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Petition for Princeton to divest sparks debate

Petition for Princeton to divest sparks debate

Shriya Sekhsaria

Over 450 students and faculty have signed competing petitions in the last week about whether or not Princeton should divest from companies involved with Israel. Forty-eight faculty members urged the University last Wednesday to divest its endowment funds from all companies that "contribute to or profit from the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and continued siege of Gaza." The petition, which was published in The Daily Princetonian as an advertisement, has elicited mixed responses from the University community.

NEWS | 11/09/2014

A.B. departments show marked differences in study abroad rates

A.B. departments show marked differences in study abroad rates

Corinne Lowe

Approximately 56 percent of undergraduate students at the University engage in study abroad programs between semesters and summers abroad, and 27 percent do it more than once, according to Director of Study Abroad in the Office of International Programs Mell Bolen. However, the number of students that spends a full semester abroad or more is much smaller.

NEWS | 11/09/2014

Cornel West GS ’80 discusses problems facing present-day Black population

Katherine Oh

African-American studies professor emeritus Cornel West GS’80discussed problems facing the present-day Black population in a lecture on Thursday, saying that Black people need to confront the injustice against them by refusing to give in or compromise early, and turning to love and justice rather than anger. Eddie Glaude Jr., professor of religion and African-American studies and chair of Center for African-American studies, and Imani Perry, professor of African-American studies, joined West for the conversation. West was recently detained by police during a scuffle at the Ferguson Police Department. West said that the truth about life as a Black person in the United States is too often hidden because Black Americans are too scared to take a risk by telling it.

NEWS | 11/06/2014

News & Notes: Harvard secretly photographed students in lecture halls last spring

Daily Princetonian Staff

A study conducted by Harvard on classroom attendance last spring by secretly photographing 2,000 students in 10 lecture halls last spring came to light Tuesday night at a faculty meeting. During the meeting, Harvard’s Vice Provost for Advances in Learning Peter Bol remarked that the Initiative for Learning and Teaching installed cameras to record attendance, and pictures were scanned by a computer program to count the number of empty and occupied seats. Bol said the study was not meant to identify any individual, and the lack of prior notification was intended to avoid bias, according to The Boston Globe. Bol said that the study went through the university’s review board beforehand. The students whose images were captured were not notified until this Wednesday afternoon, and some students and faculty said the research was an invasion of privacy. “You should do studies only with the consent of the people being studied,”Harvard computer science professor Harry Lewis saidin an interview with the Globe. In an interview with the Harvard Crimson, Harvard President Drew Faust said that she will have the case reviewed by a panel that oversees the newly established electronic communication policies.

NEWS | 11/06/2014

News & Notes Tiger Inn to remain open throughout investigation into photo scandal

Daily Princetonian Staff

Tiger Inn is expected to remain open while its Graduate Board and the University conduct separate investigations into allegations that a TI officer distributed a picture of a female student performing oral sex on a male student within the club’s dance floor.

NEWS | 11/06/2014

Former NYT executive editor Jill Abramson defends leaks

Pooja Patel

Journalist leaks are in the public interest and do not necessarily pose a major threat to national security, former executive editor of The New York Times Jill Abramson argued at a lecture Thursday. Abramson, who started her career as an investigative reporter for Time Magazine, spent 17 years in senior management at The New York Times, becoming the first female managing editor in 2003 and later the first executive editor.

NEWS | 11/06/2014

Found in violation of Title IX, Princeton to reexamine at least 11 cases of sexual misconduct

Zaynab Zaman

Princeton will have to reexamine at least 11 cases of sexual misconduct, all of them adjudicated internally by the Faculty-Student Committee on Discipline during the past three academic years. The U.S.

NEWS | 11/06/2014

Lewis Center launches art-based community initiatives

Charles Kyungchan Min

The Lewis Center for the Arts has launched a series of outreach initiatives in its attempt to engage the Princeton community through the arts. The initiatives, which include campus activities and “breakout” trips in collaboration with the Pace Center of Civic Engagement, are an attempt to allow University students to utilize their creativity as a means of civic engagement, according to the Lewis Center's outreach website. “We want to bring the University students with at-risk kids in town and Trenton or Newark through the Lewis Center,” Fanny Chouinard, special outreach projects manager for the Lewis Center, said.

NEWS | 11/06/2014

Debate highlights differing interpretations of marriage's function, symbolic value

Olivia Wicki

A debate on the case for same-sex marriage between politics professorStephen Macedo and Sherif Girgis ’08 ended on the same platform from which it started: The case for same-sex marriage has a limiting principle, one side said, while the other argued changing marriage law accordingly would strengthen the institution of marriage. The debate was moderated by religion professor Eric Gregory. A limiting principle is a principle, often unquestioned, that may limit the explanations one comes up with. Girgis, who took a class taught by Macedo in 2006, majored in philosophy at the University where his senior thesis on sex ethics was awarded the title of best thesis in ethics and best thesis in philosophy. Macedo, who argued for same-sex marriage, said that gay people will benefit both physically and psychologically through the realization of their marriage commitments.

NEWS | 11/05/2014

News and Notes: Yale graduate criticizes colleges' sexual misconduct policies

Paul Phillips

Patrick Witt, a 2012 graduate of Yale, published an article in the Boston Globe Monday in which he criticized Harvard's sexual misconduct policies based on his own experiences at Yale, the Yale Daily News reported. Witt, formerly a football quarterback and Rhodes Scholar finalist, was the subject of a sexual misconduct complaint filed against him by his ex-girlfriend.

