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Survey finds mostly negative student opinions on BJL sit-in, protests

Survey finds mostly negative student opinions on BJL sit-in, protests

Do-Hyeong Myeong

Asurveyon student opinion in the Black Justice League’s sit-in protest found that the majority of respondents had negative views on the impact of the protest, according to Daniel Wilson ’18, the survey’s creator. The survey, titled “What Princeton Thinks of the Black Justice League,” was open from10 a.m.on Thursdayto1 a.m.on Saturday.The survey had 948 respondents, which is roughly 18 percent of the University’s undergraduate population, Wilson noted. Wilson said that one of the notable results is that regardless of race, the majority of respondents had a relatively negative opinion on how the walkout has impacted the campus.

NEWS | 11/24/2015

Berdahl-Baldwin ’16, Hosie ’16, Low ’16 named Marshall Scholars

Christopher Umanzor

Audrey Berdahl-Baldwin ’16, Duncan Hosie ’16 and Ryan Low ’16 have been awarded the Marshall Scholarship.The scholarship funds two years of graduate study in the United Kingdom for up to 40 American college students.Berdahl-Baldwin, a history major, said she is interested in public service.“Long term, I hope to engage in prison reform,” she said.

NEWS | 11/23/2015

Eisgruber ’83 details strategic planning process in response to protests

Sarah Kim

The Council of the Princeton University Community discussed the recent sit-in protest and updates to strategic planning task forces at its monthly meeting on Monday.“The CPUC was created in the 1960s, obviously a time of tumult and argument on campus for the purpose of having a forum in which faculty administrators, alumni and staff can come together in civil and respectful discussion,” University President Christopher Eisgruber ’83 said in light of the recent sit-in protest in his office in Nassau Hall.

NEWS | 11/23/2015

Alumni, faculty respond to BJL sit-in

Annie Yang

The recent sit-in protest led by the Black Justice Leaguehas resulted in divided opinions among alumni and faculty, with some praising the efforts and others denouncing them.There has been opposition to the protest expressed not only in online social media forums, but also through a counter-petition with over 1,300 responses and an alumni petition with 35 supporters.There is still support for the protesters in theoriginal petition with nearly 1,000 signatures.On Friday, professors in the program of African American Studies wrote a faculty lettersupporting the protesters.

NEWS | 11/23/2015

Latinx students create petition

Marcia Brown

A group of Latinx students formed to improve the experience of Latinx students on campus released a petition on Friday to increase support for and representation of Latinx students.The petition has 517 signatures as of 7 p.m.

NEWS | 11/23/2015

Princeton Open Campus Coalition opposes BJL protests in letter to Eisgruber ’83

Christina Vosbikian

A new student group called the Princeton Open Campus Coalition delivered a letter opposing the methods and demands of the Black Justice League protests to University President Christopher Eisgruber ’83 on Sunday night.The letter requested a meeting with Eisgruber in his office to present arguments regarding the events of the past week.“We are concerned mainly with the importance of preserving an intellectual culture in which all members of the Princeton community feel free to engage in civil discussion and to express their convictions without fear of being subjected to intimidation or abuse,” the students wrote.

NEWS | 11/23/2015

Eisgruber ’83 sends email about racial climate on campus

Daily Princetonian Staff

University President Christopher Eisgruber ’83 emailed University students and alumni on Sunday in response to recent demands to improve the racial climate on campus. Eisgruber said he acknowledges the distress, pain and frustration students of color feel from a campus climate they find unwelcoming or uncaring. He explained that he asked the University Board of Trustees to develop a process to consider the issue of thelegacy ofWoodrow Wilson, Class of 1879, at the University.

