The Daily Princetonian: Commencement 2023

This Year’s Undergraduate Class

The Class of 2023 saw a time of dramatic change at Princeton. Just months after arriving on campus, students as the COVID-19 pandemic raged. Every year for the class of 2023 has been different – one dramatically cut short, one largely virtual, one with start-and-stop restrictions, and finally a year without any significant pandemic restrictions. During their time at Princeton, construction has taken off, as broad swathes of campus are reimagined.

The Class of 2023 have responded to the challenges these changing times presented in a variety of ways: for example, according to The Daily Princetonian’s Senior Survey, 16.4% of the class started as a member of a different class before taking a gap year during their time at Princeton.

Yet a striking statistic in the Senior Survey is despite all the challenges that the past four years have presented, more than 80% of seniors said that they were satisfied or very satisfied with their time at Princeton. The Class of 2023 has built community, created great things and important pieces of art, led organizations, made critical discoveries, served the broader community, and lived through Princeton’s most interesting years.

THE GREAT CLASS OF 2023

ANGEL KUO / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN Senior Year: March Madness Sweet 16 in Whig Hall.

CANDACE DO / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN Sophomore Year: Snowball fight.

CANDACE DO / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN Junior Year: Bonfire.

MARK DODICI / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN

First Year: Closure Darty.

editor-in-chief

Rohit Narayanan '24

business manager

Shirley Ren ’24

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

president

Thomas E. Weber ’89

vice president

David Baumgarten ’06

secretary

Chanakya A. Sethi ’07

treasurer

Douglas Widmann ’90

assistant treasurer

Kavita Saini ’09

trustees

Francesca Barber

Craig Bloom ’88

Kathleen Crown

Suzanne Dance ’96

Gabriel Debenedetti ’12

Stephen Fuzesi ’00

Zachary A. Goldfarb ’05

Michael Grabell ’03

John G. Horan ’74

Danielle Ivory ’ 05

Rick Klein ’98

James T. MacGregor ’66

Julianne Escobedo Shepherd

Abigail Williams ’14

Tyler Woulfe ’07

trustees ex officio

Rohit Narayanan ’24

Shirley Ren ’24

147TH MANAGING BOARD

upper management

Kalena Blake ’24

Katherine Dailey ’ 24

Julia Nguyen ’ 24

Angel Kuo ’ 24

Hope Perry ’ 24

Strategic initiative directors

Education

Kareena Bhakta ’ 24

Amy Ciceu ’ 24

Financial Stipend Program

Genrietta Churbanova ’ 24

head newsletter editors

Olivia Chen ’26

Sidney Singer ’25

associate newsletter editor

Aly Rashid ’26

head opinion editor

Abigail Rabieh ’25

community opinion editor

Lucia Wetherill ’25

associate opinion editors

Eleanor Clemans-Cope ’26

Ashley Olenkiewicz ’25

head photo editor Jean Shin ’26

head podcast editor

Eden Teshome ’25

associate podcast editor

Senna Aldoubosh ’25

head print design editors

Avi Chesler ’25

Malia Gaviola ’26

head prospect editors

Kerrie Liang ’25

Claire Shin ’25

Mobile Reach

Rowen Gesue ’24

DEIB Chair

Christofer Robles ’25

Sections listed in alphabetical order.

head audience editor

Rowen Gesue ’24

associate audience editors

Laura Robertson ’24

Paige Walworth ’26

head copy editors

Jason Luo ’25

Nathalie Verlinde ’24

associate head copy editors

Tiffany Cao ’24

Naisha Sylvestre ’25

head data editor

Elaine Huang ’25

Charlie Roth ’25

associate data editor

Ryan Konarska ’25

head features editors

Paige Cromley ’24

Tori Tinsley ’24

associate features editor

Sejal Goud ’25

head graphics editors

Noreen Hosny ’25

Katelyn Ryu ’25

head humor editors

Spencer Bauman ’25

Liana Slomka ’23

associate humor editors

Sam McComb ’25

Sophia Varughese ’26

head news editors

Sandeep Mangat ’24

Isabel Yip ’25

associate news editors

Lia Opperman ’25

Annie Rupertus ’25

Tess Weinreich ’25

associate prospect editors

Isabella Dail ’26

Joshua Yang ’25

head puzzles editors

Joah Macosko ’25

Simon Marotte ’26

associate puzzles editors

Juliet Corless ’24

Sarah Gemmell ’24

Jaeda Woodruff ’25

head sports editors

Nishka Bahl ’26

Wilson Conn ’25

associate sports editors

Cole Keller ’26

Brian Mhando ’26

head web design and development editors

Ananya Grover ’24

Brett Zeligson ’24

associate web design and development editor

Vasila Mirshamsova ’26

147TH BUSINESS BOARD

assistant business manager

Aidan Phillips ’25

business directors

Benjamin Cai ’24

Juliana Li ’24

Samantha Lee ’24

Gabriel Gullett ’25

Jonathan Lee ’24

project managers

Brian Zhou ’26

Sophia Shepherd ’26

Andrew He ’26

Diya Dalia ’24

Tejas Iyer ’26

Laura Zhang ’26

Dauen Kim ’26

Julia Cabri ’24

Jessica Funk ’26

Tony Ye ’23

Anika Agarwal ’25

147TH TECHNOLOGY BOARD

chief technology officer

Joanna Tang ’24

lead software engineer

Roma Bhattacharjee ’25

software engineers

Eugenie Choi ’24

Carter Costic ’26

Dylan Esptein-Gross ’26

Ishaan Javali ’26

Adam Kelch ’26

Tai Sanh Nguyen ’26

John Ramirez ’26

Aidan Phillips ’25

Jessie Wang ’25

Shannon Yeow ’26

Brett Zeligson ’24

THIS PRINT ISSUE WAS DESIGNED BY

Avi Chesler ’25

Malia Gaviola ’26

ORIGINAL TEXT

Bridget O’Neill ’26

Hope Perry ’24

Olivia Sanchez ’26

Julian Hartman-Sigall ’26

Miriam Waldvogel ’26

Farewell Letter

By Mayu Takeuchi Former USG President

I was asked to write a farewell letter, but, to my classmates in the Great Class of 2023, this isn’t farewell — I’m looking forward to seeing you as alumni at local gatherings, at Reunions, and at future March Madness watch parties.

Instead, here are some thank yous.

Thanks to our many peer mentors over the years, who’ve been there for us since our earliest days as Tigers. Special thanks go to the RCAs, PAAs, and orientation leaders and fellows who helped us navigate our transitions to Princeton — for some of us an hour drive from home and for others a cross-country drive or an international flight away, but for all of us a completely new adventure.

Thank you to all the campus dining staff for keeping us nourished both physically and emotionally for the past four years. You’re a huge part of what’s made Princeton home, from our huge Pre-Rade BBQ, through arrival quarantines and many late meal runs, and now as we’re finishing our last meals on campus. I’ve enjoyed savoring everything from chefs’ hometown dishes to RoMa’s grilled cheese sandwiches — still my go-to when I need a pick-me-up.

Thank you to all the staff at University Health Services who have been there right with us through not just COVID, but also all the seasons and all the forms and manifestations of the Princeton Plague. We quite literally could not have made it through without you. As the world and our campus continue to diversify and evolve, so do our experiences and our needs; thank you for continuing to adapt and support us through the fast-paced experience of being students at Princeton University.

Thank you to all the university services and facilities staff, with a special shout out to the building services staff, for working tirelessly so that we can call this magical place home. Another special shout out to the staff tackling construction: In the face of never-ending construction projects — that promise a more sustainable, cutting-edge university that expands access to a Princeton education — thank you for continuing to listen to and act on our lived experiences as students. It truly means so much.

Thanks to all the academic and residential college staff, preceptors, lecturers, and professors who have helped us grow into the students and people we are today. Special thanks go to the preceptors who’ve stayed up late giving us feedback on tricky problem sets and papers and to the professors who have been eager not only to teach but also to learn alongside us.

Thanks go to the many caring staff that have supported us in affinity spaces and other invaluable sources of community across campus. Given this institution’s complex — and in many ways exclusionary — history, it’s been deeply meaningful to have these spaces and communities. You’ve also empowered us to serve and care for each other and for our community.

Thanks to all our Class Gov officers over the years for building out creative programming even as we were scattered across the globe, empowering us to continue strengthening our ’23 community. Thank

you for organizing everything from our record-breaking pub nights to the sentimental Sunset Soirée, and for the comfy sweatshirts I’ll happily be lounging in for years to come.

Thanks to the many student activists over the years who pushed for change to improve our campus for all students. Just during our time as students, we’ve celebrated 50 years of co-education; seen our community reckon with racial injustice; witnessed the University divest and dissociate from over 90 fossil fuel companies; and more — all powered by the hard work of student and alumni volunteers, in the service of humanity.

Thanks to my peers who have served our campus community, especially those who’ve stepped up to support their peers’ mental health and wellness during challenging times of uncertainty, loss, and isolation. These experiences are challenging enough to navigate as individuals; thank you for putting in countless hours to support us and the community, and for showing us what it means to serve.

Thanks to our student athletes for inspiring us with your tenacity and dedication, even in the face of pandemic-related complications. You’ve also proven that we are indeed an athletics powerhouse. Even just in our last semester, we’ve seen our classmate become Princeton’s first NCAA wrestling champion in 72 years and our men’s and women’s basketball teams go on historic March Madness runs, busting brackets everywhere. Plus, let’s not forget the bonfire our junior year… And those are only some highlights. Go Tigers!!

Thanks to our artists and performers for bringing such joy to our community across all four years. While I’m sure the months of virtual rehearsals and asynchronously recorded performances weren’t quite what you expected coming in, it’s truly been so special to see your passions come to life onstage — whether that’s been under Blair Arch, at Frist Theater, or spontaneously in a friend’s dorm room on a Friday night.

Thanks to the many, many alumni who make Princeton as special as it is. A special shout out to the alumni who’ve put in hundreds of hours so we can make the most of our Princeton experience even through the turbulence of the past few years, like by crafting meaningful service internships for us during our virtual summers, offering mentorship on careers and life, and so much more. It’s an honor to join you all and to continue your work supporting future Princetonians.

