News

CPUC discusses recommendations for sexual misconduct policy changes, diversity efforts at Monday meeting

The Council of the Princeton University Community discussed changes to the University's sexual misconduct policy, the Resources Committee's rejection of the Princeton Sustainable Investment Initiative's proposal, the University's mental health programs and the Special Task Force on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at its meetingon Monday. The meeting began with University vice provost for institutional diversity and equity Michelle Minter presenting proposed adjustments recommended by the Faculty-Student Committee on Sexual Misconduct, which were accepted by the council. Under the new guidelines, certain protections and rights will be provided to complainants in all stalking cases, not just those involving intimate partners. The policy was also modified to permit the University's Title IX Coordinator to balance several factors in determining whether to move forward with an investigation.

Charities funneled millions to eating clubs to pay for social facilities

News & Notes: Former aide to Christie pleads guilty to two counts of conspiracy

David Wildstein, a former aide to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy on Friday in connection to the Bridgegate scandal, according to a press release by the Department of Justice. Christie is an ex officio trustee of the University. Wildstein faces up to 15 years in prison and fines. Bill Baroni, former deputy executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and Bridget Anne Kelly, a former Christie chief of staff, have also been indicted in connection with the scandal. Alan Zegas, Wildstein's attorney, said on Friday that Christie had knowledge of the George Washington Bridge lane closures before they happened, according to NJ Advance Media, which is contrary to what Christie has said on multiple occasions. Wildstein's guilty plea could indicate that he may be cooperating with prosecutors, according to Bloomberg.

Alternative Lawnparties event to be held at Campus Club

An alternative Lawnparties event aimed at students who do not support Big Sean's attendance and students with different musical interests will be held at Campus Club on the day of Lawnparties. The event will feature barbecue and a live cover band with roots in New Jersey, GoodMan Fiske. The scheduling of the alternative event comes after some students had previously called on the Undergraduate Student Government in an informal petition to rescind its contract with Big Sean due to his misogynistic lyrics and criminal past.

Edward Snowden discusses ethics of surveillance and whistle-blowing with Gellman '82

Edward Snowden and journalist Barton Gellman ’82 discussed mass surveillance and privacy in a public conversation on campus on Saturday morning.Snowden, a former contractor at the National Security Agency who disclosed information about the NSA’s surveillance practices to Gellman and Glenn Greenwald, is in exile in Russia and joined the discussion via a live telecast.Since the disclosure of this information two years ago, “we’ve learned a lot that we didn’t know,” Gellman said.The interview-styled conversation between Gellman and Snowden focused on questions of cryptography, mass surveillance and the ethics of whistle-blowing.“[The problem is that information is] increasingly getting into the hands of average citizens,” Snowden said.“Culturally, the government has adopted a worldview that if it is out there, we should know it, and we should have access to it."Governments today have more investigative power than in the past, Snowden said.

Third woman to chair an eating club graduate board to assume position during Reunions

Caroline McCarthy ’06 will become the graduate board chair of Cloister Inn during Reunions, becoming the third woman ever to chair an eating club’s graduate board. She will be the University’s only female eating club graduate board chair. She previously served as a member of the club's graduate board. The first female graduate board chair was Kimberly Noble ’80, at Elm Club, which no longer exists as its own club, and the second wasAnne Lester Trevisan ’86 of Campus Club, whichhas not been an eating club since 2005. Noble and Trevisan did not respond to requests for comment. McCarthy said she is aware of the low number of female chairs historically, but does not feel uncomfortable by being outnumbered in terms of gender.

Result of divestment referendum raises questions over campaign financing and biased language

The referendum to divest from contracting with multinational companies with Israel, the Palestinian Authority, and Egypt was the most heated and contested referendum the University has seen in the 21st century, Undergraduate Student Government chief elections manager Grant Golub ’17 said. Both USG and student activist organizations have been riled by controversy over campaign financing and allegations of biased referendum language,even though the referendum has officially concluded.