NEWS | 11/22/2015

2 of 4 chair positions in upcoming USG elections uncontested

Andrew Brazer Drew

Two of the four chair positions for the upcoming Undergraduate Student Government elections are uncontested.The candidates running for Campus and Community Affairs committee chair and University Student Life Committee chair are unopposed.Three candidates will be competing for the position of academics committee chair, and two candidates will be contending for the position of social committee chair.Of the four positionslast year, only USLC chair and social committee chair were contested, while the candidate for the academics committee chair ran unopposed and there were no candidates for the Community Affairs Committee Chair.Patrick Flanigan ’18, Shannon Osaka ’17 and David Landeta ’19 are contenders in the race for the academics committee chair.Flanigan is a peer academic advisor, a McGraw tutor and serves as a member of the McGraw Advisory Council.

NEWS | 11/22/2015

USG hosts meeting discussing recent BJL sit-in, minority groups on campus

Katherine Oh

The Undergraduate Student Government senate convened for a closed meeting on Nov. 21 in light of the recent Black Justice League walk-out and sit-in in Nassau Hall. The meeting replaced the senate's weekly meeting. The discussion came just a few days after a 32-hour-long sit-in protestby several members of the BJL in the office of University President Christopher Eisgruber ’83.

NEWS | 11/22/2015

Clifton ’15, Lu ’16, Platt ’16 and Soltas ’16 awarded Rhodes Scholarships

Paul Phillips

Katherine Clifton ’15,Richard Lu ’16, Cameron Platt ’16 andEvan Soltas ’16 were selected as recipients of the Rhodes Scholarship Class of 2016, the organization announced Saturday. The Rhodes Scholarship is a postgraduate award that enables students to study for two years at the University of Oxford.

NEWS | 11/22/2015

USG debate sees candidates discuss mental health issues, P/D/F options

Samvida Venkatesh

The main issues addressed by the presidential candidates at the Undergraduate Student Governmentpresidential and vice presidential debate on Sunday includedensuring the USGis a unified voice representing all student groups, making the pass/D/fail option rescindable and providing better facilities for student mental health.Presidential candidate Aleksandra Czulak ’17 emphasized the importance of collaboration, action and results.

NEWS | 11/22/2015

Faculty petition supports BJL protestors

Do-Hyeong Myeong

Fifty-four faculty members signed afaculty letterin support of student protests,drafted by twelve faculty members affiliated with the program in African American Studies andpublished onlineon Friday. The letter, addressed to University President Christopher Eisgruber ’83, Dean of the College Jill Dolan, members of the University Board of Trustees and other senior administrators, notes that “there is a palpable sense that … students of color, particularly black students, all too often find themselves on the margins of this University.” The letter adds that the undersigned faculty members stand in solidarity with the student protestors. The letter urges the University administrators to take a “different, bolder, more comprehensive kind of action” to address “core problems” such as the racial climate on campus, and calls for a meeting of the faculty dedicated to the issue of faculty diversity. The signatories come from a number of departments and programs across the arts and humanities, social sciences and natural sciences. No faculty member from theSchool of Engineering and Applied Scienceor the School of Architecture signed the letter. Politics professor Robert George noted that his name was put into the letter without his consent, via a Facebook post publishedonFridayaround 7 p.m. "In what is the most underhanded tactic I have encountered in thirty-one years in academic life, my name was fraudulently added to a petition supporting student protestors at Princeton," he wrote.

NEWS | 11/21/2015

Paris terrorist attacks placed in global context at multidisciplinary roundtable

Ruby Shao

Al Qaeda and the Islamic State demonstrate genius in accumulating local grievances to fuel global panic, Wilson School and sociology professor Kim Lane Scheppele, who has written about terrorism in Moscow, told a packed room during a Friday panel. She said the recent string of bombings in Mali, Paris and Beirut began with the Russian plane crash in Egypt on Oct.