Of course, deep thanks to all our parents, families, and loved ones. It’s thanks to you that we could step foot on campus in the first place, and with your support, we’ve been able to grow in more ways than we could have ever imagined. Thank you for all your love and support over the years.

Last but not least, my thanks to all of you, my peers in the Great Class of 2023. Thank you for entrusting me with the opportunity to serve you as USG President, and most importantly for making this place and journey so special — more than words could ever express. Thank you, and see you around!

BROOKE MCCARTHY / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN

FRESHMAN YEAR 20192020

The Class of 2023’s freshman year was one of the most dramatic in Princeton’s history – three fourths of the way through, the world changed forever with the COVID-19 pandemic. As students scattered across the world, faculty adjusted to a course of study conducted almost entirely online. The University ex- tended the pass/D/ fail option to all undergraduate spring courses as a result of the pandemic.

The Ivy League canceled all spring athletic events and internships under the International Internship Program were also canceled, disrupting the summer plans of many first-years. For the first time since it was established in 1876, The Daily Princetonian held production all summer.

Another major event took place on

campus, after dozens of students, including members of the Class of 2023, were accused of cheating in MAT 202: Linear Algebra with Applications after a TA intentionally posted a false solution on the website Slader. The incident merited significant discourse on the FacebookTigerConfessions page.

The Class of 2023 also saw the end of a long time quirk in Princeton’s academic calendar. They were part of the last class to have finals after winter break. The next year, finals were moved before winter break and Wintersession was created.

Over the summer of 2020, protests erupted across the country after the killing of George Floyd. Over 1000 community members protested outside FitzRandolph gate, calling for systemic change.

AFTER GEORGE FLOYD

June 3, 2020

‘It has to end’: Protesters in Princeton demand justice for Floyd’s death

June 22, 2020

June 27, 2020

July 7, 2020

In open letter, faculty call for anti-racist action, diversity in decision-making

July 28, 2020

PART I | ‘Resurfacing history’: A look back at the Black Justice League’s campus activism

July 28, 2020

PART II |

history’: A look back at the Black Justice League’s campus activism

President Eisgruber asks senior leaders to explore how U. can fight racism, prepare reports by Aug. 21

U. renames Woodrow Wilson School and Wilson College

‘Resurfacing

Class of 2023 kicks off the year with opening exercises, Pre-Rade

By Benjamin Ball | September 10, 2019

First-year students experienced the full array of first-year traditions on Sunday, as they participated in opening exercises, the Pre-Rade, a barbecue, and the annual “step sing” to kick off their first year at the University.

Opening exercises, an annual event, marks the beginning of first-years’ academic careers. The ceremony is held in the University chapel on the Sunday prior to the first day of classes. Every year, the University president delivers an address to the incoming class, community members share hymns and prayers, and undergraduate prizes are awarded to students for their academic achievement.

President Christopher Eisgruber ’83 began the ceremony by reflecting on the history of the opening-exercises tradition, which dates back to 1802. Eisgruber mentioned that while the original ceremony was strictly Christian, it has since come to represent and include members of many faiths and “ethical traditions.”

“I ask you to join me in reflecting on how fortunate we are to be on a campus of this kind, a campus that values the fearless pursuit of truth, cherishes the importance of service, and celebrates the dazzling diversity of identities, cultures, faiths, and backgrounds that forge the rich tapestry of our community,” Eisgruber said.

In his speech, Eisgruber suggested that those present regard the ceremony as an occasion to reflect upon the “mission” of the University. He referenced the life and work of renowned author Toni Morrison, the Robert F. Goheen Professor in the Humanities, Emerita, who recently passed away.

Eisgruber focused specifically on Morrison’s call for dissent, interpreting Morrison’s words as a call to interact with many different and contradictory viewpoints and to “interrogate and challenge our own orthodoxies.”

“If we genuinely prize conscience over orthodoxy, we must not only tolerate but welcome reasoned arguments that challenge our own cherished opinions and viewpoints,” Eisgruber said. “We must have the courage to state opinions even when they are unpopular in our own community. We must have the integrity to respect those who offer opinions that are unpopular with us.”

The ceremony included songs, readings, and prayers from a variety of faiths.

The ceremony also featured the presentation of several academic awards. Dean of the College Jill Dolan awarded the Freshman First Honor Prize to Kiril Bangachev ’22, the George B. Wood Legacy Sophomore Prize to Mary Devellis ’21 and Yechen Hu ’21, the George B. Wood Legacy Junior Prize to Audrey Cheng ’20 and Eitan Levin ’20, and the Class of 1939 Princeton Scholar Award to Nicholas Johnson ’20 and Grace Sommers ’20.

Opening exercises were followed by the Pre-Rade, in which the incoming class parad -

ed through FitzRandolph Gate.

First-years indicated that although they enjoyed many of the day’s festivities, the rush of going from one event to another fatigued them.

Other first-years interviewed by The Daily Princetonian felt excited, if not overwhelmed by the scale of the day’s festivities.

“I mean, everybody kind of jokes that Princeton is like a cult, and you fully see that there. They’re all decked out, fully welcoming you,” said Ben Burns ’23. “It just shows how much everybody loves this place. It makes you feel really good.”

ZACK SHEVIN / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN

The Class of 2023 enters en masse through FitzRandolph gates.

It was long and I’m tired. But I’m excited, and ready to start my Princeton journey.

-LANCE YODER ’23

Why you don’t feel successful at Princeton

By Liam O’Connor | June 29, 2020

Ispent my first two summers of high school completing state-required gym classes so that I could fit more sci- ence classes into my schedule during the academic year. Every morning, I had to run a lap on the track with my classmates under the searing July sun.

I ran these sprints several dozen times, and their outcomes were always the same. The track athletes reached the finish line first, followed by the people who were neither in nor out of shape, who were trailed in turn by the less athletic students or bulky athletes who were known more for their muscle than theirNospeed.matter how hard anyone tried, their relative ranking in the race never changed because some of the students — name- ly the track stars — had received so much more training to run the lap that no one could catch up to them in our brief few weeks of gym classes.

A sixth sense has long told me that the Princeton experi- ence is like one of these morning laps. Students stand along the starting line at opening exercises, and then they’re off to the races once Orientation begins, attempting to achieve more and outdo their peers in every way. But few can pull ahead who ar- en’t already primed to do so.

As a junior and senior columnist for The Daily Princetonian, I’ve pieced together demographic data on the eating clubs’ memberships, mapped undergraduates’ hometowns, ana- lyzed confidential grading data, chronicled the inner work- ings of the admission process, and tracked the winners of top academic awards. These sources have confirmed my hunch that our college trajectories are split like the runners on my high school track.

The conclusions that I reached from these investigations agreed what I had long suspected: Students’ upbringings sig- nificantly influence — if not outright determine — the course of their academic and social lives at Princeton.

During the final months of my senior year, I discovered the smoking guns that I had long been searching for. Buried in the Mudd Manuscript Library, I found documents in which ad- missions officers acknowledged — and even predicted — that various groups of students would perform differently because of how they fit into the classes that they crafted. The practical and ethical consequences of this knowledge affect nothing less than the very futures of the undergraduates across the highest echelons of higher education.

Princeton’s admissions process — along with those of the rest of the Ivy League — underwent a dramatic transforma- tion in the 1960s. It began favoring academic superstars over children of rich aristocrats. Instead of admitting well-rounded students, it created well-rounded classes of narrowly-interest- ed students. The University wanted a student body that was diverse in every way, but it also had to address the demands of various factions within its community, such as finding recruits to fill a coach’s team or accepting children of alumni to avoid disturbing the donation stream.

Thus, the “round system” developed by E. Alden Dunham ’53 satisfied all of these pressures by flagging athletes, debat- ers, legacies, ruralites, engineers, and minorities and separat- ing them from the overall applicant pool to be considered indi- vidually in successive phases. Although the round system was eliminated in the 1980s, its admission preferences persisted. The trade-off to selecting students in this manner is that their scholastic abilities vary considerably.

In 1960, Harvard’s dean of admissions, Fred Glimp, openly pioneered the practice of admitting a “happy bottom quarter.” Any class will have a bottom quarter of students, he reasoned. If driven bookworms filled it, then they’d have an unpleasant college experience, as their inferior status in the campus hier- archy would frustrate them. His alternative approach to keep everyone happy was to populate a class’ bottom quarter with students of lower academic prowess but of some particular identity or extracurricular skill, so they wouldn’t mind their lower position.

I couldn’t find any documents revealing whether Prince- ton’s admissions officers agreed with this philosophy. Nonethe- less, the effects of their own new system were similar, in that they wedged divisions in the student body. And they knew that would be the result.

“The problem as we state it here is an old one: Two students of the same ability come to Princeton with quite different preparation. The graduate of an Advanced Placement physics course at Exeter is way ahead of a student of equal ability who sat through the gym teacher’s physics course in a regional high school in Kentucky. Princeton for years has been admitting both,” Director of Admission John T. Osander ’57 wrote in 1969. He noted that the “gap” between well-prepared and ill-pre- pared students was largest in math and science.

In 1973, the Office of Admission prepared a report in which it predicted — by combining data from applications and grad- uates’ transcripts — how students admitted in special groups would perform once they were at Princeton. Applicants who were admitted purely for their outstanding academic and extracurricular work or who had “special aca- demic strengths” would earn a B-plus on average. athletes, were B-minus students, if they

schools prepared their classmates much better, leading them to feel inadequate in comparison.”

Suppose a student falls out of the niche that the Office of Admission thought they would occupy on campus. A 1968 re- port to the faculty admitted, “One of the poorest admission de- cisions we make is one that brings a high school athlete with modest academic ability to Princeton, when that man ends up not making one of our varsity teams and not able to find anoth- er outlet for his energy.” It’s no secret that some athletes with modest academic ability still receive substantial breaks in admissions.

