News

U. President Eisgruber declines proposal to house, educate Puerto Rico students

University President Christopher Eisgruber ’83 rejected a proposal to provide a semester of housing and education for students currently attending college in Puerto Rico whose educational plans have been affected by Hurricane Maria.

Nuclear weapons programs carry massive risks, experts say at U. panel

“There is no one in the chain of command that has the authority to stop the president [from launching a nuclear weapon],” Blair explained.  “Under the current protocol, the president has the unilateral power to order a first strike without apparent cause.  The president has carte blanche; he is, as we sometimes like to say, the nuclear monarch.”

Committee on Naming to solicit suggestions on titles for two campus structures

At the behest of the University’s Board of Trustees, the Committee on Naming, a special branch of the Council of the Princeton University Community (CPUC), is soliciting suggestions for the names of two notable structures on campus, the easternmost arch of East Pyne and a public garden visible from Nassau Street that is currently under construction. 

Zack '72 offers informal English classes on campus

“I try to make it as easy as possible: there’s no registration, I don’t take names, there’s no charge, so people just come when they want to and leave when they want to,” explained Brian Zack ‘72, who teaches an informal English class for non-native speakers at various locations throughout campus.

U. professor Stephen Kotkin's new book aims to paint a full picture of Joseph Stalin

“Yeah, they lied. All the time. This is a mendacious regime,” he said. “But if you look at the secret documents, you can decode and get to the bottom of their behavior. The information that they shoved out into the public realm is very close to how their minds worked, and how policy was formulated.”

USG discusses Puerto Rico vote, calendar committee

“If we were to get a calendar approved at the end of this academic year by the faculty, I anticipate we would have another two years under the current calendar before the new calendar would go into effect,” Colagiuri said. 

HackPrinceton brings 700 programmers to campus

“The goal for the weekend is to just to meet other people in the tech industry who are passionate about tech, learn new things, and take the initiative to do something you might not have done before,” explained David Fan ’19, co-director of HackPrinceton.

Princeton University Film Festival showcases 60 student films

High school students from across the country came to the University for the inaugural Princeton University Film Festival (PUFF) held on Nov. 11. The all-day event featured talks by producers, including Jay Stern and Vicki Horwitz, TV executives such as Armando Polanco and Mark Kang, workshops, panels, and screenings of students' work.

Princeton Advocates for Justice hosts DACA day of action

 “What I hope people realize is how dehumanizing the current climate has been in regards to not only DREAMers but other undocumented immigrants and refugees,” said María José Solorzano ’20, co-president of the Princeton DREAM team. “The xenophobic rhetoric has blinded us from really looking at what America’s true values are, trying to make a better opportunity for the immigrants that come.”

TEDxPrincetonU brings discussion from across the globe

How can we optimize the happiness of others, given that our actions directly contribute to the well-being of those in need, through traveling? What contributes to the interplay between hypermasculinity and athletic identity? How much do we really know about marijuana? 

Grad student speaks out on U. professor sexually harassing her

Mudd Library opens exhibit about U.'s connection to U.S. wars

“We’re a country that is forgetting about war,” University librarian Steve Knowlton said. “In WWII about 80 percent of princetonians wound up in the military, but nowadays it’s fewer than 1% of all people of military age ever enlist. The experience of war therefore is becoming more and more distant from all of us. Since war is such an important instrument of national policy, it removes us all from being cognizant of what war does to a community. So I’m very pleased to see the experience of Princetonians at war.”

U. student app that redefines finding food launches Friday

Fota, a student-created app that allows users to rank and choose restaurants based on photos of food, will launch on Nov. 10. “When you open Fota, you see a stream of photos from restaurants around you,” said the app’s creator and CEO Kevin Zhang ’19. “All these photos are ranked by users who upvote and downvote them, kind of like Yik Yak or Reddit.”

We Speak survey results released

For graduate women, 1 in 11 respondents said that they had experienced sexual harassment in the past year. According to a University infographic made from survey results, 23 percent of those harassed said that the incident involved an employee or staff member, faculty member, or postdoc.

U. awards top alumni honors to Gibson '65 and Mendelsohn GS '94

The University will award its top alumni honors, the Woodrow Wilson Award and the James Madison Medal, to Charles Gibson ’65 and Daniel Mendelsohn GS ’94, respectively. The official award ceremony will take place on campus during Alumni Day on Feb. 24, where Gibson and Mendelsohn will also deliver speeches. 

Ai-jen Poo talks inequality, emotional labor, DACA

“At its heart and at its best, [domestic work] is about upholding the dignity and quality of life of others,” said Ai-jen Poo, executive director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance in a lecture on Wednesday. “It’s the work that allows all other work to be done.” 

Murphy wins governorship, Zwicker and Freiman win district

On Tuesday, New Jersey residents hit the polls to vote in the state elections. Within one minute of polling sites’ 8 p.m. closing, Democrat Phil Murphy was projected as the winner in the race for governor. Murphy received 56 percent of the vote with 1,165,001 ballots cast in his favor.  

Paradise Papers reveal U. endowment in offshore accounts

Princeton, along with hundreds of other U.S. colleges and universities such as Columbia, Stanford, Duke, and the University of Pennsylvania, has investments in offshore accounts where its endowment can grow with little or no taxation. 

U. voices concerns over proposed tax bill’s effect on endowment

Endowments are currently tax-exempt and are subject to few financial regulations. The government sees fit to make these endowments tax-exempt because of the ostensible public good they are providing, since they are considered part of a university's educational and charitable mission.

Joe Richman talks about power of radio storytelling