News & Notes: Clinton addresses criminal justice at Columbia

In her first major speech since announcing her presidential candidacy, Hillary Rodham Clinton addressed the growing issue of mass incarceration and criminal justice at Columbia’s David N.

Schmidt ’76 discusses machine intelligence, technological advancement, education

Technology will transform societies in big and small ways, but harnessing the distinctive intelligences of men and computers is key to materializing a better future, explained Eric Schmidt ’76, executive chairman of Google, at a lecture on Thursday. We are in the era of apps, Schmidt said, citing whimsical mobile gadgets like Am I Going Down, Swearport, and SitorSquat that calculates odds of a flight crashing, translates curse words into foreign languages and locates proximal bathrooms in all corners of the world, respectively. With apps capable of predicting tomorrow’s hair conditions and automating text messages, it is foreseeable that in the near future, an intelligent alarm clock will be able to tell the user that he or she can snooze for eighteen more minutes because his or her boss is running late. He said that credit for the blossoming of modern technology must be due in partto Vannevar Bush, a lifelong engineer who advocated for increased science research funding in the postwar era, ultimately leading to the creation of the National Science Foundation. With this stimulus, the government and private sectors collaborated together and witnessed unprecedented progress for the military and the public, Schmidt explained, fostering industries that are still growing very quickly. But perhaps they are changing too quickly, he said, noting that while many people have just begun making websites, the current generation has already moved on to mobile apps. The impacts of technological advancement are far-flung across disciplines, he said. Improvements to photovoltaic cells, carbon dioxide processing and even the realization of automated driving are within our reach, Schmidt said.

U. hires Sanskrit lecturer

The University has hired Nataliya Yanchevskaya, an adjunct lecturer at Moravian College, to teach Sanskrit in the fall.The main qualification for the position was a very high level of training in the Sanskrit language, Jonathan Gold, chair of the search committee and professor of religion, said.

U. sees increase in delivery services

The University has recently seen a rise in the number of delivery services marketed to students, including ontheway, Princeton Octopus and Delivia. Delivia is an app that was developedto create a crowdsourced system in which students on campus can be both deliverers and customers, according to Max Shatkhin ’15, who created the app with Juan Albanell ’15. The app started as a class project idea last semester for ELE 381: Networks: Friends, Money and Bytes, Albanell said, andwas launched on March 22. Albanell explained thatit is inefficient for a person go to a store and go back to his or her room without knowing that, perhaps, someone living two doors down also wanted something from that store. “We had a lot of friends who either were in Forbes or just in their rooms, and they were stuck and would say, ‘I would pay someone to deliver to me right now,’ ” Shatkhin said. With Delivia, people can input orders into an order feed, and people en route can get paid to deliver, Shatkinsaid.

Appeal by U. to dismiss tax lawsuit declined

The Appellate Division of the New Jersey Superior Court declined to hear an appeal earlier this month from the University regarding its tax-exempt status.The University had motioned earlier to dismiss a lawsuit that challenged this status, but was ruled against by the Morris County Tax Court.Four town residents are challenging the University’s receipt of a property tax exemption from the town in 2014.

News & Notes: Newark Airport AirTrain system requires expensive reconstruction

Major Newark transportation systems are calling for serious reparations, NJ Media for Advance NJ.com reported. The Newark Liberty International Airport AirTrain system requires over a billion dollars in reconstruction, the Port Authority Board of Commissioners announced. The current AirTrain system is 19 years old, and critics have condemned its slowness, lack of reliability and general wear and tear.