Imagine one of these athletes getting injured early in her freshman year so that she can no longer play. Detached from her primary social group, she may have difficulty navigating Prospect Avenue where — as I have reported — athletic affil- iations impact who gets into which eating club. In precepts, she may become discouraged when she can’t match her peers in intellectual firepower. Of course, I don’t mean to say that she won’t reap any benefits from a Princeton education in the long-term. But her four years here may be quite miserable as she struggles to succeed.

Now imagine the same athlete, except that in her freshman year, after being injured, she decides to pursue a lofty goal — a Rhodes scholarship, say, or admission to Harvard Law School, or an engineering job at Google. Her academic credentials pre- dict that she’ll earn a GPA of 2.2, but she works very hard to get a In3.2.her senior year, she applies for her goal and gets rejected on the grounds that her grades aren’t high enough (or for some other reason). Meanwhile, a student admitted on academic merit with a predicted GPA of 3.9 might cruise through college with less effort, get a 3.7, and be accepted. Even though the ath- lete beat the odds, her efforts go unrecognized.

While I picked an athlete to illustrate my point, it could be anyone: a musician, an environmentalist, a student from a low-income background. The current admissions philoso- phy of a well-rounded class — combined with its penchant for wealthy applicants — creates a well-ordered ecosystem de- fined by one’s background.

-

ence, be given Similar tions coulda century passingclaiming the Game” by former University president William Bow- en GS ’58 and “No Longer Separate, Not Yet Equal” by Thomas Espenshade GS ’72 — have confirmed that these rifts persist.

It would be too harsh to say that the Office of Admission is setting up students to fail. After all, these differences exist be- cause an anxious upper middle class is pushing their kids to cram more academics — leaving everyone else behind — in the hopes that they improve their chances of getting into plac- es such as Princeton. But admissions certainly isn’t setting up some students to succeed in all aspects of college.

“Potential careers in medicine and engineering, for ex- ample, have sometimes been aborted during an unsuccessful freshman year encounter with a course for which the student lacked adequate preparation,” Osander wrote. A modern spin on the same observation could say, “Students abort potential careers in medicine and engineering because even though they are adequately prepared, accelerated coursework at magnet

Most students, I think, naturally fit into their assigned niches and don’t question them. But the well-rounded class philosophy also makes it difficult for students to try new things or prevents them from achieving specific goals because there are students who — by the nature of their life before college — are better prepared to accomplish them.

A first-year student taking MAT 103: Calculus I, for exam- ple, has a slim chance of becoming a math major. Students who follow that path usually start in MAT 215: Single Variable Anal- ysis and have already attended rigorous math camps before college.

A middle-class rural student from the Rocky Mountains will have a tough time getting into the Ivy Club, where students from big cities and private school graduates rule.

A recruited athlete will seldom win a Shapiro Prize. His commitments to a team may prevent him from devoting enough time to keep up with top students, or he may have been admitted with lower academic talents.

A student who didn’t spend a decade learning to play the vi- olin won’t pass the audition to join a faculty-led orchestra.

A student from a typical public high school in engineering isn’t going to win a Rhodes scholarship or become a valedictori- an. Her many classmates from magnet schools will frequently beat the grading curves and set faculty’s expectation for how their classes should perform. The list could continue ad infinitum.

In short, I’ve learned, how you were admitted will largely guide your undergraduate career at Princeton. If you want to leave your assigned niche or aspire to a goal where you won’t be competitive, then, like the runners in my high school races, you will be sorely disappointed when you realize your position rarely changes.

COVID-19 MILESTONES

‘A full-on Bacchanalia’: looking back at the days following the ‘end of the world’

By Paige Cromley | March 13, 2023

On March 11, 2020, the day of the “end of the world,” Camille Reeves ’23 was taking a midterm exam. Apart from the sound of papers rustling and students ferociously scribbling, the room was silent. Then, the pings started. Notification after notification, phones tucked away in backpacks began to sound, echoing through the exam room.

The day prior, many of the University’s peer institutions, including Harvard and Yale had announced that undergraduates would have to vacate campus due to the threat that the surging COVID-19 pandemic posed to students. Against this backdrop, the pings were a harbinger of disaster.

“I knew something COVID-related was happening,” Reeves said.

When she turned her phone back on after the exam, the notifications loaded so fast she couldn’t read them.

“I knew it was over,” she said. In response to the pandemic, undergraduate students were being told to leave Princeton’s campus as soon as possible. She packed up her dorm and left that Saturday, March 14, not knowing when she’d return.

What did campus look like between Wednesday, March 11, and her flight home? Reeves described it as “a full-on Bacchanalia.”

The threat of being kicked off campus had loomed over the heads of students in the days leading up to the announcement.

Myles McKnight ’23 noted how even though other colleges had been sending students home because of the pandemic, “some people had this denialist hope that Princeton would be different.”

On March 8, a few days before the March 11 notification to leave campus, an announcement had accidentally been released on the University website saying that students wouldn’t return to campus for an extra week after Spring Break. It was deleted within a few hours.

On the morning of Monday, March 9, Eisgruber announced that courses would temporarily be virtual after spring break and encouraged students to stay home for longer. In the afternoon, the University published new “social distancing” policies. In the midst of these announcements, life was continuing as always on campus, with students crammed elbow-to-elbow in libraries studying for ongoing midterm exams and dining halls full of chatter.

Signs of imminent change were in the air though, with the country rapidly confronted with

the threat of the pandemic. Front pages were filled with coronavirus news, from Italy’s recently-initiated lockdown to President Trump’s reaction. Cases were rising across the United States, and nearby New York had over a hundred cases already. New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy declared a state of emergency that Monday night.

“Everything had this sort of apocalyptic filter almost to it,” McKnight said.

Then, at 7:46 p.m. on the evening of March 11, the announcement came that undergraduates were to return home and stay there for the rest of the semester.

“It was total anarchy,” McKnight said. “People were partying like crazy.”

With the future uncertain, students tried to make the most of their last few days of normalcy. They played die, a popular drinking game, in Henry courtyard and packed into dorm suites.

“It looked like lawnparties,” Reeves said. “Except with suitcases, people packing up and leaving.”

Students scrambled to make arrangements, with many storing boxes at the houses of friends and acquaintances.

Reeves had a flight on Saturday morning, which gave her just two days to pack up her entire dorm and figure out storage plans for an undisclosed amount of time.

“What do we do with all our stuff?” was one of the first questions Lizzie Curran ’23 — a native of the United Kingdom — had when the announcement dropped.

“We had to pack up all our dorm stuff and get out,” McKnight recalled. His parents were able to drive up from North Carolina and help.

Within a few days, the campus had emptied out.

McKnight remembers the days before leaving, calling it surreal, “like a haze.”

For the most part, the virus hadn’t yet reached the Orange Bubble, though there were signs of that changing as well. The day after the announcement, on Thursday, March 12, an undergraduate student tested positive and was placed in isolation at the McCosh Health Center, exhibiting flu-like symptoms. The next day, a staff member tested positive for the virus.

As a result, the University began emphasizing social distancing, which was a new concept to many.

The Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students sent an email on Friday, March 13, stating

that there could be disciplinary consequences for large gatherings. This marked the beginning of a nearly one-and-a-half-year era of the University restricting social gatherings amongst undergraduates. The email said that the Department of Public Safety could document these gatherings and students who refused to disperse could be arrested.

The email referred to “disruptions we have seen on campus in the past two days” and said, “so many students are failing to heed these protective measures and engaging in disruptive behavior.”

Regardless, students continued to gather. Dining halls were still open, and enforcement of social distancing was lax. Reeves remembers music blasting everywhere and handles of vodka left outside for the taking.

“It was one last chance to be a college kid before everything got completely destroyed,” McKnight said. “A lot of nobody going to class, just people hanging out, almost as though the world were ending tomorrow and there was nothing you could do about it.”

“There was an incredible sense of community but it was overwhelmed by sadness,” Reeves recalled. No one knew when they’d be allowed to return to campus.

The campus remained vacant through the end of the year, with just a few students with permission to live in the dorms in the fall of 2020 for reasons like housing insecurity. The following spring, a larger percentage of students arrived at a changed and stifled campus environment, with strict limitations on social gatherings, masking policies, and take-out dining hall food.

Ultimately, campus life resumed more fully that fall, with most classes meeting once again in-person and almost everyone back in the dorms. It had been a year and a half since Reeves had left, in the middle of her freshman spring; by fall 2021, she was a junior, finally reunited with many classmates she hadn’t seen since that frenzied week in March.

She remembers that first week of her junior year as similar, in a sense, to that final week in March: Everywhere people were hugging and celebrating the joy of being together. Except for this time, it wasn’t a goodbye.

“That fall was like a big reunion,” she said. “It was special.”

FEB 3, 2020

U. monitors five students for coronavirus, China Bridge Year group relocates in response to coronavirus outbreak

MAR 9, 2020

Courses going virtual, students encouraged to stay home after break

MAR 11, 2020

All students but those meeting specific criteria must return home for rest of semester, U. says

APR 15, 2020

U. will hold virtual commencement, postpones in-person ceremony to 2021

JUL 18, 2020

Eating clubs will close in the fall ‘for the first time in more than a century’

AUG 7, 2020

First-years and juniors may not return to campus, as U. switches to entirely remote fall

NOV 24, 2020

Princeton to invite all undergraduates to campus this spring, with most instruction remaining online

MAY 2, 2021

Princeton hosts on-campus vaccination clinic

AUG 11, 2021

Princeton implements universal indoor mask mandate

SEP 1, 2021

Students attend in-person classes after more than a year of online learning

DEC 14, 2021

Princeton moves finals online, mandates boosters for spring semester amid COVID-19 uptick

MAR 3, 2022

Reactions: Princeton to ditch the mask mandate and asymptomatic testing

SOPHOMORE YEAR 20202021

The Class of 2023 began sophomore year like no other — entirely remote. The typical rhythms and traditions of the fall semester took place entirely virtually, with no small amount of struggle. Students dealt with the burnout and exhaustion that came with online learning, and those living abroad contended with time differences of 12 hours or more to attend their classes and office hours. Attempts to pivot social traditions like Lawnparties to a virtual format (including an $80,000 performance from Jason Derulo) were met with mixed reviews and criticism.

