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Letter to the Editor: Clarifying the historical record on the Honor Committee

Letter to the Editor: Clarifying the historical record on the Honor Committee

Guest Contributor

I write to share clarification and historical context in response to the letter by former Honor Committee chairs that was published on Monday, Dec. 11. The authors declare that for violations of the honor system, “in 1893, Princeton students settled on a consequence — one-year suspension...” In fact, for the majority of the Honor System's existence, the standard penalty for Honor Code violations was expulsion.

OPINION | 12/12/2017

Letter to the Editor: Release Patrice Nganang

Guest Contributor

Last Thursday evening, the prominent Francophone novelist Patrice Nganang was arrested as he was about to board a flight leaving Cameroon. Initially charged with “insulting” the president, Nganang has been a vocal and visible critic of the oppressive and brutal tactics that Paul Biya’s regime is using against Cameroonian citizens in the English-speaking western part of the country.

OPINION | 12/12/2017

Current Honor Committee practices: Disregarding principles, policy, and precedent

Guest Contributor

The Honor Constitution states that a violation is “any attempt to gain an unfair advantage in regard to an examination.” How do you attempt without intent? How can a fair judicial system dismiss a student’s mental health when it affects their culpability?

OPINION | 12/12/2017

A call for increased diversity and inclusion at WWS

Guest Contributor

We write as a group of Woodrow Wilson School graduate students to call attention to the urgent need for further progress in creating a safe, supportive, and fair environment for marginalized students.

OPINION | 12/11/2017

Why we need to reform the Honor Constitution: a former Honor Committee member explains

Guest Contributor

As a referendum sponsor who served on the Honor Committee for two years, I write with the hope that my fellow Princetonians will exercise their right to amend the Honor Constitution and seize the opportunity to create a fairer system by voting “yes” on the four referenda up for voting between Tuesday, Dec. 12, and Thursday, Dec. 14. These referenda reflect many frequent student concerns in addition to issues stemming from dynamics that I bore witness to while a member of the Honor Committee.

OPINION | 12/10/2017

USG Senator Morales Nuñez: Time to reform the Honor System

Guest Contributor

I joined the Undergraduate Student Government as a class senator because I saw a gap in student representation on the Senate. As a first-generation, low-income woman of color, I was not familiar with anyone on the USG Senate who also identified with all three of these backgrounds. I viewed this as an opportunity to bring to the table the visions people of these communities on campus have for Princeton’s present and future.

OPINION | 12/10/2017

Why we can’t wait: Diversity and inclusion at the Wilson School

Guest Contributor

“It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness…. [O]ne ever feels his twoness — an American, a [Black person]; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder.” — W.E.B. Du Bois

OPINION | 12/10/2017

The need for Honor Code reform: A former member’s perspective

Guest Contributor

Academic integrity is one of the core values of the University community. For many of us, it influenced our decision in choosing Princeton over other schools. Maintaining the highest standard of academic integrity is indeed a cardinal responsibility of all Princeton students.

OPINION | 12/10/2017

Letter to the Editor: Oppose the Honor Committee referenda

Guest Contributor

This week, the student body will be asked to vote on four referendum questions that would make significant changes to Princeton’s student-run Honor System. As members of Undergraduate Student Government (USG) and a former member of the Honor Committee (HC), we the undersigned believe that these referenda are the result of a highly problematic deliberative process by certain members of USG.

OPINION | 12/10/2017

Proportionate penalty: Comments from former Honor Committee members

Guest Contributor

I was on the Honor Committee from my freshman spring to sophomore fall; I joined with the intention of reforming things and injecting compassion into a system I heard was rather punitive and even vicious. As I came to find, it’s both these things, with the issues stemming from two places.

OPINION | 12/10/2017

Why USG fails (and how to fix it)

Liam O'Connor

Despite this year's theatrical elections, I don't think the unfavorable popular perception of USG will change. It's still denigrated as the "government club" and viewed as nothing more than a social group that organizes Lawnparties. This image results from the insularity and poor communication of USG's members. In order for USG to become a relevant governing body to students, its elected officials must become independent leaders and take stands on controversial issues.

OPINION | 12/10/2017

Letter to the Editor: Institutional abuse by the Honor Committee

Anonymous

I took my midterm exam at 7:30 p.m. After finishing my exam, I signed the Honor Code, and wrote “see back” on the margins to orient the grader to the work on the back of one of my exam pages. In the following days, I received a terrifying call that I think this campus is all too familiar with. Of course, I was not informed of my status, but was forced to walk all the way to Nassau St. to the Honor Committee. This is the first reason I support the proposed reforms.

OPINION | 12/10/2017

Responsible reform: Comments from Honor Committee leadership

Guest Contributor

The Undergraduate Students Government Academics Committee Subcommittee on the Honor Constitution has sponsored four referenda on which students will vote from Dec. 12 to Dec. 14. We write, as the Chair and the Clerk of the Honor Committee, to express our opposition to these four referenda.

OPINION | 12/07/2017

The universal benefit of changes to the academic calendar

Lourdes Santiago

Changing the academic calendar would not only be conducive to the overall increase in academic productivity, it would also create an environment which is supportive of all student’s emotional well-being.

OPINION | 12/07/2017

Letter to the Editor: From USG presidential candidate Matt Miller

Guest Contributor

Hey, Princeton! My name’s Matt Miller ’19 and I’m running for Undergraduate Student Group president because I see a whole host of problems with easy fixes. I’m the only candidate that has been on USG this past year (I worked in communications), and while I was on USG, I saw some problems that I wanted to fix but couldn’t.

OPINION | 12/07/2017

Why Rachel Yee is my friend – and why she should be your next USG president

Guest Contributor

I first met Rachel Yee ’19 exactly one year and five days ago. I was getting late meal with a friend after a particularly unhappy meeting with a counselor at Counseling and Psychological Services. I have bipolar disorder and despite CPS’s best, if limited, efforts, I was depressed as all hell.

OPINION | 12/07/2017

A defense of Ryan Ozminkowski

Guest Contributor

Thank God for Ryan. He was a fellow track guy and Wilsonite, and he immediately went out of his way to connect with me, inviting me to a slew of movie nights, hangouts, meals, etc. It was largely through him that I met many of my closest friends in my new class. He was my roommate both this and last year, and has never been anything but kind, attentive, and enthusiastic, always willing to talk with and support me.

OPINION | 12/07/2017

Born USG election special: Vote Yee for USG president

Ryan Born

It can be hard to evaluate candidates. Luckily, all undergraduates have access to the USG Winter 2017 Candidate Biographies document online. I will be pulling from this document extensively in the following election special. I will discuss each candidate in turn, starting with my endorsement of Yee, a discussion of Ryan Ozminkowski ’19, and my second choice in Matthew Miller ’19.

OPINION | 12/06/2017

On the outskirts of reality

Sabrina Sequeira

Each day, we immerse ourselves in the same world. But this world presents itself differently to each one of us. In other words, my world is different from yours — as close as we are to our best friends and as well versed as we may be in the lives of our parents, we can never fathom someone else’s experience the same way that person can. Even if, theoretically, we were to spend our entire lives alongside another person, each of us engaging in the same experiences, these occurrences would still have different meanings, yield different emotions, conjure different reactions for each person.

OPINION | 12/06/2017

Undergraduates: The Republican graduate-tuition waiver tax affects us too

Ryan Born

We have an interest in agitating for the interests of our graduate students. They are our teachers, they are our future, they are our colleagues. We must fight against the reform of graduate student taxation.

OPINION | 12/05/2017

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