News

Tax court judge rules against U. motion to dismiss tax exemption lawsuit

Tax court judge rules against U. motion to dismiss tax exemption lawsuit

Marcia Brown

New Jersey State Tax Court Judge Vito Bianco ruled against the University’s attempt to dismiss a lawsuit that challenges its tax-exemptions on 19 buildings, including Frist Campus Center and McCarter Theatre, due to procedural issues this past Friday. The ruling comes with a series of past rulings that are part of the legal battles over the tax-exempt status of certain University properties and the University’s own tax-exempt status as an educational nonprofit.rkee University General Counsel Ramona Romero deferred comment to University Media Relations Specialist Min Pullan. Pullan deferred comment to a statement, which noted that the judge ordered the plaintiffs to file a list of the specific properties their lawsuit concerns within the next 30 days. “As with any complicated lawsuit, it’s not uncommon for there to be various motions along the way that attempt to clarify which issues are on the table,” Vice President and Secretary Robert Durkee ’69 said. Bruce Afran, legal counsel for the four plaintiffs who are town residents, described the motion as the University's 'last ditch' effort to obtain dismissal of the cases after seven unsuccessful rulings in court. “The University is now zero and seven.

NEWS | 02/10/2016

Agolia ’16, Nelson ’16 win Pyne Prize

Daily Princetonian Staff

University seniors James Agolia '16 and Andrew Nelson '16 were named winners of the 2016 Moses Taylor Pyne Honor Prize on Wednesday, according to a University press release.The Pyne Prize isthe highest general distinction given to undergraduate students.Agolia and Nelson will be recognized with the prize during Alumni Day on Feb.

NEWS | 02/10/2016

Christie drops presidential race after N.H. primary

Claire Lee

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie dropped out of the presidential race on Wednesday after a sixth-place finish at the New Hampshire primary with 7.4% of the vote, according to Time Magazine.Christie is an ex officio member of the University's Board of Trustees.Christie had over 100 endorsements from New Hampshire state legislators and the Union Leader, a newspaper for Republicans in state politics.

NEWS | 02/10/2016

Charter decreases sophomore dues, Quad seeks to assist students in finding financial aid to cover club costs

Maya Wesby

In an effort to make the club more accessible,Charter Club announced early Tuesday that the club’s sophomore spring semester dues have dropped from $785 to $300, while the Quadrangle Club seeks to help students in finding financial assistance to cover club costs after it’s sophomore dues have risen to $800 instead of an earlier announced amount of $500 over the weekend. Charter juniors can choose to become social members, as opposed to paying for full membership, for the spring semester for $785, according to Lorena Grundy ’17, president of Charter. Grundy said she had spoken with several students and learned that the expensive dues were preventing them from signing in to Charter. “We really wanted to give sophomores and juniors who are considering joining Charter the opportunity to experience Charter without breaking the bank so that they can decide if Charter’s right for them,” she said.

NEWS | 02/09/2016

U. to launch search committee to hire Dean for Diversity and Inclusion

Andie Ayala

After having introduced the position of Dean for Diversity and Inclusion in December 2015, The Office of the Vice President for Campus Life is now reviewing applicants for the position, according to Vice President for Campus Life Rochelle Calhoun.The position description articulates that a successful candidate must hold an advanced degree, have at least seven years of progressive responsible administrative experience and have demonstrated understanding of the importance of a diverse, equitable and inclusive environment in a university setting.The position of Dean for Diversity and Inclusion was recommended by the Report of the Special Task Force on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, which was released in May 2015.

NEWS | 02/09/2016

Perlmans emphasize the importance of music education

Kristin Qian

Violinists Itzhak and Toby Perlman said that society is not complete without the arts, emphasizing the importance of nurturing extraordinarily talented students from a young age, during theinaugural conversation in the Class of 2016’s "Last Lecture" seriesTuesday.Itzhak Perlman, an Israeli-born violinist, have played with many major orchestras around the world and awarded 15 Grammys.

NEWS | 02/09/2016

Task Force seeks expansion for American Studies Program

Betty Liu

At an open meeting held by the newly formedTask Force on American Studieson Monday, students and administrators discussedpossible ways to expandthe Program in American Studies to include Asian American Studies, American Indian Studies and American Jewish Studies, among other disciplines. The Task Force has been charged with preparing a report on how the University can best respond to opportunities and challenges in the field of American Studies and is seeking as much feedback from as many students as possible, according to Anne Cheng, professor of English and director of the Program in American Studies. "Part of the mission of the Task Force in American Studies going forward is to think about American Studies as a home for a fuller range for race and ethnicity studies and to do so in a way that integrates those fields into the Princeton curriculum," said Cheng. Cheng also said that that Task Force is meeting several times a month and is in the process of gathering information by speaking to graduate students, undergraduate students and other faculty to propose a plan for expanding the American Studies Program. "Our goal is to really think about how to do that at Princeton in a way that is integrated into Princeton’s curriculum at large so it’s not an isolated, segregated field of knowledge," Cheng said regarding the Task Force's proposal for how to expand the American Studies Program. The Task Force is still in the process of drafting a proposal, but their goal is to finish this document and submit it to University President Christopher Eisgruber '83 by the end of the semester, Cheng said. The Task Force is being created to identify ways that Princeton can better respond to opportunities and challenges in the field of American Studies, according to a statement by Eisgruber on the University'sStrategic Planning website. Hendrik Hartog, professor of history and co-director of the Program in American Studies, noted that the Task Force is part of the University’s Strategic Planning process.

