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Panelists discuss the relationship between empathy, altruism, happiness

Panelists discuss the relationship between empathy, altruism, happiness

Gladys Teng

If you just stay in empathy without the bigger dimension of compassion and warm-heartedness, you may experience burnout, Buddhist monk Matthieu Ricard said at a lecture onWednesday. Ricard was joined at the event bybioethics professor Peter Singer andeffective altruist Julia Wise. Ricard defined burnout as feeling intense helplessness and sorrow over the suffering of others. He currently does humanitarian work in Nepal and has authored the books “Happiness: A Guide to Developing Life’s Most Important Skill” and “Altruism: The Power of Compassion to Change Yourself and the World.” “If you bring the altruistic dimension, it becomes the antidote to burnout,” Ricard explained. He said that he participated in a study in which he went into an fMRI scanner, and the researcher asked him to meditate while concentrating on just empathy.

NEWS | 10/21/2015

Q&A: Nancy Duff Campbell, founder of National Women’s Law Center

Tea Wimer

Nancy Duff Campbell, co-president and founder of the National Women’s Law Center, spoke about women’s economic issues in a lecture on Wednesday.

NEWS | 10/21/2015

Workshop explores climate change and history

Tea Wimer

Fifteen graduate students, researchers and junior faculty from across the country participated in a workshop on campus to examine societal resilience to environmental stress and change by extracting pieces of tree cores. The workshop took place last month as part of a three-year project led by history professor John Haldon andthe Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies’ Climate Change and History Research Initiative. “The idea behind this whole initiative is to look at environmental studies, sciences and history, and try to think about ways that the former environment influenced [human societies] over the last 2,000 years,” Lee Mordechai GS, a Ph.D.

NEWS | 10/21/2015

Bush ’18 launches Uwire, a mobile app that tracks events on the Street

Andie Ayala

Richard Bush ’18 released the mobile application Uwire on Saturdayto give University students information about which eating clubs are open on any given night. The app features a map of Prospect Avenue, with cross icons placed on the eating clubs that are closed and beer icons on the eating clubs that are open.

NEWS | 10/21/2015

USG to host coat giveaway for low-income students

Caroline Lippman

The Undergraduate Student Government’s University Student Life Committee will host its first ever coat giveaway Thursday evening, according to USLC chair Kathy Chow ’17.The USLC partnered with the Princeton Hidden Minority Council to organize the event.Chow said that all students are invited to attend the giveaway, but that the event is targeted at those unequipped for a New Jersey winter.“The idea is not for it to be a flea market type-thing, but to be more for students who genuinely need a coat,” Jessica Reed ’18, a USLC committee member, said.Reed explained the original idea for the coat giveaway stemmed from many students’ lack of preparation for winter, a need for coats on campus that USLC noticed.

NEWS | 10/21/2015

News & Notes: 19 students diagnosed with hand, foot and mouth disease

Daily Princetonian Staff

Nineteen students in total have now been diagnosed with hand, foot and mouth disease since the beginning of this academic year as of Tuesday afternoon, University spokesperson Martin Mbugua said.Thirteen cases had been reported as of last Thursday.According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, hand, foot and mouth disease is a viral illness common among children under five years old.Symptoms include reduced appetite, sore throat and malaise.

NEWS | 10/20/2015

Bernanke lectures on financial crises patterns

Katherine Oh

Having an individual, a company or a central bank willing to lend to banks is crucial in responding to financial panics,Former chairman of the Federal Reserve and former economics department chair of the University Ben Bernanke said in a lecture Tuesday.“Lender of last resort activity is a critical tool to stopping bank runs,” Bernanke said.Bernanke used the 1907 financial panic as an example, explaining that there was no central bank to deal with it as the Federal Reserve had not yet been instituted.

NEWS | 10/20/2015

5 U. alumni find entrepreneurship experience at Venture for America

Myrial Holbrook

Five University alumni have participated in Venture for America, a two-year fellowship program for aspiring entrepreneurs, since the program was founded in 2011.Leandra Elberger, senior communications and development manager at VFA, said that VFA seeks to provide an alternative pathway to other paths such as finance and consulting.She explained that the organization recruits, trains and then helps to match college graduates with startups in 15 cities across the country, including Baltimore, Miami and Philadelphia.

NEWS | 10/20/2015

Forbes Café reopened Sunday after redecoration

Claire Lee

Forbes Café, a small café within Forbes College that sells beverages and snacks, reopened on Sunday. The café was being refurbished over the first couple weeks of school, manager Chanyoung Park ’17 said. Park was appointed manager of the café last fall. Park explained that the café was originally built two years ago and became a functional café starting last year.