SEPT PROSPECT

Triangle’s ‘Old Folks’ Home’ and the future wished for

The spring brought a return to campus, albeit with most classes online and COVID-19 precautions such as the Social Contract, which limited student gatherings. The pandemic also took a toll on the mental health of students, with appointments at Counseling and Psychological Services reaching an all-time high in March.

Activists on campus also continued to push for change, including protesting the University’s handling of remains of victims of the 1985 MOVE police bombing. Members of the American Whig-Cliosophic Society debated rescinding an award given to Sen. Ted Cruz

NOV FEATURES

Communal apartments, visa troubles, and becoming nocturnal: International students try to ‘make it work’

NOV NEWS

Princeton to invite all undergraduates to campus this spring, with most instruction remaining online

FEB PROSPECT

When The Marriage Pact came to Princeton (and matched a pair of twins)

’92 (R-Texas) after the Jan. 6 Capitol riots.

Things started to look up at the end of the year. In late April, the University allowed the last week of classes to be held in-person, outdoors. Around the same time, the first vaccines came to campus, and some varsity sports including softball, track and field, and crew returned to competition after a year-long hiatus. The slow return to normalcy brought increasing hope for the fall ahead.

APR OPINION

Ask for the damn extension

APR FEATURES

When residential life returned, some students didn’t

MAY FEATURES

Choosing community: Muslim students gather to eat, worship, mourn during Ramadan

MAR NEWS

‘We are not your model minority’: Stop Asian Hate rally and vigil takes to Hinds Plaza

Triangle’s ‘Old Folks’ Home’ and the future wished for

By José Pablo Fernández García | September 16, 2020

On a particularly warm July morning, I interviewed Alexander P.G. Sittenfeld ’07 — who is currently running to be Cincinnati’s next mayor — for my summer internship. With Sittenfeld being a Princeton alumnus, our conversation at one point turned to the University’s July announcement of a partially virtual semester. Like many other community members I’ve talked to these past months — especially other alumni — he offered his condolences for the lost time on campus while, of course, acknowledging all of the other, much more terrible losses people have endured this year. I don’t recall my entire response, but I do remember suggesting this year was full of losses on many different levels, all deserving at least some of our attention and care.

It’s hard to process the loss of a year on campus when over 170,000 people have succumbed to the coronavirus — so much loss of life that this number is already, tragically, too small for the day this piece is published. It feels cheap to mourn campus life after N.J. Gov. Phil Murphy filled my Twitter feed with the names and faces of COVID-19 victims these past months. But as the first day of virtual classes drew nearer, I found myself reminded of my earlier suggestion about this year’s losses.

Sure, not returning to campus is a relatively small loss in the larger scope of this catastrophic pandemic. At the same time, I’ve been fortunate enough in my personal life that the loss of campus life is really the biggest loss I’ve had to endure this year. For these reasons, I hadn’t realized how much grief over the virtual semesters I was carrying, and now, having taken the time to recognize it, I more fully understand why acknowledging the various levels of loss matters.

I didn’t really take the time to process all of this until I sat down at my dining room table to work on the video of “Old Folks’ Home” for the Triangle Club’s Frosh Week Show. Hearing Ann Webb ’22 and Grace Zhao ’22 sing about wanting to stay at Princeton transported me back, at least emotionally, to March 11, when I had last heard my friends sing this song.

Perhaps the reason this one Triangle song pushed me to finally process these losses is the one line that introduces the song’s punchline. It’s a clear reference to the Triangle clas-

sic “Orange Bubble” and its chorus of “nothing ever happens in Princeton.” In “Old Folks’ Home,” the line gets cut off before Princeton, since that’s the moment the characters finally draw the parallel between the University and a retirement home.

Previously, this cut-off lyric was a brief moment just before the song’s climax, without much thought of anything else. Now that something has indeed happened in Princeton, and with the knowledge that the “Orange Bubble” isn’t part of the Frosh Week show this year for that very reason, hearing that line get cut off is a stinging reminder of March 11, when our campus life was also cut off and we realized the Princeton we knew was lost.

That day is one of the few days I can remember painfully well. I remember how it started with learning that my ECO 100 midterm exam had been postponed. I remember sitting on a bench inside the Julis Romo Rabinowitz Building writing “For all the frustrated Tigers” on my phone. I remember sitting at my desk in my Blair Hall dorm in the evening, when the email arrived telling us all to go

home for the rest of the semester, instead of the two weeks that had been previously announced.

The memories I cherish most from that day, however, are from what unfolded after that email landed in my inbox. In the resulting chaos of that night, I found some temporary and much-needed relief as much of Triangle assembled for its last in-person performance to date: a casual, fun run of “Once Uponzi Time” with everyone playing whatever role they wished, even standing in for set pieces. Later, for one of the last songs before everyone went their separate ways, a group gathered around a piano to sing “Old Folks’ Home.” It was the first of many times I would tear up during that week, full of so many goodbyes. That night, my tears came from seeing some of the seniors sob as others sang about wanting to stay at Princeton.

I remembered all this as I sat in front of my laptop, hundreds of miles away, in my fifth month stuck at home. “Old Folks’ Home” had always been a sweet, special song for me since the first time I heard it. Now, the song carries

a certain bittersweet feeling, a certain heaviness for me. Previously, in my mind, it was more a humorous song about the University feeling like a retirement home. Now, it lands in my heart like a song about the future you see before you versus the future you wish — at times painfully or desperately — lay ahead instead.

The future I see in front of me for the next couple months is the white wall that stands behind my desk as I write these words. It looks like my friends, classmates, and professors are confined to Zoom boxes. It looks like more time spent hundreds of miles away from the place I’d grown to love as my other home.

This is all so different from the future I wish lay ahead instead. It’s not the Edwards Hall dorm room I’d chosen as a member of the Edwards Collective. It’s not the lecture halls, precept rooms, and studios I’d planned to walk to every week for my five classes. It’s not my favorite study spots in Mathey College, Chancellor Green, and Firestone Library or the walks along Nassau Street I enjoyed every time I went to Rojo’s Roastery for coffee.

And as for Triangle, the future that lies ahead looks a bit sad without the possibility of filling McCarter with laughter and pure joy again — even if I am excited to see our Frosh Week and fall shows come together one way or another.

These things I’ve lost are clearly things I can live without for some time; my life hasn’t totally fallen apart without them. And I also haven’t lost sight of these losses as necessary sacrifices in order to prevent even more death. But sad losses they remain, though at a different level. Overall, it’s the loss of a future I had eagerly anticipated yet have slowly seen disappear as the summer continued and case numbers still rose.

And, in recalling my conversation with Sittenfeld, I see this lost future as a loss that very much deserves my attention and grief, if only until the next time I get to hear “Old Folks’ Home” in McCarter, instead of on my laptop screen.

JOSÉ PABLO FERNÁNDEZ GARCÍA / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN Outside McCarter Theater Center

FEATURES

Communal apartments, visa troubles, and becoming nocturnal: International students try to ‘make it work’

By Emiri Morita | November 23, 2020

“Iactually got the email 12 hours before my flight to the U.S.,” said Songtao Li ’24, recalling the moment he learned that his first college semester would be fully online. Ready to quarantine upon arrival, he had already booked a hotel in the U.S.

Instead, he stayed in Beijing, China, as a full-time student, 7,000 miles away from campus and 13 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time.

Li is not alone. “Among active international undergraduates, roughly 335 are residing outside the U.S. this semester,” said Deputy University Spokesperson Michael Hotchkiss.

What has the remote semester been like for these international students? The Daily Princetonian sat down with seven students who live outside the U.S. to learn more about their experiences.

Adjusting to ‘Princeton time’

For students outside of the U.S., realizing that a class or Zoom event will take place in the dead of night has become an almost-daily occurrence.

Ellie Bae ’23, who lives in Seoul, South Korea, reported that compared to last spring, professors have tried to be more accommodating for international students. Still, some compromises have been inevitable.

“I feel like the biggest challenge for me is attending office hours and social events,” she wrote in a text, “because they are usually around late nights here. My sleep schedule has actually become really bad because I have lectures / office hours late at night and precepts early in the mornings.”

Li, a prospective chemistry major, pointed out that scheduling often depends on what types of classes a student takes.

“Luckily, I’m taking mostly STEM classes,” he said, “which makes class times more flexible because of the larger class sizes. My other friends here [in Beijing] studying humanities are having more trouble with precept times.” Smaller humanities classes tend to have fewer precept times available and often require in-person attendance.

Maria Elena Zigka ’23, from Thessaloniki, Greece, echoed Li, citing online social events as the most difficult for international students to join.

“Clubs have been very accommodating with meetings, but less so with Zoom social events,” she said. “Even if the time worked, sometimes we’re so tired of Zoom that we choose not to attend, especially at inconve-

nient hours.”

While some international students such as Li, Bae, and Zigka have tried to stick as best they could to their regular sleeping hours, others are choosing to do the opposite.

Tevin Singei ’24, who lives in Nairobi, Kenya, has transformed his sleep schedule to match Princeton’s timezone.

“I wake up at around 1 p.m. and go to bed at 6 a.m.,” Singei said. “Luckily, I was already a very nocturnal person, but I basically shifted my schedule seven hours and now live in Princeton time.”

New apartments, new countries: finding the best learning environment

Singei’s tactic of flipping day and night has been feasible thanks to Princeton’s external housing program, which made it possible for him to live in his own apartment, rather than his family home. Taking classes from his home would have been a challenge, not only because of internet and electricity issues, but also because he would have disturbed his family every night.

“I didn’t want to be an extra burden on family,” he said.

Now, he lives in an apartment building full of college students like himself, some of whom attend local Kenyan colleges and some who attend other American universities, such as Stanford and the University of Pennsylvania.

Having an apartment in Nairobi, however, does not solve all the difficulties that come with remote learning from so far away. When a thunderstorm or national power outage disrupts Singei’s internet connection, he can do nothing.

“I turned in my math exam three minutes late via email because the power went out,” he recalled. “My professor didn’t quite understand which felt unfair … it really wasn’t anything I could control.”