NEWS | 02/09/2016

PPPL researchers receive grant to use supercomputer

Abhiram Karuppur

Researchers from the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory won a grant to use 80 million processor hours on the nation’s fastest supercomputer to conduct simulations of various phenomena.The researchers include University Astrophysical Sciences Professor Amitava Bhattacharjee GS ’81, PPPL physicist William Fox, University research scholar Yi-Min Huang and PPPL graduate student Jonathan Ng.In addition to the PPPL team, University Astrophysical Sciences Professor James Stone also won 47 million processor hours to pursue a project titled "Magnetohydrodynamic Models of Accretion Including Radiation Transport," and Geology Professor Jeroen Tromp GS ’90 GS '92 received 80 million processor hours to pursue a project titled "Global Adjoint Tomography."Bhattacharjee said that he plans to use the supercomputer to conduct simulations of high-energy-density plasmas.

NEWS | 02/08/2016

Students respond to U. professor Perry's arrest

Jessica Li and Myrial Holbrook

In response to African American Studies Professor Imani Perry’s arrest on Saturday, some University students are collecting stories from students, alumni, staff and faculty who have had experiences plagued by racism with the Princeton police department, according to Asanni York ’17. York said that this effort has the aim of urging the University to issue a statement supporting Perry, he said. He explained that the University, which he noted prides itself on diversity and inclusion, needs to look at the fact that though Perry is a black woman with a distinguished background, she still experiences the troubles that face other black women at the hands of police brutality and at the hand of a police state. "The police department is already threatening Professor Perry and the University needs to stand in solidarity with her," York said. York added that the students are issuing statements on Facebook, sending emails to campus listservs and tweeting to raise awareness. Perry was arrested on Saturday, Feb.

NEWS | 02/08/2016

COS 126 ratings improve after switching to online lectures

Jessica Li

After traditional, in-class lectures were replaced by ones held online, lecture ratings for COS 126: General Computer Science improved from 3.3 to 3.8, according to Professor of Computer Science and COS 126 course head Robert Sedgewick.COS 126 is the largest course in the University by annual enrollment, with 318 students having completed it in the fall semester and 405 students currently enrolled for the spring semester, according to the Office of the Registrar.COS 126 lectures, coined as 'flipped lectures,' have been offered exclusively online since this past fall semester, according to Sedgewick.He also noted that COS 126 achieved an overall course rating of 4.3 on a 5.0 scale, the highest recorded rating in the history of the course.

NEWS | 02/08/2016

Student-faculty relationships to be prohibited under new U. policy

Caroline Lippman

Any kind of romantic relationship between members of the University where one has supervisory status or direct power over the other is forbidden under the revised University policy on faculty-student relationships, even if the relationship is consensual, according to Dean of the Faculty Deborah Prentice. Revisions to "Rules and Procedures of the Faculty" and the corresponding section of "Rights, Rules, Responsibilities" were approved at the faculty meeting in December. According to Prentice, the Faculty Advisory Committee on Policy drafted the changes at the recommendation of a committee of faculty formed in the fall of 2014 to address sexual misconduct policies at the University. She also noted that peer institutions such as Harvard put out new policies in the last academic year and that the decision to make changes to the University’s policy on consensual relationships was not a response to any incidents or violations at the University but rather in response to peer institutions changing their policies. Dean of the College Jill Dolan, who also served on the FACP that drafted the policy changes, deferred comment to Dean Prentice. Dean of the Graduate School Sanjeev Kulkarni, who was also involved on the committee that drafted the changes, declined to comment. Prentice noted that the policy’s former language was vague and ambiguous. "We thought that it needed greater clarity than it had about what kinds of activities were and were not okay," she said. The former language in "Rules and Procedures of the Faculty" stated that consensual sexual relationships between students and faculty members are a serious violation of the faculty member’s professional responsibility to the student.

NEWS | 02/08/2016

Updated: Number of bickerees, acceptance rates increase across clubs

Katherine Oh

According to the statistics from the Interclub Council, provided to the Daily Princetonian by ICC president Jean-Carlos Arenas '16, the six bicker clubs received 705 applications in total this year, a slight decrease from 716 applications last year.

