting stump speeches, catchy (and ridiculous) slogans, and ill-defined policy proposals.
While the main responsibility should still lie with the NCAA to fairly compensate their athletes, this bill acts as a bridge until such a time, and places pressure on the NCAA to take further action.
Existential crises know no boundaries. So many of us are in pain, I can sense it. So many of us are struggling. So many of us need a hug, a shoulder to cry on, someone to talk to, or just someone to hear them.
Ideally, patriotism is a beautiful notion — a love for one’s homeland and heritage paired with a burning desire to protect those roots. In the real world, however, the idea of “patriotism” devolves into just another weapon used to propel conflicts between nationalist governments. Even more egregiously, it is oftentimes merely a disingenuous rebranding of chauvinism.
There are few policy problems where the science is so settled, yet our leaders have not faced up to the urgency or significance of the crisis.
Free speech at Princeton includes the right to acts of peaceful dissent, protests in peaceable assembly, and orderly demonstrations. Such protests and demonstrations strengthen the fabric of our community by pushing all of us to consider different points of view and reconsider our own ideas.
It is in this space of confusion and social angst, wondering whether we as a species can ever come to grips with the permanent damage that fossil fuels will inflict on our planet, where I have found climate activism, such as the upcoming Global Climate Strike on Friday, to be most compelling and useful.
Not only was the ban ineffective at reducing irresponsible drinking, it also produced the negative side effects of encouraging dishonest behavior and supporting an air of elitism.
It's all well and good to have a healthy respect for life experience. But which people we choose to listen to most reveals features of the ideological and cultural structures to which we pledge allegiance in our actions, more so than in our words.