He’s faced another kind of trouble when trying to explain his situation to people in his hometown.

“I’m from a rural area of Kenya,” he said, “and the people back home are starting to get skeptical. They’re all like, he’s still in Nairobi? What is this? Is he really going to a U.S. college?”

Zigka took advantage of her proximity to four Princeton friends who live in neighboring countries. The five of them moved to Barcelona, where they have spent the semester.

“Living with my group of girl friends in Barcelona has definitely helped feel a sense of community, although I’m not on campus,”

Zigka said. “When you’re alone at home, the pace of life is different [because] you’re with family. But the five of us have the same routine and set of responsibilities, which helps to motivate each other to work and study.”

Midterms week was a hectic time for Zigka and her four housemates, as they struggled to organize times for test-taking and quiet study in their small shared space.

“We literally made a spreadsheet,” Zigka said. “It was strange, weird, and hard to coordinate. But we made it work.”

Handling distance, or lack thereof, from home

Among international Princetonians, some have not returned to their home countries at all — whether by choice or not.

Ian Jaccojwang ’23 from Kisumu, Kenya, is currently living on campus. He recounted the visa obstacles facing one of his friends.

“Ihaveafriendoncampuswhohasatwoyear visa which is about to expire, but cannot go home because the embassy in his country is closed,” he said. “There is no guarantee he could renew it to come back to the States.”

Jaccojwang himself has not gone back to Kenya since he arrived on campus as a firstyear.“I didn’t go home [last spring] because Kenya’s borders were closed and because I had an internship in the U.S. over the summer,” he said. “I’m really hoping to go back this winter since the borders are now open. Unless the pandemic gets out of control, I should be able to go back.”

Students who were able to return to their home countries expressed gratitude and found silver linings.

Home in Kenya, Singei was thankful he didn’t have to go through the culture shock of moving to the U.S. alongside the academic shock of Princeton. Instead, he’s “just dealing with academic shock first.”

Bofan Ji ’24 from Beijing, China, was also thankful that he could stay with his family for another semester.

“Being international, it means we’re going to spend the entire four years of college without proximity to our parents,” he said. “This can be very tough. This pandemic is actually a special opportunity for me to get closer to my parents and make them feel a little better before moving away for college.”

For Zigka, although she’s not living in her home country, “it’s definitely nice to be closer to home [in Europe] to talk to my mom and friends back home without a big time difference.”

Being a first-year from afar

Zigka and Jaccojwang are both International Center Student Leaders at the Davis International Center, where they help organize the International Orientation program for first year students. They both reported that first-year international students have encountered an especially difficult time finding community.

“I think it’s very different for the freshman class,” Zigka said. “Most are stuck at home and can only meet people through Zoom. They seemed to have enjoyed it at first, but I get a sense that they’re increasingly feeling fed up with Zoom calls.”

Despite such difficulties, Singei credited his experience at the Freshman Scholars Institute, a two-month summer program for first-years of first-generation and low-income backgrounds, with creating a sense of community. In addition, he is thankful for group projects. “Working on things together with people helped me a lot getting to know people,” he said.

But Zoom speed-friending sessions? Not so much.

“Thirty seconds to one minute to get to know someone? Honestly, not really effective,” he said, referring to his experience during International Orientation. “You need a real conversation with people to get to know them.”

Ji, on the other hand, said that the Princeton students in Beijing have made efforts to get together, especially since the pandemic has come under control in recent months. “We formed a group of ourselves, including freshman and upperclassmen,” he said, “and are planning to do some activities together.”

For Ji, extracurriculars have also helped. “You won’t know many people otherwise,” he said.

Li, however, opted not to join any clubs this semester.

“I didn’t know how I’d be able to commit to things with the time difference,” he said. “I’m leaving that to when I get to campus.”

Unstable immigration policies, obtaining work authorization, and looking ahead

For other students, the implications of returning to campus extend far beyond the academic year.

On Nov. 7, over 100 first-year students sent a letter to President Christopher Eisgruber ’83 and other top administrators, urging them to “do what [they] can” to bring firstyear international students to campus.

The signatories cited first-year interna-

tional students’ unique struggles with social disconnection, time differences, and future employment in the U.S.

Annie Zhou ’21 from Toronto, Canada, pointed out that living outside the U.S. makes obtaining work authorization for American internships and jobs difficult, if not impossible, for many of her international friends.

“Two summers ago, almost 80 international students lost their jobs and internships due to delayed work authorization. I was in that cohort.”

“The issue this time is that there is a prerequisite saying you must be in the U.S. to apply for OPT and CPT,” she explained.

Optional Practical Training (OPT) is an extension of the F-1 student visa which allows international students to work in the U.S. for up to one or three years after graduation. Curricular Practical Training (CPT) is the summer internship equivalent.

Zhou worries that if she is not allowed back on campus in the spring, she will not meet the prerequisite to apply for her post-graduation work authorization.

“Luckily, there’s a particular work visa under the NAFTA agreement that Canadians and Mexicans can apply for. That’s my fall back. But my friends have no other option.”

According to Zhou, working remotely for a U.S. company while being in another country is similarly convoluted, as employers vary in their work authorization requirements for non-U.S. citizens.

“The company I interned for last summer happened to have a Canadian branch, so I was able to find a way to work for them with- out a CPT. But it’s very case-by-case whether you can work remotely from outside the U.S.”

On top of that, policies surrounding im- migration and work authorization continue to change, which adds to the confusion.

“Honestly, a lot of us are left speculating because it’s hard to predict what may happen next, especially now that the administration will change.”

The unpredictability of national visa policy, coupled with nerves about rising U.S. COVID-19 case numbers, has international students glued to their inboxes for the Uni- versity’s decision about the next semester.

“I just want to be on campus,” said Singei, hoping to finally get the “global exposure” that he dreamed college would provide.

But Ji expressed skepticism about inter- national students’ chances of an in-person spring.“Can [the United States] really solve this problem in three months?” he asked.

SYDNEY PENG / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN

Princeton to invite all undergraduates to campus this spring, with most instruction remaining online

By Albert Jiang,

The University will invite all undergraduate students to campus this spring, according to a message from University President Christopher Eisgruber ’83. Most instruction will remain online, and classes with an in-person component will be offered in a “hybrid” format to accommodate students studying remotely.

All graduate students will again be invited to campus, according to the announcement.

Undergraduates will have until Dec. 3 at 5 p.m. EST to declare their intention to live on campus and must move in no later than Jan. 17. The deadline to request a leave of absence is also Dec. 3.

Students will be housed one-to-a-bedroom, “not necessarily single rooms,” and some students “may be housed proximate to campus rather than on it.” Assignments will be determined based on last spring’s room draw, and first-year students will be housed by zee group. No additional room draw will be held, though “some new assignments” may need to be made.

All returning students will be required to participate in a 14-day quarantine upon arrival to campus — even students from New Jersey. The announcement stated that lockdowns of “all or part of campus” may be required in the event of high infection rates.

All undergraduates residing on campus or in the local area will be required to participate in the University’s biweekly testing program. The University recently opened an on-campus COVID testing lab, where testing samples from the University community will be processed. According to University Spokesperson Ben Chang, the on-campus lab will facilitate “faster turnaround” than the external laboratory partner employed in the fall, which returned results in 48–72 hours.

“In light of this work, we have concluded that, if we test the campus population regularly and if everyone on campus rigorously adheres to public health guidance about masking, social distancing and other practices, we can welcome a far greater number of students back to Princeton,” Eisgruber wrote in the announcement.

Masks and social distancing requirements will apply “throughout campus.” Parties and most social gatherings will be prohibited, and undergraduates will also be prohibited from hosting visitors and will be restricted from traveling. Students will not be allowed to have more than two resident student guests at one time in their sleeping space.

All students will also be required to sign up for a “uniform meal plan,” according to a subsequent message from Dean of the College Jill Dolan and Vice President for Campus Life Rochelle Calhoun.

According to Campus Dining, the University expects “that all undergraduate dining halls, the Center for Jewish Life, and the Graduate College will be open for the spring semester, subject to state mandates and guidance in effect.” Seating will be limited to allow for six feet of social distancing, and meals will be available for takeout.

Dorm kitchens will also be available for student use, though only one person will be permitted to use the area at a time. Laundry rooms will also be open, with students required to adhere to social distancing and face covering requirements.

Financial aid will again provide three budget plans including on-campus, off-campus, and stay-at-home options, according to Dolan and Calhoun’s message.

Students living on campus will be charged $5,240 for housing and $2,750 for a meal plan, with a bill expected to be issued “on or around” Jan. 2. “The University will not provide additional funding” for students who would have to break leases to move to campus this spring, according to the Housing website.

Libraries will also be open by reservation, according to released FAQs.

The social contract lists requirements students must complete before arriving on-campus, including receiving a flu shot, completing an online training module, and monitoring health for COVID-related symptoms for two weeks prior to arrival.

The message stated that restrictions may be “tight” at the start of the spring semester, as infection rates in New Jersey remain high and winter weather makes

outdoor gatherings difficult.

“We hope, but cannot guarantee, that there will be opportunities to increase interaction, and to phase in more activities, as the term progresses,” Eisgruber wrote.

Dolan and Calhoun wrote to students that if public health conditions deteriorate, students will be able to shelter in place on campus. Amid rising case counts in the area last March, the University instructed all students aside from those meeting specific criteria to return home for the remainder semester.

“If conditions worsen, we don’t — as of now — plan to send all students home as we did in spring 2020,” Dolan and Calhoun wrote to students today.

In a video message to the campus community, Eisgruber said that the University is prepared to welcome back all graduate students and all undergraduates who wish to come back and “who are willing to make a commitment to the public health principles and practices that we need to observe in order to operate this campus safely.”

“We’ll give you the option to come to campus, and we will also continue to support remote learning for all of our students who prefer that,” Eisgruber continued. “We will support all of our students, whatever their choices.”

The town of Princeton announced yesterday a record seven day total of 36 new cases. The second-highest seven day stretch of 30 occurred in April. This record comes as the University maintains its low caseload, with no undergraduate students and three graduate students testing positive during the week of Nov. 13.