NEWS | 10/20/2015

New emergency response app to be launched this academic year

Christopher Umanzor

A new emergency response mobile application that would enable students in dangerous situations to call the Department of Public Safety simply by swiping right will be available during the 2015-16 academic year, Environmental Health and Safety director Robin Izzo announced at the Council of the Princeton University Community meeting on Oct.

NEWS | 10/20/2015

News & Notes: NJ Transit begins #RudeZone campaign

Daily Princetonian Staff

NJ Transit will debut its #RudeZone campaign over the next six weeks toencouragepassengers to mind their manners during their commutes, Planet Princeton reported. The campaign will be centered around postcards placed on train seats that read“Greetings from the ?#?RudeZone?! You’ve heard this person before during your commute” or “Don’t be that person, keep it down.” The postcards are accompanied by cartoons of nightmare passengers. The campaign will focus on six specific types of "rude"passengers. A “Phone Booth” passenger is one who loudly and publicly holds phone conversations.

NEWS | 10/19/2015

Treiman lectures on class labels from Communist China

Treiman lectures on class labels from Communist China

Paul Phillips

Family class labels assigned by the Chinese Communist government in 1950 still affected levels of schooling and job status in 1996, even though the labels were abolished in 1979, Donald Treiman argued in a lecture on Monday.The lecture was the firsthosted by the newCenter on Contemporary China. Treiman is a professor at theUniversity of California, Los Angeles.Treiman said that when the Communist Party took control of China, it assigned family class labels to people living in China based on family status in the years just before liberation.

NEWS | 10/19/2015

Entrepreneurial Hub launches in new Chambers St. space

Christina Vosbikian

The Princeton University Entrepreneurial Hub, a new incubator space to advance entrepreneurial initiatives and education for faculty, students and alumni, launched this summer.The Hub resides in a University-leased building at 34 Chambers Street in downtown Princeton.Associate Director of the Keller Center Cornelia Huellstrunk said the University established the Lab to respond to tremendous interest in entrepreneurship among students, faculty and alumni.

NEWS | 10/19/2015

13 incidences of hand, foot and mouth disease diagnosed on campus

Maya Wesby

Thirteen students have been diagnosed with hand, foot and mouth disease since the beginning of this academic year as of Thursday — a stark increase from last year's single case, University Spokesperson Martin Mbugua said.University Health Services Director John Kolligian deferred comment to Mbugua.“The cause of the rise in cases at Princeton is unknown,” UHS Health Educator Kathy Wagner said.

NEWS | 10/19/2015

News & Notes: Harvard students stage protest during speech by Israeli military officer

Daily Princetonian Staff

About 15 Harvard students staged a “die-in” at the entrance of the Harvard Hillel building on Thursday night, according to the Harvard Crimson. The protest involved students lying down near the building’s entrance.

NEWS | 10/18/2015

Local radio station WPRB celebrates 75th anniversary

Christina Sue

WPRB, the University’s non-profit commercial local radio station, is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year with activities including a membership drive with a committed goal of raising $75,000 and a new exhibition at Mudd Library. The station covers music, sports and news and serves populations in eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Wilmington, Del.

NEWS | 10/18/2015

Public safety director elaborates on new emergency response plan

Katherine Oh

Executive Director of Public Safety Paul Ominsky explained the recent policy providing sworn DPS officers with access to rifles in cases of emergency at the Undergraduate Student Government senate meeting on Sunday. Ominsky explained to the senate that the Department of Public Safety is enhancing its emergency response plan with a new policy providing for the access to rifles in the rare case of an active shooter or someone brandishing a firearm.

NEWS | 10/18/2015

U. alumni discuss Asian-American identity at inaugural 'We Flourish' conference

Jessica Li

The concept of taking care of others is at the core of the Asian-American identity, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Labor Christopher P.

NEWS | 10/18/2015

5 freshmen elected to Class of 2019 council

Gladys Teng

Carly Bonnet '19, Susan Liu '19, Chelsea Ng '19, Eric Sklanka '19 and Christopher Umanzor '19 have been elected to the class council for the Class of 2019. According to Undergraduate Student Government chief elections manager Grant Golub ’17, Umanzor received 245 votes, Ng received 220 votes, Sklanka received 198 votes, Liu received 193 votes and Bonnet received 166 votes.

NEWS | 10/16/2015

New VP for Campus Life Calhoun to focus on diversity

Marcia Brown

W. Rochelle Calhoun, who started as vice president for campus life in September, explained that she puts in a special effort to get to know students because while her job is centered around students, her office is in Nassau Hall and students don’t go to Nassau Hall just to hang out. “I’ve really spent many of my afternoons and evening ... going and visiting student groups,” Calhoun said.

NEWS | 10/15/2015

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