Rosenthal '15 reflects on Club Nom success, future coordinators look to make changes next year

There have been 21 Club Nom events over the course of the past two years, founder and organizer Hannah Rosenthal ’15 said. Although not all eating clubs signed on to be involved with Club Nom last year, all 11 clubs joinedthis year, Rosenthal said. Club Nom is part of the Ask Big Questions initiative. Marni Blitz, associate director of the CJL, is the adviser of Club Nom along with Tennille Haynes, Director of the Fields Center. “[Club Nom] was a very low-barrier way to have important conversations,” Blitz said.“It was something that we were extremely supportive of from the very beginning.

Report on Latino and Asian American studies finds room for change

The University should provide the American Studies program with the necessary faculty hiring capacity to sustain the development of programs in Latino Studies and Asian American Studies, an April 3 report by the Asian American Student Association and Princeton Latinos y Amigosargued.The report highlighted the current state of ethnic studies at the University.

Petraeus GS '85 pleads guilty to misdemeanor charge

Retired four-star U.S.

News & Notes: New Jersey First Lady leaves job on Wall Street

New Jersey First Lady Mary Christie, wife of governor Chris Christie, said that her decision to leave her job as managing directorat the Wall Street investment firmAngelo, Gordon & Co. is not an indication that her husband has committed to a 2016 presidential campaign, NJ.comreported. A statement released by a spokesperson for the governor’s office said that Mary Christie had decided to take a hiatus from her work to spend more time with her family and young children. She said in an April 16 interview with NBC that she was not sure if she would take a leave of absence from her job if her husband were to seek the presidency. She also noted that the governor has not made up his mind on whether to run for president in 2016. Mary Christie has accompanied her husband on recent ostensible campaign trips, including a trip to New Hampshire as well as fundraisers for his leadership political action committee.

GSG forum debates divestment in preparation for graduate student referendum

The Graduate Student Government helda forum on Tuesday to discuss the divestment referendum that the graduate student body will vote on from Wednesday through Friday.Similar to the referendum that the undergraduate study body voted on last week, the graduate students' referendum calls upon the trustees of the University and the Princeton University Investment Company to “divest from multinational corporations that maintain the infrastructure of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, facilitate Israel’s and Egypt’s collective punishment of Palestinian civilians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, or facilitate state repression against Palestinians by Israeli, Egyptian, and Palestinian Authority security forces, until these corporations cease such activities.”The University should not benefit from the conflict in Israel, Kelly Roache GS said on behalf of Princeton Divests. “The University’s current investment practices are inimical to Palestinian human rights and Palestinian dignity, and it is incumbent upon us to end our complicity in that action and stand up,” Roache said. While multinational corporations might participate in the Israeli conflict because of foreseeable profit, their involvement causes the average Palestinian to suffer, Alexander Berg GS, another representative of Princeton Divests, said. Though students cannot know exactly which companies the University’s endowment is invested in, there are several known “economic ties” to companies like Caterpillar and Motorola, Roache said.

DPS arrests man after pursuit in Friend Center

The Department of Public Safety charged a 30-year-old man with aggravated assault and resisting arrest on Tuesday afternoon. Reginald Murph, of Teaneck, N.J., was arrested after a pursuit that began in the Friend Center at approximately 1:30 p.m., Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office spokesperson Casey DeBlasio said. Public Safety detective Michele Aversa first saw Murph on the third floor of the Engineering Library, and recognized him because she had previously charged him for theft and unauthorized use of credit cards stolen from the Engineering Library, according to DeBlasio. DeBlasio added that Aversa knew of active warrants for Murph from South Plainfield and New Brunswick municipal courts. The Department of Public Safety deferred comment to theMercer County Prosecutor’s Office. After noticing Aversa, Murph exited the Friend Center and confronted a University patrolman waiting outside.

U. sexual misconduct climate survey sees over 50 percent response rate

Fifty-two percent of undergraduate students and 53 percent of graduate students responded to the University’s sexual misconduct climate survey, according to Vice Provost for Institutional Diversity and Equity Michele Minter. The University’s goal was a 50 percent response rate, Minter added. “This is a very high response rate for a survey of its type, so we are very pleased,” Minter said.