News

CST StudioLab to open for the spring semester

CST StudioLab to open for the spring semester

Betty Liu

StudioLab, a new space developed by the University's Council on Science and Technology, will open in late December, according to Naomi Leonard, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering.The Council on Science and Technology supports intellectual exchange and interdisciplinary collaboration in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields, according to its website.The space is being createdin order to bring people together and broaden connections between the STEM fields and the arts, humanities and social sciences.The StudioLab will be located on the B level of Fine Hall.

NEWS | 12/14/2015

Speakers examine discrimination at U. in 'Reach in, Teach in' colloquium

Linda Song

While the University has come a long way since its beginning in terms of addressing issues of discrimination on campus, the initial bar was very low and it still has a long way to go, panelists and members of the community said in a public colloquium Saturday hosted by the Black Justice League.The event featured panels and presentations by African American studies professors Joshua Guild, Eddie Glaude, Ruha Benjamin, Tera Hunter and Cornel West GS '80.Guild and Wilglory Tanjong ’18 began with a joint presentation, titled “Why Here?

NEWS | 12/13/2015

Princeton files plan for 446 units of affordable housing

Hannah Waxman

Princeton filed a plan this week for affordable housing, after a New Jersey State Supreme Court ruling in March dictated that municipalities provide housing opportunities for people earning moderate to low incomes, according to the New Jersey State League of Municipalities.The ruling instructed that Princeton and other towns in New Jersey present their plans for approval by judges.

NEWS | 12/13/2015

National attention on BJL campus protests highlight controversial issues on race

Caroline Lippman

The protests of the University’s Black Justice League in late November have received national attention, including discussions of renaming campus buildings and speculation on the possibility that the protests may impact a future Supreme Court decision. Michael Dorf, law professor at Cornell University, noted that campus protests across the nation have sparked a conversation about race and rights. “To my mind, the protests are effective from the perspective of a university committed to the freedom of speech, even if the protestors don’t get what they want,” he said. He added that if people are chanting or occupying an office, that is free speech, but it is also a way of sparking free speech. Students on college campuses across the country have engaged in similar protests to remove the names of racist benefactors from school institutions,noted Evan Draim ’16, a member of the Princeton Open Campus Coalition. University of KentuckyPresident Eli Capilouto decided to cover a mural depicting scenes of African-American laborers working in a tobacco field, explaining that the mural inaccurately conveyed the nation’s past with respect to race and equality, andUniversity of OregonPresident Michael Schill ’80 agreed on Nov.

NEWS | 12/13/2015

U. acknowledges BJL demands, no set deadline for final decisions

Andie Ayala

Although several actions were taken by the administrators in order to address the agreement between University President Christopher Eisgruber ’83 and the Black Justice League, there is no set deadline for final decisions regarding the demands of the BJL, Eisgruber said.According to Eisgruber, the modified demands of the BJL have been delegated to key administrators and departments who will ultimately assess the issues at hand and consult the greater University community to determine a concrete course of action.He added that the administration has established multiple platforms intended to facilitate conversation between University members representing different interests, including open meetings with the Task Force on General Education, a committee on the legacy of Woodrow Wilson, Class of 1879, and meetings between him and student groups.Members of the BJL declined or did not respond to requests for comment.Eisgruber explained that he wrote to Chair of the University Board of Trustees Katie Hall ’80, Head of Wilson College Eduardo Cadava and Dean of Faculty Deborah Prentice the evening that the protests ended.“What we have done in response to the protests is to take the requests and proposals that the BJL wanted to discuss and put them in processes where the community has the chance to deliberate about them and decide fairly, and that’s what we're going to do with these requests and requests coming from other groups,” Eisgruber said.According to Associate Dean and the Director of Programs for Access and Inclusion Khristina Gonzalez, the Office of the Dean of the College has invited members of the BJL, Latinx, the Princeton Open Campus Coalition and other student groups to participate in a Task Force on General Education meeting that discussed the value of a diversity requirement.She added that three different curricular conversations have been held in each of the residential colleges during which all students were invited to discuss the goals and values of the proposed diversity requirement and what the requirement would look like.Gonzalez noted that the three open conversations saw a full house of a diverse array of students, who appeared to be taking advantage of the provided resources to express their opinions.She explained that the Office of the Dean of the College will continue holding conversations on campus climate through the next semester.