NEWS | 11/21/2015

BJL sit-in countered by petition opposing their demands

Nahrie Chung

An online petition to counter demands made by Black Justice League protesters has gained over 800 signatures since launching on Thursday afternoon, as of Saturday at 1 p.m. Drafted by Josh Zuckerman ’16 and Evan Draim ’16, the petition calls upon the University to promote “increased dialogue and the creation of a process that properly considers the input of all students and faculty, not merely those who are the loudest.” Draim is a former Editorial Board member for The Daily Princetonian. The petition followed a 32-hour-long sit-in protest by several members of the newly formed BJL in the office of University President Christopher Eisgruber ’83.

NEWS | 11/21/2015

DPS deems bomb and firearm threat not credible

Ruby Shao

The bomb and firearm threat on campusThursdaynight was not credible, the Department of Public Safety announcedon Fridayat around9 a.m. The threat had made reference to the Black Justice League protest, according to University spokesperson Martin Mbugua. After University President Christopher Eisgruber ’83 signed the modified demands of the student activistson Thursday evening, the protesters dispersed. “The end of that event had no bearing on the credibility of the threat,” Mbugua said, adding that credibility isevaluated on a case-by-case basis. DPS had sent a campus safety alert via email to members of the University communityon Thursdayat around9 p.m., calling the threat non-specific. “The term is used by law enforcement agencies in cases where the details in whatever the threat is are not very specific,” Mbuguasaid. He declined to provide further information about the nature of the threat. Mbugua said the original threat was sent by email to an administrator, who then notified DPS.

NEWS | 11/20/2015

Eisgruber, BJL come to compromise after two days of protests

Do-Hyeong Myeong

University President Christopher Eisgruber ’83 agreed to the modified demands of student protestors on Thursday evening.He signed the document at about 8:20 p.m., approximately 32 hours after students in the Black Justice League began a sit-in in his office and after significant negotiations over the content of the demands.Around 20 student protestors had been occupying Eisgruber’s office since Wednesday.The “Walkout and Speakout” protest, organized by the BJL, began with a walkout from classes on Wednesday morning, then featured a march to Nassau Hall and a sit-in in Eisgruber’s office.Students who occupied the office stayed there overnight.

NEWS | 11/19/2015

BJL protest targeted in bomb and firearm threat

Ruby Shao

A bomb and firearm threat on campus on Thursday night made reference to the ongoing Black Justice League protest, according to University spokesperson Martin Mbugua. The Department of Public Safety sent a campus safety alert via email to members of the University community on Thursday at around 9 p.m, calling the threat non-specific. “The term is used by law enforcement agencies in cases where the details in whatever the threat is are not very specific,” Mbugua said. He declined to provide further information about the nature of the threat. Mbugua said the original threat was sent by email to an administrator, who then notified DPS.

NEWS | 11/19/2015

News & Notes: Photos of black professors at Harvard Law School defaced

Abhiram Karuppur

Photos of black tenured professors at Harvard Law School were covered with black tape on Thursday morning, according to the Harvard Crimson. This act, which was labeled by some studentsas a “hate crime” against black faculty, follows in the wake of protests on behalf of minority rights at the University of Missouri, Yale and, most recently, the University. On Thursday afternoon, Harvard students, faculty and administrators participated in a community meeting to speak about the environment at the Law School. Some students reported the Law School environment as being racist and unwelcoming, and criticized Law School Dean Martha Minow for not doing enough to support minority students.

NEWS | 11/19/2015

Aleksandra Czulak ’17: seeking to bring student body together

Nahrie Chung

Undergraduate Student Government presidential candidate and current vice president Aleksandra Czulak ’17 said she wants to increase USG’s collaboration with various on-campus organizations and students not involved in USG.Czulak said she is seeking to improve collaboration between various constituencies on campus, bringing them together to advance policies and programs that most effectively serve the student body.

NEWS | 11/19/2015

Simon Wu ’17: artist, designer, social chair

Gladys Teng

Undergraduate Student Government presidential candidate Simon Wu ’17 said he seeks to improve communication and efficiency in USG through an artist and designer’s perspective.“I come from a very different background of working in organizations than people who are studying policy,” he said.

NEWS | 11/19/2015

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