Opinion

The process behind the product

When I chose to try to do something ambitious, I signed up to fail. This failure has been uncomfortable, sure. But so is stagnation, and if I hadn’t chosen the former, I would be arrogant, scared and stunted. I can’t imagine myself as a person without the ‘Prince,’ and I suspect that for many other student leaders, their failure has defined them as well. No matter the product, it’s difficult to achieve anything without the process leaving at least a little bit of an indent.

Letter to the Editor: December 13th, 2012

Has the University’s largesse silenced those who might otherwise say that this plan offends sensibility as well as good sense? Bottom line: We know what’s right. Can we now look the other way as Princeton University trades our in-town, historic train station for better access to its parking garage?

Fair schedules

Princeton University has one of the strangest academic calendars. Like, ever. 

Facebook overhaul you didn't hear about

Facebook is still a business, and it exists to sell a product. When that product is our personal information, we should be even more wary of how that business is conducted.

Letters to the Editor: December 12th, 2012

Regarding “Scalia defends gay rights position” (Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012) and “Editorial: Self-scheduled exams” (Monday, Dec. 10, 2012)

Suggestions from a tired creative writing student

So as these bleary-eyed writing students beg the clock to move more quickly toward 10 a.m., I can’t help but wonder how many will end up disappointed with their section. And how many of those will end up loving their class all the same? There may be quite a bit in a name. But there may be just as much in a professor not so well known, but just as impressive.

Oh, another article about hook-ups

In our childishness and pettiness we have completely lost the purpose of sexual liberalization — to have fun, fulfilling and healthy sexual encounters or relationships defined on our own terms. Princeton: Just chill out and enjoy yourself. At a school where students often forget that socializing is singularly for fun, the “hookup culture” is equally mired by over-analysis, strategy and insecurity.

Our academic aversion

Nevertheless, our peer institutions — Harvard, Yale, Stanford and Brown in particular — churn out future professors and researchers in vastly greater quantities, relative populations considered. What is it about Princeton that turns people away from the idea of advanced degrees in academia?

Talking to professors

From scholarships to travel, Princeton creates amazing opportunities and the opportunity to create amazing opportunities, and I keep being too chicken to take advantage of them. And as I talk to my friends here, my friends at other schools and my friends worried about applying to other schools, something becomes very obvious.

Editorial: Self-scheduled exams

Schools such as Haverford, Caltech, Williams and Carleton already use self-scheduled exams, which students can choose to take during any one of multiple prescheduled sittings. Implementation of such a policy at Princeton would afford students greater flexibility, eliminate the need for take-homes, make exams fairer and decrease student stress.

Smash the gargoyle, Shirley

The University picks us from a pool of supposedly talented, largely reliable, self-motivated people. We are repeatedly told we have the best minds and the best prospects. Yet, when we get to campus, we aren’t always trusted to look after ourselves. The administration must reverse its policy of social engineering.

Sexual standards

We should be unafraid to defend the merit of chaste lifestyles over promiscuous ones. By encouraging our friends’ chastity, we can do them a great service. It is an act of love to help a friend quit hooking up.

Editorial: Schedule improvements

The Board strongly advocates against the current proposals that increase the days for Thanksgiving break at the expense of fall break. Instead, we argue for the implementation of an academic calendar that would preserve fall break and extend Thanksgiving break by starting the academic year a few days earlier.

On the beaten path

With the only prerequisites often being simply a single class or two in the department, what the humanities most powerfully provide is the individual freedom to follow your heart. And that, Princeton tells us, is what college is really about.

Letter to the Editor: December 6th, 2012

 I think that women and men should make whatever choices work for them and their families. But if they do find that they need to stop working or work differently, then they should be able to get back on the track later.

Tracking the clubs

With respect to newly founded clubs, the USG should also be sure to task individual representatives to observe the progress of the new group and comment on suggestions for potential improvement.

Attack versus healthy debate

While I do not necessarily agree with President Tilghman’s statement that “anonymous debate is no debate at all,” I do believe that a debate, regardless of whether or not the participants are revealed or anonymous, should remain relevant so that the dialogue will not turn hateful. There’s a difference between attacking an issue and attacking a person — here’s where I believe Chen has made an error.

Five stages of sexile

Like getting struck by lightning, mauled by a bear or biting into an oatmeal raisin cookie when you’re expecting chocolate chip, sexiling usually only exists dimly in the back of one’s mind.

Give me a break

I am more than willing — I am eager, I am hungry to sacrifice two weeks of summer vacation for a normal, stress-free winter break. Working through academics at Princeton frequently feels like wrestling with an enormous, invincible, many-headed monster. Winter break should be a respite, not the apex of the battle.

Cartoon: Necessary renovations