NEWS | 12/13/2015

USG discusses ways to increase student voter turnout during elections

Katherine Oh

The Undergraduate Student Government will be implementing efforts to increase student turnout at USG elections, chief elections manager Sung Won Chang ’18 said at the senate meeting on Sunday.Chang said that he would be setting up tables before future elections to encourage students to vote and might also look into implementing a single transferable vote system which would eliminate the need for runoff elections.“We could do much better in increasing the turnout, including increasing publicity,” Chang added.

NEWS | 12/13/2015

Méndez discusses regulations for treatment of prisoners, calls for abolishment of death penalty

Myrial Holbrook

Torture does not provide safety and actually exacerbates societal problems, Juan Méndez, U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishmentand prominent human rights advocate, said in a lecture on Thursday. The lecture coincided with Méndez receiving the 2015 Adlai Stevenson Award for a “career of service to the global community,” according to the award’s website. Méndezexplained that even if one could say that torture provides intelligence and information, it also leads to a decrease in the citizens' trust and faith in their country. He added that citizens have fallen into a relativism about the moral condemnation of torture fueled by some state practice but also by our culture. “The culture in which we live is one that makes us feel that torture is ugly but it has to happen, that it’s inevitable, that somebody has to do it, that it keeps us safe — and if it keeps us safe, then we might as well look the other way and live with it,” he said. Mendez stressed the importance of understanding and upholding the international normative framework for human rights as essential to human rights advocacy and global accountability. He noted that the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which establishes such a framework of obligations, is ratified by many nations and includes obligations of the state to prevent torture, obligations which Méndez sees as the foremost concern. Mechanisms for prevention of torture include periodic review of police practices, allowance for civilian oversight of law enforcement bodies and re-training of law enforcement officials, Méndez said.

NEWS | 12/10/2015

Greenpeace alleges U. professor accepted monetary compensation for writing research papers

Shriya Sekhsaria

Physics professor William Happer GS ’64 has been accused of accepting bribes to write research papers that cast doubt on the reality of climate change, however he hasdenied these allegations. According to the details of the investigation published on Dec.

NEWS | 12/10/2015

Q&A: Juan Méndez, UN Special Rapporteur on Torture

Myrial Holbrook

Juan Méndez is the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment and a prominent leader in human rights advocacy.

NEWS | 12/10/2015

U. spokesperson Mbugua to leave U. for Carnegie Mellon in February

Claire Lee

Martin Mbugua, Director of Media Relations and University spokesperson, who has held the position since 2011, will leave the University to join Carnegie Mellon University as Assistant Vice President for Communications. Mbugua will start in his new position Feb.

NEWS | 12/10/2015

Chase discusses innovation, calls for replacing outdated technology

De Vann Sago

Startups are attractive in the outward-facing parts but disgusting behind the scenes, Robin Chase, the co-founder and former CEO of ZipCar and Buzzcar said at a lecture on Wednesday. “If we think about startups, they kind of remind me of hotels [in] that the public areas are really beautiful, and then you open up that wrong door and you go into the back cement area that’s dirty and has mud,” she said. Chase discussed how the idea for ZipCar developed from a 1999 conversation with her child’s best friend’s mother. The German woman went on vacation to Berlin, where she sat in a café, looked across the street and saw a shared car.

NEWS | 12/09/2015

Q&A: Robin Chase, entrepreneur and co-founder of Zipcar

Gladys Teng

Robin Chase, co-founder of the world's largest car sharing company Zipcar as well as Buzzcar and Veniam, gave a lecture titled “How a New Organizational Paradigm is Changing the Way We Work, Build Businesses and Shape Economies” on Wednesday.

NEWS | 12/09/2015

U. to renovate Bainbridge House on Nassau Street for arts, culture

Kristin Qian

The University will convert Bainbridge House, one of the longest standing buildings in Princeton since its construction in 1766, into a multifaceted arts and culture space open to the community.The goal of the restored Bainbridge House is to make it attractive for a passerby to open the front door, go in and have a moment of discovery by learning more about Princeton, both the town and the University, University Art Museum Director James Steward ’70explained.The Historical Society of Princeton has rented the 158 Nassau St.

NEWS | 12/09/2015

U. Architect McCoy GS ’80 discusses furniture on campus

Marcia Brown

While certain pieces of furniture around the University’s campus have a list price of several thousand dollars and others are listed as several hundred, the University typically receives a discount of 30 to 40 percent compared to showroom prices, University Architect Ron McCoy GS ’80 said. McCoy noted that these list prices do not reflect the discount the University receives from retailers. He explained that the University bids all furniture, meaning that they appeal directly to the sellers for deals and can essentially get discounts on every piece of furniture because they are either returning customers or making a bulk order.

