Before speaking on campus Tuesday, BuzzFeed COO and president Jon Steinberg ’99 sat down with The Daily Princetonian to discuss his memories from Princeton, his position at the helm of one of the Internet’s most popular media companies and advice for current Princetonians. The Daily Princetonian: When you wrote for the Opinion section of the ‘Prince,’ did you know that you would end up working at an online media company?
“If someone says they don’t like the cute animals on BuzzFeed, you should turn to them and ask if they are a robot,” Jon Steinberg ’99, the president and COO of BuzzFeed, said jokingly during a lecture he delivered on Tuesday night. But it was not just a joke.
After spending a month on campus in 2000, New York Times opinion columnist and conservative commentator David Brooks returned to campus to deliver a lecture on the recent cultural shift. Reflecting on his original moniker “Organization Kid” in his 2001 article for The Atlantic magazine, Brooks believes this “achievement ethos” has only deepened since he left campus more than a decade ago. After his lecture, Brooks sat down with the ‘Prince’ to expand upon his cultural observations and how they might relate to Princeton.
Former Korean prime minister Un-Chan Chung GS ’78 defended the legacy of controversial former Korean president Syngman Rhee GS, Class of 1910, in a lecture Wednesday afternoon, hours after the Wilson School dedicated a lecture hall in Rhee’s name. Chung’s speech, the inaugural Syngman Rhee *1910 Lecture, emphasized Rhee’s merits in providing the building blocks for South Korea to develop into the economically prosperous nation it is today.Prior to the speech, Bowl 016 in Robertson Hall was renamed and dedicated in honor of Rhee, whose South Korean presidential legacy from 1948 to 1960 is complicated by allegations of violent political suppression and electoral fraud. Part of Rhee’s legacy includes the Jeju Massacre in 1948, when his army killed approximately 60,000 South Korean communist sympathizers. Twelve years later, Rhee was ousted from power during the April Revolution following alleged abuses of power.
Princeton Borough, Princeton Township and the University have each selected representatives for a six-member transit task force and the nine-member board of trustees for the Mass Transit Trust Fund. The task force members will study, evaluate and make recommendations concerning long-term transit needs of the Princeton community, especially in light of the development of the Arts and Transit Neighborhood. The trust fund trustees will be charged with planning and implementing improvements to the transit system in Princeton.
On Wednesday evening, the Mercer County Board of Elections held its second general public meeting for Princeton residents with the purpose of presenting two possible scenarios for new election districts in the soon-to-be consolidated Princeton.As requested by the University, in the potential election districts map presented to the audience, all the undergraduate and most of the graduate dorms were drawn into one district, with the main campus covered by only two districts.
Invited to speak to a crowd of Occupy Princeton supporters gathered Tuesday evening at Campus Club, Hedges commented on the Occupy movement across the country. A supporter of and activist within the Occupy movement, Hedges started off by discussing the history of radical, socialist and populist movements in America. He then mentioned the current status of Occupy movements, especially the protests in Zuccotti Park, as he has first-hand experience protesting in New York City with the Occupy movement.
On Wednesday evening, the Mercer County Board of Elections held the first of three public meetings regarding the new election district map for the consolidated Princeton. Open to the public, the meeting was led by the Chairman of the Board Dominic Magnolo.
The Mercer County Board of Elections is currently working on election redistricting for the soon-to-be consolidated Princeton Borough and Township.
In an open forum-style town hall meeting at the Princeton Public Library on Tuesday, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie congratulated the town of Princeton on the consolidation of the Borough and Township before fielding questions from the audience. Joining Christie were Township Mayor Chad Goerner and Borough Council President Kevin Wilkes ’83.
