Opinion

Interfaith at Princeton

I have just made a politically incorrect joke about being Jewish, and the person on the receiving end is uncomfortable. It’s a moment I’m familiar with, being both a person of the type who makes politically incorrect jokes and not a person that “looks” Jewish or has a Jewish name. So I do damage control: “It’s okay,” I say. “My mom’s Jewish.” To which the response is usually, “I didn’t know you were Jewish!”

Improving the Bicker process

Members of the Class of 2014 and 2013 who joined Princeton’s five sign-in and six bicker clubs saw multiple changes in the eating club selection process this year.  Many of the clubs overhauled some of their long-standing policies in an effort to improve the sign-in and Bicker process. The clubs hoped to attract more members and make the process less stressful with friendlier and more efficient policies.

Cartoon: Advisor Scoop

The future of education

Imagine one destination where every Princetonian’s research was accessible. Imagine a news feed for the published work of Princetonians. Imagine every syllabus, every document of lecture notes for all of our classes accessible in one place, with links to their resources available to everyone in the University community. And beyond that, a place where students can publish class work that is deemed exemplary. It would be an intranet for our collective scholarly products.

Letters to the Editor: February 13th, 2012

Any professor here will agree that it is a problem when Princeton students, the country’s best and brightest, are flocking to finance and consulting jobs in droves. The situation at Princeton has become such that students think it is the norm and, more so, expected of them to apply for these jobs. The culture is one in which obtaining positions at top firms acts as a way to measure your success as compared to one’s classmates.

Editorial: Improving OIT

As we enter into independent work and thesis season, our dependence on computers increases. The Office of Information Technology handles a vast array of technological problems on campus, including helping students with their individual computer problems. However, the current walk-in system needs to be revised to create better access to OIT’s services.

Cartoon: The social scene

Staying connected

The recent Internet outage has taught me that we need more connectivity, not less.

Limited meal plans

Each meal plan should reflect what individuals signed up for. The unlimited diner wants the freedom to swipe in and out of dining halls without worrying about keeping track of meal swipes. The current break system accommodates that. All I ask is that it also accommodate us block-plan holders, who would like to use our set number of meal swipes when we choose.

On 'Sophomore Week'

Whenever I bumped into a few friends at the dining halls, the Street would always be a main topic of conversation. It turns out that a good percentage of my friends are choosing to go independent or co-op, causing me to wonder why there weren’t any similar opportunities for the hundreds of other sophomores who may not be interested in joining an eating club and would rather become independent or join a co-op. And then I realized that students interested in alternative options should be taken into consideration by those who make events catering to the social needs of all kinds of Princeton students.

North Woods adventure

The idea of a trip to New Hampshire reminded me of Bill Bryson’s article about the ill-omened forests near Hanover, described as “some kind of Bermuda triangle of the deciduous world.” I brushed these grim thoughts off and kept packing. Future events proved me wrong. The Bermuda-triangle hypothesis was, in the end, borne out by our experience: Even though we did not get lost in the woods for good, we did spend close to five hours in a car in the middle of the wilderness on our way from the Sunapee Ski Resort to Hanover.

A message from home

Last week, in the midst of an impressively boring, white bread town in the south of Connecticut, a student of Ridgefield High School created an anonymous Twitter account that sparked an uprising against cyberbullying. The student had attempted to take up a growing trend of anonymous Twitter accounts meant to victimize other students in the high school, the likes of RHSrumors and RHSbabewatch. But this particular student, in a disgusting attempt to “outdo” the rest with the worst account yet, created RHSf*goftheday and, since its foundation last Monday, my often apathetic hometown has been immersed in activism and outrage.

Cartoon: Declining marginal utility

Cartoon: How to do better this semester

Culture and athletics

In the past two years, I have raised funds extensively for both cultural events and to set up a club sport. My personal experience has suggested that finding cash for cultural events is easier than finding resources to buy sports equipment. This bias raises interesting questions about event funding on campus.

Editorial: Improving our transcripts

As the season of internships, fellowships and job interviews begins to envelop campus, students will increasingly turn to the most important summary of their academic history at Princeton — the transcript. Because businesses and organizations seeking interns and future employees typically request students’ transcripts in order to evaluate their candidacy, it is incumbent upon the University to ensure that these documents are presented in a clear and comprehensive fashion.

Is this real life?

The argument that we live in an unreal bubble seems to be based on the fact that we are sheltered, that what happens outside Princeton does not affect our lives and vice versa. This idea is itself flawed because it ignores how many among us have families who were severely hit by the recession, or how many of us have had to take out personal or family loans, or take more than one campus job, in order to pay for our tuition. But more importantly, it misses the point.

Turn the Internet off

The Internet is a fantastic tool. With family and friends all over the world, the internet is a great way to connect. It is also an invaluable research instrument. But at the same time, it is frightening how much we depend on it. When I told people that not only was I going to have almost no Internet access for a week, but that I intended to get some thesis work done, they laughed. How could one possibly do work without the Internet? What about Google or Wikipedia? How could one possibly enjoy having no connection to the outside world? Well, after trying it, I promise it is possible and extremely liberating.

Power hour

If you’re like me, you haven’t thought once about the source of the energy which helps fulfill all of our academic and residential needs. You might not even know that we have a power plant serving campus. After learning a little about how we Princetonians get our power, we not only gain an appreciation for this undervalued aspect of campus life, but also gain insight into key issues underlying America’s energy use.

IPWoah

While I think there are substantive differences between the dotcom bubble and the Facebook IPO, I think the sentiment behind the comparison is quite right. The dotcom bubble grew from an excitement for the potential of Internet sites. The problem was not only this misleading level of excitement but also that investors were making projections for a medium they didn’t really know. Much like this lack of familiarity in the dotcom bubble, most of those making predictions for Facebook’s value aren’t the most acquainted with what Facebook is and does. They may know the figures, they may even have a profile — but it’s our generation that Facebook was created to target and it’s our generation that it continues to target with each change to the site.