Whims. They have a fairly awful reputation. Capricious and sudden, unexpected and arbitrary, they are governed by fancy. To be whimsical is perhaps to be amusing, but usually passing, irrational and impulsive, too. Whims are bad.This is unfair.
Since my first exposure to ancient history as a child, I had dreamed of visiting Rome, but I little anticipated that life in the Eternal City would feel so much in itself like a dream. Princeton, with all its deadlines, gossip and artificial stress, seemed like ancient history amid the world’s most treasured relics.
In my experience, the most isolating, depressing moments of the first weeks of school came during or immediately following the loudest, busiest social events. In a room where everybody is talking and laughing at once, it is easy to buy into the fiction that you alone have not yet established a satisfying, reliable social life.
Interviews are meant to be genuine, spontaneous conversations that allow a reporter to gain a greater understanding of a source’s perspective. However, the use of the email interview — and its widespread presence in our News articles — has resulted in stories filled with stilted, manicured quotes that often hide any real meaning and make it extremely difficult for reporters to ask follow-up questions or build relationships with sources.
I was really pleased to see the issue of online privacy and safety brought into the limelight over the last week, but it was unfortunate that the article by Kinnari Shah ’14, printed last Thursday, reflects some common misguided notions about Internet privacy.
The University should establish a set procedure that allows any student of any religion to celebrate and honor his or her religious commitment without compromising his or her academic performance.
Is being in the University’s wider service a good use of professorial time? If a professor’s reputation comes from scholarly work, does he or she have any incentive also to be a good citizen? Yes and no. Professors who want to produce little versions of themselves, mini-mes, will not be entirely wrong to encourage their students to focus on acquiring deep knowledge in one area and may actually be setting a good example by engaging in as few extracurricular activities as possible. But saying this unsettles me since it is clear that doing just one thing, however well, is neither the way to get into college nor, for most people, the way to get out.
It sounds a little silly to say, but when I tell the truth, the world is good. I feel better, and I treat people better and consequentially am treated better. If I had never realized that, I don’t know how I would have turned out. It’s entirely probable I’d be just like the students who cheated at Harvard — just like the students who cheat here — raised in a society that only rewarded them for being intelligent and never for being honest and who found out there were consequences for immorality much too late.
Campus attitudes toward Princeton funding could use a little more thoughtfulness. The phrase “Princeton will pay for anything” reflects a casual certainty in the institution’s money that I find frankly childish. In actuality, most students use funding responsibly, but by uttering or even laughing at the mantra above we feed a general mindset that regards University funding with less respect than a parent’s credit card. In many ways, such an attitude indicates an immature lack of understanding over the meaning and value of money. No matter where it comes from, a thousand dollars would be considered a significant windfall to many people. The reaction to receiving such a grant should extend beyond gleeful celebration — there should be recognition of responsibility and a commitment to using the funding appropriately.
The same independence that once fueled my desire for college now fuels my dread of graduation. This truth has increased my resolve and, I would hope, the resolve of my classmates to to enjoy this final chance we’ve been given the often-misunderstood paradise that is the Princeton undergraduate experience.
Over the years, the unsigned editorials featured on this page have discussed a wide variety of issues, including the freshmen year rush ban, the room draw process and affirmative action. The Daily Princetonian Editorial Board is collectively responsible for writing these pieces. The Board is the independent body responsible for determining the position of the ‘Prince’ on matters that affect Princeton, our campus community and society as a whole. Today, instead of taking a stance on an issue, we would like to explain the editorial process and invite interested freshmen, sophomores and juniors to apply to join the Board.
Before we begin another year, here’s something that we should all keep in mind: We need to stop willingly broadcasting ourselves all over the Internets.
It is crucial to recognize the importance of the MENA region. Awareness and involvement from the Princeton community can be very important for helping to bring peace and prosperity to the region.
ust know this, dear freshman self, a year from now you’ll return to the campus that looks so foreign today and find that it really is the “best old place of all.”
After four years at Princeton, I think the only profession I have really learned about is academia. We spend a lot of time with professors and begin to understand what their daily lives are like. So why can’t other people teach? Professors research part-time and teach part-time, so why not have professional computer programmers or doctors teach? They might be better teachers, and they will certainly expose students to other ways of using what they learn in class in their future careers.