NEWS | 11/05/2014

News and Notes: Harvard still leads with number of alumni in Congress

Daily Princetonian Staff

Five Harvard alumni won seats in Congress in Tuesday’s midterm elections, keeping the University in first place among schools with the greatest number of alumni to serve in Congress, according to data gathered from Find the Best. A ranking of schools with the largest number of alumni in Congress was originally released by Find the Best in 2012 following the election of the 113thCongress.

NEWS | 11/05/2014

News and Notes: Harvard Hosting 3rd Annual Sex Week

Daily Princetonian Staff

Harvard is hosting its third annual “Sex Week,” a week of programs promoting a holistic understanding of sex and sexuality among students, according to the event’s website. The event is coordinated by a student-run group,Sexual Health Education & Advocacy throughout Harvard College (SHEATH),with thegoal of connecting diverse communities through “common human experiences with love, sex, sexuality and relationships.” Featured events include “Losing Your (Concept of) Virginity,” “Fifty Shades of False: Kink, Fantasy, and Fetish” and “What What in the Butt: Anal Sex 101,” a program that received considerable media backlash for being “downright vulgar,” according to the Huffington Post. “Saying we don’t need [the workshop] is like saying we don’t need sex education, or should have abstinence-only education or that people should feel ashamed for doing whatever it is that’s part of their sexual practice,” SHEATH co-president Kirin Gupta said in an interview with MTV News. Unlike Harvard and Yale, the University does not have a Sex Week.

NEWS | 11/05/2014

Retired General McChrystal speaks on ISIS, U.S. involvement in Middle East

Retired General McChrystal speaks on ISIS, U.S. involvement in Middle East

Grant Golub

Retired United States Army General Stanley McChrystal spoke about his military experience and his views on the current military situationon Wednesday in a conversation with former ‘Newsweek’ Washington bureau chief Evan Thomas. In particular, he said the United States needs to be actively involved in the Middle East and civilian and military leaders need to form tighter relationships. McChrystal, now a professor at Yale and 2014 Anna and G.

NEWS | 11/05/2014

Wang misses mark on Senate predictions, but not by much

Christina Vosbikian

After Republicans won the Senate majority in Tuesday’s midterm elections, associate molecular biology professor Samuel Wang’s prediction that Democrats would maintain control has been proven false. Control of the Senate hinged on the results of races for 36 seats,15 of which belonged to Republicans and 21 to Democrats.

NEWS | 11/05/2014

TigerHub replaces SCORE; ICE may be phased out in future

Michael Granovetter

The Office of the Registrar and Office of Information Technology launched TigerHub, a new online studentportal that replaced the Student Course Online Registration Engine, on Monday. The system will continue to serve a similar purpose to its predecessor, allowing students to modify course enrollments, view grades and request copies of transcripts. The design of individual pages of SCORE has been maintained in TigerHub, but students can now more easily navigate the platform, as all of the portal’s features are listed in a single menu on the system’s homepage, University Registrar Polly Griffin said.

NEWS | 11/05/2014

Updated: Princeton found in violation of Title IX, enters into resolution agreement with Office for Civil Rights

Ruby Shao

Princeton has been found in violation of Title IX regulations, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights announced on Wednesday morning. The resolution puts an end to three separate complaints filed by three different students against the University regarding incidents that occurred between 2009 and 2011.

NEWS | 11/05/2014

Booker, Watson Coleman win seats in New Jersey midterm elections

Jacqueline Gufford

Incumbent Senator Cory Booker defeated opponent Jeff Bell to claim a second term as New Jersey Senator, and Bonnie Watson Coleman defeated opponent Dr. Alieta Eck in a bid for New Jersey’s 12th district congressional seat on Tuesday night. Both elected Congress members represent the Democratic party. The New Jersey Senate election was called minutes after polls closed, announcing Booker’s victory based on exit polling data. Booker first won the Senate seat in a special election to fill the term of the Senator Frank Lautenberg following his death in 2013; his current bid is for a full six-year term. He also previously served as the mayor of Newark from 2006 to 2013. Booker acknowledged his win on Twitter, thanking New Jersey and stating that he is excited to continue serving the citizens of the state. His midterm election campaign primarily focused on bridging gaps in Congress and collaborating with Republicans on issues which they share common ground. “I want to renew the promise I made during my first election: that I will work with anyone, from any party, who is willing to join me to move New Jersey, and our country, forward," said Booker in an email to supporters on election night before polls closed, according to the Asbury Park Press. Like Booker, Watson Coleman has also had a lengthy career in politics. She has served as assemblywoman in the State General Assembly since 1997, serving as majority leader from 2006 to 2009. However, this is her first election to a federal seat; her bid began after congressman Rush Holt announced his retirement in February.

NEWS | 11/04/2014

News & Notes: Small fire reported in McCormick Hall

Corinne Lowe

A small fire was reported in McCormick Hall on Tuesday at 5:37 p.m. Fifteen people were evacuated from the building housing the Princeton University Art Museumwhen a small fire appeared in an office on the third floor, according to University spokesperson Martin Mbugua. No injuries have been reported. The fire alarm went off when a rug apparently in contact with a heating element began smoking, according to Mbugua.

NEWS | 11/04/2014

7 alumni win bids for Congressional seats

Jacqueline Gufford

Seven Princeton alumni won bids, for Congressional seats in Tuesday’s midterm elections of at least 11 who were up for election, as of midnight Wednesday. The winners include Rep.

NEWS | 11/04/2014

U. offers alumni free access to library electronic resources

Sharon Deng

The University library has started offering alumni free electronic access to the Scholarly Journal Archive, ProQuest National Newspapers Premier, ProQuest Research Library and ebrary Academic Complete since September. Alumni were previously not allowed to access the University's electronic resources remotely.

NEWS | 11/04/2014

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