Princeton’s exclusivity is old news, and it seems as if it’s embedded in the University culture. For the past two decades, Princeton has not accepted undergraduate transfer students.
As the 2016-2017 academic year comes to an end, the University is already preparing to welcome the next incoming class in the fall. First-years will participate in a host of activities that comprises the University’s orientation program. This program is designed to ease the transition to campus life “by introducing first-year students to the values, expectations, and resources of the inclusive Princeton community.”
The following article clarifies and elaborates on certain points I made in an article I recently wrote for this section and responds to some of the criticism it has received. First of all, I’d like to clarify that nowhere in my article do I make the broad claim that all conservatives are racist, misogynistic, or ignorant.
While I was growing up in the 1950s and 60s, my grandfather Alan Fitz Randolph (B.S., Chemistry, Princeton, 1913), a descendant of Nathaniel Fitz Randolph, who had contributed the original land for Princeton University in 1753, spoke often of his pride in the University.
We, the Executive Board of Princeton’s chapterof the Network of enlightened Women (NeW), write in response to this week’s opinion piece “The conservative persecution complex.” We do not consider ourselves persecuted or oppressed, either as conservatives or as women.
Earlier this week, along with other veterans of the Israeli Defense Forces, I signed a letter in support of J Street U’s decision to invite the Israeli NGO Breaking the Silence, former IDF soldiers who seek to share their military experiences in the West Bank with Israeli society.
The article “The conservative persecution complex” by columnist Bhaamati Borkhetaria ’19 questions whether conservatives are being oppressed. In the first few paragraphs, she does an excellent job in setting up the conflict in question: Many conservatives do feel hesitant to share their opinions when there is convincing evidence that right-leaning policies are harmful to minorities and foster power structures favorable to rich white males.
Any current Princetonian reading this has probably seen the open letter addressed to University President Christopher Eisgruber ’83, appealing for (political, though it never says so directly) diversity in the selection of books assigned as Pre-reads to incoming first-years.
The Editorial Board feels it necessary to reaffirm our support for bringing back the campus pub. We believe the campus pub should return to its original location where Chancellor Green Café now operates.
Mass incarceration is one of the great moral challenges of our time. With merely 4.4 percent of the world's population, the United States holds almost one quarter of all the prisoners, far more than any other country.
Sophomores, take note: The options that were offered to you this spring are not nearly as comprehensive as those offered at other Ivy League and top universities. If we hope to live up to our reputation and values as a liberal arts university, this must change. The University’s system of majors is extremely narrow compared to its peers. Princeton offers 37 academic concentrations. Harvard offers 49; Stanford, 65; Yale, 75; Columbia, 80; Brown, 79; Cornell, 80; Dartmouth, 63; and the University of Pennsylvania, 64.
Now more than ever, our government needs to continue attracting young people who understand the importance of facts, data, and science. However, for progressives interested in public service, the changed political landscape will require a broader search for ways to make a difference.
Darryl McDaniels ended one of his responses simply saying, “Art succeeds where politics and religion fail.” All forms of art carry a responsibility. Here at the University, we’re much removed from the South Bronx, but most of us are artists in some way or another. We don’t simply create art for the sake of art, but rather for the sake of something greater.
There is an emerging belief that people holding conservative views are being persecuted in a way akin to how historically oppressed groups have been. Complaints include an inability to voice opinions without being censored, discrimination based on conservative beliefs, and a fear of being labelled as ignorant.
Like most freshmen, I signed up for the unlimited meal plan during my first fall semester. Princeton was an embarrassment of edible riches ranging from the sublime (late meal cookies) to the disturbing (any attempt at Asian food). As my waistline expanded, so did my love for Princeton’s dining halls. But by that spring semester, the novelty had worn off (subsisting only on chicken tenders and burrito bowls will do that to you) and nutritional reality had sunk in. In a last-minute effort to reclaim my body and soul, I decided to switch to the Block 190 plan, the smallest meal plan allowed to underclassmen, and I have been on it since.
As members of the Princeton community and as veterans of the Israel Defense Forces, we, the undersigned, support J Street U's decision to host Breaking the Silence.
