News

Breaking: Oppenheimer to leave for UCLA

Breaking: Oppenheimer to leave for UCLA

After eight years at the University, psychology and Wilson School professor Daniel Oppenheimer will depart for the University of California, Los Angeles effective July 1.Oppenheimer received tenure at the age of 30 and has taught PSY 101: Introduction to Psychology, one of the largest classes in the school, since the fall of 2005. He came to the University after earning his Ph.D. from Stanford in 2004.In an interview Thursday afternoon, Oppenheimer said he planned to leave Princeton because he did not like the University’s location.

NEWS | 05/02/2012

Orange and Black Ball indirectly causes student group funding problems

The large cost of the Orange and Black Ball — an event that was resurrected in November after a four-decade hiatus — is causing a ripple effect throughout the organizations that fund student groups, ultimately meaning that less funding is available for other events.

NEWS | 05/02/2012

Conservative comfort at the ‘Conservative Ivy’

Teddy Schleifer and Regina Wang

Nearly two dozen interviews with conservative leaders on campus have contradicted — or at least complicated — the allegation of conservative oppression at Princeton. Conservative students voiced comfort both in the classroom and beyond it, noting that though some wish for a more politically diverse faculty, the University is still largely a friendly environment for politically conservative students. Not a single conservative student interviewed for this article reported ever having experienced any perceived bias in grading or any significant social unease on account of their political views.

NEWS | 05/02/2012

Occupy Princeton group joins May Day strike in New York City

NEW YORK -- Members of the University’s Occupy Wall Street chapter traveled to New York City on Tuesday to participate in the May Day general strike, part of the movement’s efforts to regain momentum after a quiet winter. Centered in New York, the Occupy movement encouraged people around the world to skip work and school on May 1 to protest socioeconomic inequality.

NEWS | 05/02/2012

News & Notes: Brown increases contribution to Providence.

In response to a fiscal crisis in Providence, R.I., Brown University will increase its monetary contributions to the city almost eightfold. Currently, Brown pays Providence around $2.5 million in voluntary contributions and $1.6 million in property taxes, according to The Wall Street Journal.

NEWS | 05/02/2012

Consolidation 101: Tumultuous history for Borough, Township

Last November’s vote to merge the Borough and the Township was the culmination of a decades-long political battle that has seen consolidation appear on the ballots four times in the last 58 years.

NEWS | 05/02/2012

Public can review meetings of TTF but not of subcommittees

The Open Public Meetings Act applies to meetings of the Transition Task Force, but not its subcommittees, TTF attorney William John Kearns Jr. said at the Wednesday night meeting of the governing body.

NEWS | 05/02/2012

Facebook invitations fall under Greek rush ban

The ban on freshman involvement in Greek life, which will take effect on Sept. 1, will not allow upperclassmen to solicit freshmen to join fraternities or sororities electronically, President Shirley Tilghman clarified in an announcement Tuesday morning. The University announced that Tilghman had approved the recommendations of the Committee on Freshman Rush Policy, which was tasked by Tilghman with determining the specifics of the ban. The Committee released its report outlining its recommendations on March 25.

NEWS | 05/01/2012

Zoloft has adverse effects on yeast cells

New research in the molecular biology department is calling for closer scrutiny of the popular antidepressant sertraline, commonly known as Zoloft. Researchers in the lab of Ethan Perlstein, an associate research scholar at the Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, shows that Zoloft can affect yeast cells in unexpected ways.

NEWS | 05/01/2012

News & Notes: 4 professors elected to Academy of Sciences

Four university professors were elected to the National Academy of Sciences, a prestigious group of scholars in science, engineering and medicine that advises the nation, the NAS announced Tuesday.Physics professor William Bialek, chemical and biological engineering professor Pablo Debenedetti, chemistry professor John Groves and physics professor Nai Phuan Ong were elected to the Academy.

NEWS | 05/01/2012

Consolidation 101: Merger aims to improve local economy

In addition to the police force, the pending consolidation of Princeton Borough and Township means future changes for local businesses, as the new government seeks to balance the needs of the business-heavy downtown area in the Borough with less concentrated business areas of the Township.

NEWS | 05/01/2012

429 juniors, seniors draw into residential colleges

Last spring, Brianna Leary ’13 and the rest of the Class of 2013 had to decide where they would eat their meals for the upcoming year. Leary could join an eating club, remain in the residential colleges or go independent.But for her, the decision was complicated by the fact that she would be studying at the Royal College of Music in London for the fall semester of her junior year. Leary ultimately chose to draw into Whitman College because it didn’t “make sense” to pay eating club fees for just one semester.

NEWS | 05/01/2012

Dinky ordinance will not affect Arts and Transit Neighborhood

Assistant Borough Attorney Henry Chou turned down the idea that the Borough Council’s right-of-way ordinance could affect the University’s Arts and Transit Neighborhood plan, at the Council meeting Tuesday night.The right-of-way ordinance gives the Borough the ability to maintain the Dinky train tracks for future train use. Chou said the move to preserve the right-of-way of the tracks would not hold much meaning in light of the University’s plans for moving forward with the Arts and Transit Neighborhood, according to Planet Princeton. Part of the neighborhood plan would involve moving the Dinky 460 feet south.

NEWS | 05/01/2012

Curriculum changes approved at meeting

Participants in Monday afternoon’s faculty meeting discussed and approved undergraduate curriculum changes in the Wilson School and the Departments of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Economics, History, Philosophy, Politics and Psychology.

NEWS | 04/30/2012

Consolidation 101: The future of the police

The police departments in the Borough and Township are pushing back against plans to reduce the size of their combined force as a result of the merger between the municipalities to take place next January.

NEWS | 04/30/2012

Tilghman approves proposed rush ban policy

President Shirley Tilghman has endorsed the recommendations made by the Committee on Freshmen Rush Policy, the University announced Tuesday morning. Accordingly, the recommendations by the committee — the suspension of any freshman who affiliates with a fraternity or sorority or of any sophomore, junior or senior who conducts a form of freshman rush — will be implemented effective Sept. 1.

NEWS | 04/30/2012

Toni Morrison wins Medal of Freedom

Toni Morrison, a professor of humanities at the University for 17 years, received a 2012 Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama last Thursday. This is the highest honor that a United States civilian can receive.

NEWS | 04/30/2012

An entrepreneurial choice

When Mick Hagen was a freshman at the University six years ago, he was a member of BodyHype dance company, Business Today and the USG and played club basketball.In many ways, he was the typical involved college student. Then suddenly, just one year into his college career, he left to pursue his startup, Zinch.com.

NEWS | 04/30/2012

With Wilson School reforms, other departments await impact

The end of selective admission at the Wilson School raises questions as to what students who fail to get accepted to the School ultimately study and how the reforms will affect the departments which cater to similar intellectual interests, such as politics, economics and history.

NEWS | 04/29/2012

Sociology department not concerned by drop in concentrators

Though the sociology department saw a 47 percent drop in the number of sophomore sign-ins this year, departmental representative Paul Willis said he was not concerned by the decrease. After the April 24 deadline for sophomore sign-ins, 28 members of the Class of 2014 had signed into the department, compared to the 53 students in the Class of 2013 and the 62 students in the Class of 2012 who signed in.

NEWS | 04/29/2012

Most Popular