Instructors were given until yesterday to complete a Google Form as an “early indication of” intention to teach using a hybrid format or implement “in-person or hybrid elements” to otherwise online courses such as precepts, office hours, or projects.

Course formats will be determined by mid-December, with relevant courses assigned classrooms by the second week of January, according to the Spring 2021 website.

Grading policies will be determined in

early December.

“We know that undergraduates and their families will have many questions,” Eisgruber added.

Dolan and Calhoun will also be hosting a town hall for students in partnership with the Undergraduate Student Government (USG) on Dec. 1 and a webinar for parents and families on Dec. 2 to answer community members’ questions.

“Though we now believe that our preparatory planning, policies, and testing capacity will enable us to mitigate the risk of the pandemic appropriately, we recognize that the situation around us may get worse,” Eisgruber wrote. “We will continue to monitor developments related to the pandemic, including public health guidance and state regulations. We will be in touch if they require any changes to our plans.”

Students interviewed by the ‘Prince’ video team immediately following the announcement expressed a range of views and emotions.

In the fall semester, fewer than 300 undergraduates were invited back to campus, after a reversal of previous plans to bring back first-year students and juniors. This included Reserve Army Training Corps (ROTC) students, students conducting lab research, and individuals with housing insecurity.

Most students currently living in emergency housing will be assigned the same room for the spring according to released FAQs. Students needing emergency housing between Dec. 16 and the Jan. 17 move-in deadline can apply for Emergency Residency on TigerHub.

International students in the Class of 2024 or international students returning from a leave of absence must be enrolled in “a credit-bearing course with an in-person component” to comply with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) restrictions. According to University FAQs, “they will have access to at least one such course.”

International students moving back to campus will have a travel allowance equal to “the cost of one round-trip airfare” included in their financial aid budget.

For those unable to obtain a visa in time for the Jan. 17 move-on deadline, there will “possibly” be an exception. The University recommends international students review the Davis International Center’s FAQs and contact their Davis Center advisor and residential college director of student life with questions.

The University has also set up a dedicated “COVID Connector Hotline” for questions related to “health and safety policies, campus housing, student accounts and dining facilities” at 609-2587000. Questions can also be directed to covidconnector@princeton.edu and will be answered during the University’s business hours. Offices will be closed from mid- to late-afternoon on Wednesday until Monday morning due to Thanksgiving.

Employees able to work from home are still being asked to do so, though “in some instances, more staff will be needed to work on campus with greater regularity as the campus re-densifies.”

The Office of Admission will not resume in-person information sessions, and while the general public is permitted on outdoor spaces the University is discouraging prospective students and their families from visiting campus at this time. An “extensive online tour” is available in four languages, according to the Spring 2021 website.

Eisgruber closed his message expressing gratitude to students, families, faculty, staff, and alumni for supporting online instruction and allowing for the option of a semester in residence.

“All of us look forward to a time, perhaps as soon as next fall, when vaccines again make it possible to offer a fuller version of Princeton’s residential education,” Eisgruber added.

“In the meantime, we encourage students and their families to consider carefully which option for the coming semester is best for them,” he wrote. “We will support our students however they choose to continue their studies.”

Zachary Shevin, Naomi Hess, Marissa Michaels, Rooya Rahin, Evelyn Doskoch, and Caitlin Limestahl | November 24, 2020

The Senior Survey

By Elaine Huang and Charlie Roth

Welcome to The Daily Princetonian’s second annual Senior Survey. Our team has spent months diligently analyzing responses from over 500 seniors, seeking to tell the story of the Class of 2023.

Our survey was conducted over a period of 15 days, from April 1 to April 15, 2023. The Daily Princetonian reached out to all members of the Class of 2023 included in the Residential College Student Facebook as of March 31 — a total of 1,296 people. 571 students responded, comprising 44.1 percent of the class.

DEC 1, 2019

OPINION

Divest

Princeton: revoking the fossil fuel industry’s social license

DIVEST PRINCETON HISTORY

18, 2020

27, 2020

NEWS

Potter ’22 elected President, USG referenda on divestment and election day pass

NEWS

Divest Princeton accumulates

62 faculty and staff, 161 alumni endorsements ahead of referendum

7, 2021 APR 26, 2021 JUN 4, 2021 FEB 16, 2022 SEP 29, 2022 FEB 26, 2023

NEWS

NEWS

Divest Princeton hosts Earth Day, No Delay rally

FEATURES

As Divest Princeton awaits University response, a look at past divestment movements

NEWS

Princeton to divest some sectors of the fossil fuel industry

NEWS

Divest Princeton files legal complaint to N.J. Attorney General

Roughly a dozen Divest Princeton protesters push for ‘complete dissociation’ from fossil fuel companies

NEWS

Princeton to dissociate from 90 fossil fuel companies, including Exxon Mobil

JUNIOR YEAR 20212022

A

A tornado warning on the first day of fall semester could not rain on the Class of 2023’s parade as students went back to enjoying usual on-campus activities. Students traded out their kitchen Keurig for the fresh coffee of Murray-Dodge Cafe and The Coffee Club, their bedroom desks for Firestone study sessions, and Netflix nights for weekends on a reopened Street.

Students were brought together through beloved fall campus traditions. The Class of 2023 experienced their first bonfire after the football team swept the Ivy League and danced at the first Lawnparties since their fresh-

fter a year and a half of virtual learning, the Class of 2023 escaped their bedrooms and headed back to the classroom fully in-person for the first time since their freshman year. While daily testing and face coverings became the new normal, students were hopeful for a post-COVID-19 campus.man fall.

Improvement to campus accessibility were in the works: including an accessible Nassau Hall and accessible transit service after advocacy from students with disabilities.

The road to the end of the fall semester was bumpy, as COVID-19 cases rose sharply over Thanksgiving break. Exams took a remote-format and students were asked to leave “at the earliest possible convenience.”

Though the Spring started with all dining halls reverting to a grab-and-go format. The University dropped most pandemic restrictions after spring break, including lifting of indoor mask mandates. Memories of freshman faces were replaced with matured faces no longer hidden by masks.

A major geopolitical conflict broke out when Russia invaded Ukraine. Community members rallied in support of Ukraine multiple times in Princeton.

PRINCETON AND THE WORLD

Feb 27, 2022

Princeton students, faculty, and community demonstrate in support of Ukraine amid Russian invasion

Apr 20, 2022

USG Senate upholds appeal over Caterpillar referendum, will withhold statement to University for or against referendum

Jan 12, 2022

As Ukraine fights for its freedom, we must conquer our fear

Feb 6, 2022

The attack on Dr. Mousavian

Graduate student Xiyue Wang sues Princeton over actions during his Iranian imprisonment

DEC

JAN

NEWS

MAR

SPORTS

7 AUG

AUG NEWS

NEWS

MAR

PAGE 18 PAGE 20

PAGE 19

Faculty approves minors program, renames ‘concentrations’ to ‘majors’

Feb 26, 2022

‘A perfect storm’: Unruly crowds disrupt A$AP Ferg’s Lawnparties performance, with alleged student injury

By Evelyn Doskoch and Drew Somerville | October 3, 2021

Crowded, dangerous conditions disrupted Lawnparties on Sunday, causing delays to headliner A$AP Ferg’s performance and injury to at least one student attendee.

Students gathered in the backyard of Quadrangle Club well in advance of A$AP Ferg’s performance, where student opener Naaji Hylton ’22, known professionally as J. Paris, began his act at 3 p.m. By the time Paris finished, a large crowd had gathered throughout the venue — and within minutes, security guards and other staff members began to plead with students to back away from the stage, where student attendees were being pushed against the barrier.

“You’re going to hurt someone,” a member of the security team said. “This is going to be a dangerous situation.”

By 3:40 p.m., the same individual reported a student injury in the crowd.

“We have a young woman at the front who is bleeding now,” he said. “You’re hurting people. Stop.”

Security team members repeatedly called for students to back up, seemingly unheeded. As students continued to press forward, speakers onstage insisted that A$AP Ferg would not begin performing until the crowd calmed down.

“The show doesn’t start until the security guards tell us that the barrier is in a better position and not going to break,” an official said.

Many seemed to cooperate with the security team’s requests, moving backward when instructed and chanting, “BACK UP!” When one “instigator” was removed from the venue by security, cheers erupted from the student body.

After repeated attempts by security to control the crowd were unsuccessful, Social Committee member and Class of 2024 Social Chair Lauren Fahlberg ’24 went on stage with similar pleas.

“For the love of God, stop talking!” Fahlberg shouted, visibly frustrated.

A representative of the Department of Public Safety (PSAFE) joined Fahlberg, announcing that A$AP Ferg would not perform at all unless the crowd in front of the stage dispersed within five minutes.

“We have spent so long planning this,” Fahlberg said repeatedly, referring to the Social Committee. “A$AP Ferg is doing a huge favor by coming to visit us.”

Lawnparties, which occurred in-person for the first time since fall 2019, faced controversy even before the day began. On Tuesday, Sept. 28, the Undergraduate Student Government (USG) Social Committee announced that the original performer, LANY, would no longer perform due to reports of predatory behavior.

A$AP Ferg, announced on Friday by the USG Social Committee as LANY’s replacement, garnered a positive reaction from students, with one calling A$AP Ferg a “better choice” and another deeming him “the type of artist I was looking for.”

The Social Committee has not publicly stated how A$AP Ferg was compensated, or whether the contract with LANY was terminated. Still, at one point in the performance, he gave some insight into his last-minute availability.

“I am so glad that I was able to come here and do this shit last-minute,” A$AP Ferg said. “Only because I live a fucking hour away.”

When the start of Ferg’s act prompted students to gather again near the front of the stage, some in the crowd became frustrated at their peers’ disregard for staff instructions.

“Why is your first instinct to all crowd again?” Josiah Gouker ’22 yelled at students moving toward the stage. “That is the opposite of what we need to be doing. Just stay where you are; you can hear it wherever you are.”

Gouker is an Opinion columnist and Satire contributor for the ‘Prince.’

