Sorting out our priorities
What we learn in a class isn’t just a function of how many problem sets and how much reading the professor assigns. It’s also a function of our devotion to that class relative to other commitments.
What we learn in a class isn’t just a function of how many problem sets and how much reading the professor assigns. It’s also a function of our devotion to that class relative to other commitments.
Clearly the football culture at Penn State has been problematic — at least at the administrative level. It must be rethought. But it can be and almost always is a force for good. And the fact that Princeton doesn’t have a single comparably unifying institution on its campus is unfortunate.
Community is no less important in the lives of the students who make up each freshman class at Princeton. All of us matriculate as products of our places. We come to this university with a set of morals instilled by our friends, family and neighbors.
Steve Jobs was more than a skilled professional. Though he was indeed a great CEO, we remember him today not as a tech executive but as a culture-shaper.
It should go without saying that in our response to the threat of terrorism, we must not violate the values our society holds dear. But as the speakers themselves acknowledged explicitly, the terror attacks were born of no intolerance on our part. And to some degree, the lesson of the attacks was that liberal society should make an active effort not to tolerate the most dangerously illiberal values wherever they are held.
The borders of this “state” will bear no relation to reality. Forget the disputes with Israel over territory — Abbas doesn’t even have control over Hamas-run Gaza. This “Palestine” will be a fantasy, a state in name only. On the ground, the arrangement will be meaningless.
This is about more than fraternities and sororities. It’s about our ability to associate freely as the young adults we are. As a legal matter, perhaps the University has the authority to do any or all of this. But that won’t make it right.