Race, gender committees will seek diverse viewpointsIt has been very exciting over the past few days to hear both in person and via e-mail just how important many undergraduates believe that my proposed initiatives on race and gender will be.
Princeton is a multi-faceted institution, but more than anything else it is a very human community in which students, faculty and members of the staff work together to pursue the University's missions of teaching, learning and service to others.
It all started Saturday night when we arrived at the Hamilton Multi-Plex to find that "O Brother, Where Art Thou" was sold out and the only movie with tickets available was "Requiem for a Dream," of which we knew only two things: one of us had a friend from home who said it was good ? and that it was rated NC-17.What followed was possibly the most intense two hours I have ever spent in a movie theater: a cross between "Snatch," "The Cell," "Kids" and the most upsetting parts of "Traffic." I left feeling drained, a bit disturbed ? but not offended or angry ? and convinced that the NC-17 rating was well-deserved.It's not every day that one sees an NC-17 rated movie, so I got to thinking.
New faces needed on race, gender committeesDiscussion of the human environment at Princeton sounds like a good idea.
Abraham Lincoln, whose birthday we celebrated last weekend, loved telling stories ? but even he could not have conceived a story as fanciful as the Bush tax plan.
On Feb. 15, members of the Workers' Rights Organizing Committee met with Vice President of Finance and Administration Richard Spies GS '75 and other administrators who manage Princeton's lowest-paid workers.
Students need passion and the will to act against povertyOn Feb. 11, Peter Bell GS '64 gave an insightful and important lecture to the Princeton community entitled "Affirming Dignity and Ending Poverty: The Search for a Better World." Calling on his experience from his days at Princeton to his days as the president of CARE (one of the world's largest private international relief and development organizations, which has received two Nobel Peace Prize nominations), he spoke of the ongoing fight to end poverty throughout the world.
Hollywood invaded Jersey last week, and ? like the eager natives of 1492 that I was taught about in my pre-PC elementary school ? many of us couldn't wait to be discovered.
I must admit I am somewhat perplexed by the recent controversy about our 'Street.' As an avowed fan of the eating clubs, I cannot understand why anyone would propose bulldozing them, or even weakening their position as Princeton's primary source of entertainment.
Most television programs that claim to depict some type of reality ? an evening newscast, for example, or an emergency room documentary ? should not be held morallly responsible for the events that they portray.
Dining plan restricts students' optionsThe increasing restrictions on Dining Services meal plans are indicative of gross inefficiency, which might be better tolerated if the food were more edible.
Throughout the fall semester, I had the pleasure of serving on the Sixth Residential College Programming Committee with three other undergraduates, as well as several deans, administrators and faculty members.
So there was this seven-part series about race that the 'Prince' ran in December. It was modeled after the acclaimed New York Times series that searched for new levels of racial honesty ? or at least tried to.
I write to clarify a comment attributed to me in the the article entitled "Police, administration respond to initiation weekend hospitalizations" in Thursday's issue of The Daily Princetonian, in which I was quoted as having said that the "this was no different from other initiation weekends." By that I did not mean to imply that the extent of the abuse was comparable to past years but that the process we use in following up with students about these behaviors is the same process we would use were they to engage in similar behavior at any other time of the year.
The 'Street' isn't elite ? only people are"Bulldozing the 'Street'" is possibly the worst thing I've ever read.
When I first came here as a graduate student, I hated it. The undergrads all seemed very homogeneous and blissfully privileged in their pre-professional romp through Princeton.
Let's talk about self-indulgence. A man who orders a seven course meal is self-indulgent. A woman who shops in designer boutiques is self-indulgent.
Saturday night, I found myself listening to thousands of women moaning in simultaneous feigned orgasm in Madison Square Garden.The occasion was "V-Day," a celebrity-packed production of Eve Ensler's "The Vagina Monologues." Since 1998, V-Day has become an international movement, with the monologues being performed at over 400 colleges (including Princeton) around Valentine's Day.
The eating clubs ushered in their sign-ins and bickerees last week. The successful students partied with their new clubs, and the hosees were met with quiet visits of rejection.
Oh, Cupid's Holiday! Hearts and flowers and champagne and chocolate! Couples strolling across campus hand in hand, gazing eye into eye, smiles beaming on their faces!