A$AP Ferg also dealt with uncooperative students and overcrowding, having to stop his performance mid-song and address the audience. He claimed that the show could be canceled entirely, under certain circumstances.

“They’re saying that it’s over because they don’t want anybody to get hurt,” he told the crowd. “Damn, I want to perform.”

After confirmation from the show organizers that the show could continue if the crowd moved away from the stage, A$AP Ferg urged the crowd to comply.

“Can y’all move all the way back? Turn around and walk to the back,” he said. A$AP Ferg began to freestyle using the words ‘walk to the back,’ leading to — for the first time — a substantive movement of the crowd. The concert resumed, with A$AP Ferg noting feeling “proud” of the

crowd for finally listening.

At one point in the resumed concert, a student was lifted by peers and crowd-surfed.

A$AP Ferg’s show was interrupted for a second time, again due to crowding concerns, at around 4:20 p.m., after which point the show continued without serious interruption.

The Social Committee held a giveaway on their Instagram page for one student to meet A$AP Ferg after the show. Rishi Gorrepati ’25, who won the giveaway, told The Daily Princetonian in a message that he did not get to meet A$AP Ferg.

“Apparently, he left early,” Gorrepati wrote.

Aside from the headliner act at Quad, Lawnparties performances took place in six of the 11 eating clubs on Prospect Avenue. Performers at Tower Club, Tiger Inn, Colonial Club, Ivy Club, and Terrace Club included The Wldlfe, LZRD, smallpools, DJ Kazuo Nakamura, and Ruby the Hatchet.

USG Social Chair William Gu ’23 reflected on the day in a message to the ‘Prince’.

“Hopefully, today’s Lawnparties provided underclassmen an introduction to one of Princeton’s greatest traditions, as well as upperclassmen a reminder that Princeton is back and better than ever!” he wrote. Gu did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the crowd control problems during A$AP Ferg’s performance.

Jack Amen ’25, who watched the Lawnparties headliner act from a raised section of the Quad backyard, told the ‘Prince’ that he escaped the dangerous conditions and was generally amused by the crowd’s behavior.

“It was such a perfect storm of absurdism,” he wrote. “My friends and I were checking Twitter a lot because a bunch of [Princeton] people were live-tweeting their reactions in real-time.”

Amen added that “word spread through the crowd” about the dangerous situation near the stage, and said he was “disappointed” in the students who caused it.

“It definitely shouldn’t have gotten to that point,” he wrote. “It really serves to reinforce ... how partying here recently is more about desperation than it is about having fun.”

MARK DODICI / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN

Princeton sees new construction across campus in 2021-22 academic year, more to begin this summer

By Sullivan Meyer | March 3, 2022

As the University undergoes “one of the most extensive building programs in its history,” large portions of central and east campus are being fenced off and excavated.

Many of these sites are for the University’s conversion to hot water heating. But many other locations under current or future development are for the construction of new buildings, including the new School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS) neighborhood, Princeton University Art Museum, Roberts Stadium, and East Garage.

Construction is due to expand over the summer, including a new University Health Services (UHS) center, a temporary dining hall for Butler College, and an additional geo-exchange field in front of Whitman College.

Hot Water Distribution

The most extensive of these construction projects is the University’s new hot water distribution system, which will replace steam as the chief method for distributing heat on campus.

In an email to The Daily Princetonian, University Project Communication Manager Karen Fanning explained that this is a multi-step process, involving “hot water upgrades to the existing central plant, installing new geo-exchange bore-fields, running new distribution piping throughout campus; and building the Thermally Integrated Geo-Exchange Resource (TIGER) facility and Thermally-Integrated Geo-Exchange Resource Central Utility Building (TIGER-CUB) facility, which will house the heat pumps, as well as electrical equipment and thermal energy storage tanks that will run the system.”

The new distribution piping is responsible for many of the smaller fenced off sites around campus, such as the excavation south of Prospect Gardens, along Goheen Walk, between Clark Field and Princeton Stadium, and on Poe and Pardee fields.

Many of the hot water distribution sites will soon be evolving. For instance, the work south of Prospect Garden, according to Fanning, is “anticipated to be completed by the end of March,” restoring access to the pathway from Feinberg Hall to Frist Campus Center. However, because these sites are for laying pipes, new excavation will often pick up where the last left off. The Prospect Garden site will

lead to new excavation on the southern corner of the same quad, in order for the hot water system to reach McCosh Health Center.

The excavation along Goheen Walk in front of Scully Hall will soon extend to Yoseloff, Wilcox, and Wu Halls, and later, to 1976 Hall. Fanning wrote that the Goheen site “will be completed in early April.” In the interim, a “temporary asphalt pathway” has been constructed adjacent to the site in order to maintain accessibility.

Poe and Pardee fields currently have some of the most extensive hot water distribution sites. According to Ron, an employee of the University Civil Engineering and Construction department, these pipes will serve New Colleges East and West, Carl Icahn Laboratory, and Princeton Neuroscience Institute (PNI). Icahn Laboratory and the PNI, in particular, will require new fence-lines to be erected across Pardee Field. The Poe and Pardee field site is expected to be completed before Commencement 2022.

Most of the hot water sites have occurred on shale, which Fanning described as a “rippable” rock, as it can be dug up with an excavator.

Ron reported that construction crews have encountered veins of brownstone that require a hydraulic hammer or blasting to get through. These procedures have been responsible for the majority of the noise produced by the hot water sites.

According to Fanning, the location and depth of these brownstone veins vary throughout campus, so they cannot always be anticipated and “may cause delays to a project.”

According to Dave, a construction worker at the Lewis Library site, laying the hot water distribution system is a precise job, requiring the proper alignment of carbon steel pipes. Large amounts of sand aggregate are then trucked in to fill the trench, followed by topsoil to complete the dig.

East Campus

This hot water distribution system will be fed by new geo-exchange bore fields, which are arrays of 650 to 800-foot boreholes. These holes will circulate water from the distribution system deep into the earth, where, depending on the weather, they can either deposit or retrieve heat for the campus. One such bore field is being drilled on East Campus, below East Garage and Roberts Stadium, both of which

are also under construction.

In order to regulate the hot water system, as well as campus energy at large, the University is also building the TIGER above the geo-exchange on East Campus. Along with the machinery needed to regulate flow to the boreholes, TIGER will feature heat recovery chillers, backup hybrid coolers, and massive heating and chilled water storage tanks.

The sites for East Garage and Roberts Stadium are located adjacent to TIGER, forming one continuous construction zone from FitzRandolph Road to Princeton Stadium. According to University maps, access to Lot 21 and its surrounding facilities will be preserved via Faculty Road. The hot and chilled water generated on East Campus will be carried to areas in central campus via pipes laid between Princeton Stadium and Clark Field.

While this site currently limits access to campus athletic facilities, Fanning told the ‘Prince’ that East Stadium Drive — the road between Clark Field and Princeton Stadium — “is anticipated to re-open in fall 2022.”

One of the more significant projects is located between Prospect Avenue and Ivy Lane, behind the eating clubs. Staff lots four, five, and 25, as well as the old Computing Center, are currently in the process of being demolished. 91 Prospect, formerly the home for the Dean for Research, is being moved across Prospect Avenue.

This site will become the SEAS Neighborhood, a four-building complex that will house the departments of Environmental Sciences, Bioengineering, and Chemical and Biological Engineering, as well as the Engineering Commons.

Commenting on the future fate of the existing Engineering Quad and the departments within it, Fanning told the ‘Prince’ that the University “continues to evaluate future engineering needs, but no final decisions [regarding their use] have been made at this time.”

According to recent University press releases, the new SEAS neighborhood will be terraced into the hillside, with “entrances at the Prospect Avenue level as well as the Ivy Lane level.”

Because of these plans, the construction requires an immense amount of dirt to be removed from the location. According to construction workers on-site, the stream of trucks

exiting the site from Ivy Lane is, in large part, carrying the dirt and rubble produced by the project.

Another construction site, located adjacent to the SEAS Neighborhood, is a small construction site at the corner of Ivy Lane and Washington Road. This site largely blocks the second-floor entrance of the Lewis Library, and is circumvented by a new asphalt path extending from Goheen Walk.

According to one construction worker working at the SEAS site who spoke with the ‘Prince,’ the excavation in front of Lewis Library will make way for several hot water distribution pipes, as well as chilled water pipes, and sewer mains.

Fanning added that “there are specialized services that are being coordinated for the ES & SEAS project that are more science-specific than a humanities or residential building.”

The construction adjacent to Lewis Library has faced various challenges and delays in the past month, including the weather. The construction worker elaborated on this, telling the ‘Prince’ that a combination of snow, rain, and ice has made the ground difficult to work with, especially in areas where the sun does not reach.

According to Fanning, the pipes laid in front of Lewis Library are now largely complete, so excavation will now advance across Ivy Lane. While planning for this maneuver, however, contractors ran into wires for the building’s backup generator. To bypass those wires, contractors had to wait for permission from the University; as of last week, they were still waiting for electricians to work on the wires.

In order to maintain access to the construction site, contractors have installed a bypass road in front of Lewis Library. According to Fanning, this by-pass road will be the main way for construction vehicles to access the SEAS site and will remain open until the project is completed in spring 2025. In the meantime, Western Way will re-open to traffic in fall 2022.

Fanning told the ‘Prince’ that, due to this by-pass road, “the construction fence-line will remain in front of Lewis Library, limiting access to Lewis [Library] directly from Ivy Lane.

“However [the University is] looking for opportunities to create a more direct tempo-

rary pathway from the east sidewalk along Washington Road to the front of Lewis Library,” Fanning said. “Flaggers will remain in place on either side of the by-pass road to monitor and help direct pedestrians.”

Future Construction

Amidst current construction projects around campus, several new projects are due to begin over the summer. According to a University presentation, five projects will commence in summer 2022. These include the expansions to Dillon Gymnasium, additional UHS facilities, a temporary dining hall for Butler College, and demolition of First College.

Parts of Dillon Gym will be demolished and surrounding areas will be excavated in preparation for its expansion. Construction on the facility will extend through Q1 of 2025.