NEWS | 12/09/2015

Whig-Clio freshmen debate diversity requirement

Marcia Brown

Four freshmen convened at the American Whig-Cliosophic Society's annual Frosh Senate Debate on Tuesday to debate whether the University should add a distribution requirement on the history of marginalized people.The Whig side, which argued in support of the requirement on the history of marginalized people, won the debate 20 to 17 after attendees and debaters voted.One of the demands made by the Black Justice League during the sit-in in November was to add a distribution requirement about the history of marginalized people.

NEWS | 12/08/2015

U. Librarian Trainer to step down after 21 years

Gladys Teng

University Librarian Karin Trainer, who has been in the position for 21 years, will be stepping down from her position on July 1, 2016.“It seemed as if it were a good time to turn the reins over to a new person,” Trainer said.

NEWS | 12/08/2015

Study finds plants are smart, strategic

Samvida Venkatesh

Plants are smart and change their nitrogen-fixing strategies based on their environments, a study by ecology and evolutionary biology professors Lars Hedin and Simon Levin found.The paper, published in the journal Nature Plants, looks at plants as smart and strategic beings rather than as passive features of the environment.“The approach we have taken, appropriating agency to plants, is a rather unique one and is one of the strengths of the ecology and evolutionary biology department here at Princeton,” Hedin said.Levin, who has worked on this problem along with Hedin for over ten years, said that this paper is the culmination of much effort and hard work that began with a review paper by Hedin in 2009 that set up the question of distribution of nitrogen fixers in different biomes.The counterintuitive distribution of nitrogen fixing plants in tropical and non-tropical environments has been a long-standing question in ecology.

NEWS | 12/08/2015

U. to launch mental health initiatives with Jed Foundation

Annie Yang

The University has implemented and gotten approval for a number of mental health initiatives, including an expansion of the UMatter program, since it joined the Jed and Clinton Health Matters Campus Programin October 2014. The program works with universities to implement and reassess policies involving mental health, substance abuse and suicide prevention programming on campus, according to theCampus Program Framework. Member institutions are required to commit to this program for at least four years and work with the program to develop and reassess various initiatives in place. Dr. Victor Schwartz, medical director of the Jed Foundation, explained that when a college joins the program, it is committing to form a campus-wide mental health task force and engage in a series of surveys which are used by the school to assess mental health and substance abuse prevention programming.

NEWS | 12/08/2015

Faculty approve rule changes, discuss WeSpeak survey results at meeting

Caroline Lippman

The faculty voted in favor of revisions to rules regarding the faculty who are in consensual relationships with students during its meeting on Monday.Dean of the Faculty Deborah Prentice presented revisions to the rules and procedures of faculty in “Rights, Rules, Responsibilities” that pertain to consensual relationships with students.She said the Faculty Advisory Committee on Policy undertook such revisions under the recommendation of the Faculty Student Advisory Committee to clarify policies on sexual misconduct.Prentice also noted changes related to sex discrimination and sexual misconduct “to streamline processes for adjudicating the cases of sexual misconduct.”Both changes were approved by the faculty.English professor Deborah Nord from the Faculty Student Advisory Committee discussed the results of the WeSpeak sexual misconduct survey.Nord noted that when the faculty met last September to vote on new processes for adjudication of sexual misconduct, she was asked to report back the following year with specific concerns and issues to address.She said that the survey results show an increase in the number of reported sexual misconduct cases than previous years, and explained that the new processes and procedures are making people feel more comfortable coming forward.She also noted that as a result of the new procedures, there were more appeals on sexual misconduct cases than usual this year.She highlighted some statistics from the survey, which shows that one-fifth of the student respondents experienced inappropriate sexual behavior, one in eight experienced inappropriate sexual contacts and one in nine experienced unwanted sexual activity, including rape.Furthermore, the results found that women were three and a half times more likely to experience inappropriate sexual behavior than men, and students who identified as LGBT were twice more likely to experience inappropriate sexual behavior than their heterosexual counterparts.In addition, 70 percent of the students who had been assaulted reported that their assaulter had been using drugs or alcohol, or both.

NEWS | 12/07/2015

Tilghman to join Harvard Corporation

Zaynab Zaman

University President Emerita Shirley Tilghman will be joining the Harvard Corporation in January.The Harvard Corporation is the oldest corporate body in the United States, and is also known as the President and Fellows of Harvard College, according to the corporation homepage.Tilghman will be replacing Harvard advisor James Rothenberg, who unexpectedly passed away in July.Though joining the Harvard Corporation Board is a significant commitment, Tilghman explained that her role at the University will not be altered.

NEWS | 12/07/2015

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