NEWS | 02/07/2016

U. Professor arrested for an outstanding parking ticket

Myrial Holbrook

Imani Perry, theHughes-Rogers Professor of African American Studiesat the University, was arrested in the borough of Princeton for an outstanding parking ticket from three years ago on Saturday,according to Perry'sTwitter account. Perry wrote that the police allegedly refused to allow her to make a call before her arrest, conducted a body search on her and handcuffed her to a table at the station.She noted that although she was shaken by the incident, but that it has renewed her commitment to the struggle against racism and carcerality. Perry did not respond to requests for comment. The Princeton Police Department did not respond to requests for comment. Section 39:4-139.10 of title 39 of the 2013 New Jersey Revised Statutes state the penalties for failure to pay parking judgements include suspension of the driver’s license or the registration of the vehicle. Section 39:4-139.10a of the same statute states that if the court fails to issue a warrant for the arrest of an individual for parking violations or order a suspension of the individual’s driving privileges, the matter shall be dismissed and not reopened. Eddie S.

NEWS | 02/07/2016

Wilson Legacy Committee gathers diverse opinion from scholars

Marcia Brown

The University Board of Trustees’ Woodrow Wilson Legacy Committee solicited papers from nine scholars who are experts on the history of Woodrow Wilson, class of 1879, about his contributions and legacy in education and public service. The nine scholars are historians James Axtell, Kendrick Clements, Nathan Connolly, John Milton Cooper Jr.

NEWS | 02/07/2016

Cheng '16 looks back on her year in office

Katherine Oh

FormerUndergraduate Student GovernmentpresidentElla Cheng '16said that the past year in USG was highlighted by revision of the P/D/F reversal policy, efforts to spread awareness about financial aid andanalysis of studentneeds through the 'What Matters' survey. Cheng is a former staff writer for the Daily Princetonian. According to outgoingacademics committee chair Ramie Fathy ’16, the USG academics committee pursued many projects driven by student interests, particularly administrative changestothe P/D/F policy. “When I came into the committee it was very different.

NEWS | 02/06/2016

Bicker ends, fewer bickerees across eating clubs

Katherine Oh

The number of bicker participants decreased this year compared to last year for multiple eating clubs, Cannon Dial Elm club president Ian McGeary '16 said. "Our total bicker number was lower and a lot of the other clubs saw that too," McGeary said. The decrease might be attributed to more upperclassmen choosing to be independent or on an upperclassmen meal plan, McGeary added. McGeary said that a total of 171 students bickered for Cannon this week, a decrease from 200 bickerees last year.

NEWS | 02/05/2016

U. receives record 29,313 applicants for Class of 2020

Christina Vosbikian

The Office of Admission has received and processed a record applicant pool of 29,313 applicants for the Class of 2020, the highest in the University's history, Dean of Admissions Janet Rapelye said.The applicant pool for the class of 2020 marks an increase of 7.4 percent from last year's pool of applicants, according to Rapelye.A total of 27,290 applications were received for the Class of 2019, of which1,908 students, or 6.99 percent, were admitted.The application numbers are yet to be analyzed for outstanding trends and specific metrics, Rapelye said.Rapelye added that the staff of the Office of Undergraduate Admissions is currently reading and evaluating applications for the Class of 2020.The number of applications has remained relatively constant since 2010, ranging between 26,000 and 27,000.

NEWS | 02/04/2016

Farah Amjad ’16 and Clarissa Kimmey ’16 awarded ReachOut fellowships

Andie Ayala

Farah Amjad ’16 and Clarissa Kimmey ’16 were awarded the 2016 fellowships from 56-81-06 ReachOut Domestic and International Fellowships.

NEWS | 02/04/2016

Frank Newport of Gallup discusses public opinion polls, voter priorities

Annie Yang

Despite the controversy behind Gallup's decision to move away frompolling leading up to the 2016 presidential elections, Editor-in-Chief of Gallup Frank Newport argued that polling is more than just election polling in a lecture Wednesday afternoon. In light of the 2016 state presidential primaries, Newport asserted that Gallup decided to move away from focusing on polling during this election cycle in order to focus on overall public opinion.Although Gallup is known for its role in developing horse-race polling, and has been one of the primary voices on election polling, in recent years ithas decided to focus on issues and voter priorities instead of forecasting election results. Newport is the editor-in-chief of Gallup and author of "Polling Matters—Why Leaders Must Listen to the Wisdom of the People." His analyses on the American public's views on elected officials and on public mood and behavior make regular appearances in his blog "Polling Matters." "What is the role of public opinion — beyond voting — as a measurement?" he asked. Public opinion is manifested in the vote and is essentially channeled through elections, he said.

NEWS | 02/04/2016

Q&A: Frank Newport, Editor-in-Chief of Gallup

Christopher Umanzor

Frank Newport is the Editor-in-Chief of Gallup, a management consulting company known for its influential public opinion polls, and author of "Polling Matters: Why Leaders Must Listen to the Wisdom of the People."He sat down with The Daily Princetonian before a lecture Thursday to talk about the importance of polling in politics, the role of Gallup in the 2016 election and where his love of polling comes from.Daily Princetonian: What are some of the important changes in political polling since you've become Editor-in-Chief of the Gallup? Frank Newport: The biggest change probably methodologically is the increasing use of cell phones in each sample which we did not have when I started in 1990, we were using the all land-line interviews so we continually changed our methodology.

NEWS | 02/04/2016

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