Work on Hobson College will also begin over the summer, including the demolition of First College and site leveling for additional geo-exchange bores. This phase of the project is projected to be completed by Q2 of 2023, at which point construction on the new buildings will begin. This project will consume all of First and parts of Butler Colleges, extending from Goheen Walk in the South to 1937 Hall in the north, and from Elm Drive in the west to Guyot Hall in the east. Adjacent to this site, the University will construct an interim dining hall for Butler College intended to replace the demolished Wilcox dining Hall; this project will extend through the second half of 2022.

Across Elm Drive, the University will establish another new geo-exchange bore field on the lawn of Whitman College, in front of Community and 1981 halls. The majority of this excavation, including the boring of the wells, will occur over the summer of 2022. By fall 2022, the lawn will be regraded and reseeded.

Lastly, work will begin this summer on a new UHS facility, located where 1938 Hall, Eno Hall, and the Rock Magnetism Laboratory is now; the demolition of these buildings is anticipated to be completed by fall 2022, and the project, an expansion and renovation of Eno Hall, will be tentatively completed by Q2 of 2024.

Faculty approves minors program, renames ‘concentrations’ to ‘majors’

By Lia Opperman | March 3, 2022

Aproposal submitted by the Faculty Committee on the Course of Study to allow for academic minors was approved by faculty on April 25, according to a University statement.

Whereas the University’s existing certificate programs are required to be interdisciplinary, a formal minors program will allow existing departments to propose a body of stand-alone coursework. The program will also allow current certificates to be converted into minors.

According to Dean of the College Jill Dolan, “establishing a formal minors program and inviting certificate programs to align with the new model will bring more coherence to the landscape of secondary studies at Princeton, since current certificates vary in terms of coursework and requirements.”

The proposal expects that departments will begin to propose minors in the next academic year and that some will be approved by the 2023–2024 academic year. Students in the Class of 2025, the Class of 2026, and the Class of 2027 will then be able to begin earning minors that have been proposed and approved by the faculty.

“A number of departments have expressed interest in establishing a minor, but we don’t expect all of them to do so right away. This is an initiative that will unfold over the next several years,” Deputy University Spokesperson Michael Hotchkiss wrote in an email to The Daily Princetonian.

“Although it’s not possible to say exactly

how many will be offered, we expect that most of the current certificate programs would be converted into minors relatively easily,” he added.

Currently, the University offers 54 interdisciplinary undergraduate certificate programs that function similarly to minors.

“The requirements for a minor will be very similar to the requirements for most current certificate programs,” Hotchkiss wrote. “The process of review and reorganization into minors will mean that certificate programs will be invited to review their requirements with the new minors framework in mind.”

At this time, the University does not expect that any undergraduate certificates will be eliminated.

“Students will have the opportunity to earn a combination of minors and certificates, since the process of review and conversion will take several years,” Hotchkiss wrote.

The faculty also approved a change from the nomenclature of “concentrations” to “majors” in order to align with other institutions in higher education. This change will take effect beginning in the 2023–24 academic year.

“One of the issues with our ‘concentrations’ and ‘certificates’ is that although they’re unique in our landscape, and people learn what they mean, they don’t translate well outside of Princeton,” Dolan said.

Graduate School certificate programs will maintain their current form.

SENIOR YEAR 2022-

The beginning of the Class of 2023’s senior year featured excitement, chaos, and expansion on campus, as the University opened two new residential colleges (only a few weeks late), and demolished First College, formerly known as Wilson College, which many seniors called home at the beginning of their Princeton journey. The new, more modern buildings came as the University went into a post-pandemic construction frenzy, which made some seniors sentimental for the campus they fell in love with as first-years.

In big campus news, students welcomed the University’s announcement that it would divest from all publicly-funded fossil fuel companies and dissociate from most fossil fuel companies. This news came after years of student activ- ism – though a plurality of seniors believe that the University has not

gone far enough with divestment.

It was a year of major athletic success. Princeton seniors struck gold with their timing as they were able to watch the Men’s Basketball Team, led by seniors Tosan Evbuomwan and Ryan Langborg, lit campus on fire by winning two March Madness games, advancing to the Sweet Sixteen for the first time in school history.

The Class of 2023 prevailed through a college experience far different than what they expected and is set to celebrate their accomplishments at what is supposed to be one of the largest reunions in history. It’s hard to say what the future will bring, but the Class of 2023 can step through FitzRandolph Gate knowing they survived through some of the toughest months at Princeton and came out successfully on the other side.

University announces increased minimum salary for postdocs, postdocs say it’s not enough

Unidad Latina en Acción, University groups rally for May Day as labor efforts proceed on campus

Over 150 people rally with PGSU to support next steps in union campaign

90 fossil fuel companies, including Exxon Mobil

Sitting down with President Eisgruber

FEB NEWS

The dining pilot, explained

Princeton grad students support employee strikes and protests at Rutgers

Let’s be skeptical of PGSU

APR FEATURES

More than just a number: Princeton’s history of tragic loss

MAR SPORTS

A SHEEP IN WOLF’S CLOTHING: Princeton women’s basketball downs N.C. State, 64–63

Eisgruber won’t sacrifice academic rigor for mental health. Students aren’t getting either.

MAR SPORTS

‘DAVID’ KEEPS

DANCING: men’s basketball defeats Missouri, 78–63, to advance to Sweet 16

Princeton to dissociate from 90 fossil fuel companies, including Exxon Mobil

On Sept. 29, Princeton University announced that its Board of Trustees voted earlier in the month to dissociate from Exxon Mobil Corp., NRG Energy Inc., and 88 other corporations “active in the thermal coal or tar sands segments of the fossil fuel industry.”

The announcement also stated that the Princeton University Investment Company (PRINCO) will “eliminate all holdings in publicly traded fossil fuel companies” and “ensure that the endowment does not benefit from any future exposure to those companies” as part of the Board’s “commitment to achieving a net-zero endowment portfolio over time.”

Princeton has current or recent financial relationships with 10 of the 90 companies listed as subject to dissociation, including Exxon Mobil, NRG Energy, and Canadian Natural Resources.

According to the announcement, the “quantitative criteria used to determine the dissociation list were based on recommenda-

tions made by a panel of faculty experts in a report submitted in May.”

The Faculty Panel on Dissociation Metrics, Principles, and Standards had been created after the Board of Trustees first announced its intention to dissociate from “companies engaged in climate disinformation campaigns or that are involved in the thermal coal and tar sands segments of the fossil fuel industry” in May 2021, following recommendations from the Council of the Princeton University Community (CPUC) Resources Committee.

The thermal coal and tar sands segments of the fossil fuel industry were identified for their exceptionally high carbon dioxide emissions compared to other fossil fuels, according to the announcement.

Dissociation includes divestment — a decision to refuse to invest — from a corporation, but is defined by the University as “also refraining, to the greatest extent possible, from from any relationships that involve a financial

component with a particular company,” including “soliciting or accepting gifts or grants from a company, purchasing the company’s products, or forming partnerships with the company that depend upon the exchange of money.”

This includes research partnerships with a financial component, such as Princeton’s Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, which has had an ongoing research partnership with Exxon Mobil since 2015.

To compensate for the research funding lost as a result of dissociation, the University will “establish a new fund to support energy research at Princeton.”

In the announcement, University President Christopher Eisgruber ’83 was quoted praising this new fund, saying, “Princeton will have the most significant impact on the climate crisis through the scholarship we generate and the people we educate.”

In the May 2022 issue of the Princeton

Alumni Weekly, the University released figures related to its holdings in the fossil fuel industry, revealing a $1.7 billion exposure to the industry with $13 million directly invested in fossil-fuel corporations. In the 2021 fiscal year, Princeton’s endowment was valued at $37.7 billion.

The announcement also points out that the University could reform relationships with companies subject to dissociation in the future if it deems that they have “sufficiently changed their practices such that they no longer meet the criteria” for dissociation.

Currently, the University is contacting the leaders of the companies on the list, and if “a company provides information in a timely manner that resolves the concerns or demonstrates changed behavior moving forward, it could be exempt from dissociation and removed from the list.”

Students have been advocating for fossil fuel divestment for almost a decade. Most re-

cently, campus activist group Divest Princeton held a rally on Sept. 23 where students expressed concern about the slow pace of University action, as well as its acceptance of research funding from fossil fuel companies.

Divest Princeton student coordinators Nate Howard ’25 and Aaron Serianni ’25 wrote in a joint statement to The Daily Princetonian that “[t]his decision is the result of a decade of activism by Princeton students, faculty, staff, and alumni.”

They said, however, that “Princeton still falls short.”

Howard is a contributing columnist for the ‘Prince.’

“Divest Princeton will keep fighting for our goals of full divestment and the end to all fossil fuel funding of research on campus,” the two student coordinators wrote. “We know that it’s possible: They’ve come this far. It’s Princeton’s moment to become a leader.”

By Paige Cromley | September 29, 2022

COURTESY OF AARON SERIANNI ’25

Members of Divest Princeton participate in a rally on Sept. 23, 2022.

‘DAVID’ KEEPS DANCING: men’s basketball defeats Missouri, 78–63, to advance to Sweet 16

By Wilson Conn | March 19, 2023

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Exactly one month ago, the men’s basketball team was reeling.

After leading by as many as 19 points against Yale on Feb. 18, they coughed up the advantage, losing a game that would eventually cost them the top seed in Ivy Madness and force them to share the regular-season crown with the Bulldogs.

“This one hurts a lot, but it’s not over,” head coach Mitch Henderson ’98 said after the loss. “It’s not as bad as it’ll hurt if you don’t get where you want to get in a couple weeks. We’re going to come back fighting.”

Fast-forward four weeks, and it’s safe to say the team is exactly where they want to be. Since the Yale loss, they have won six straight games, the most recent of which being a 78–63 win over seventh-seeded Missouri that gives the program its first Sweet 16 appearance in the 64-team tournament era.

“The Yale loss specifically was a massive turning point for us, I think,” senior forward Tosan Evbuomwan told the media after the win over Missouri.

“The end of our season, [the] last five, six games, they were all huge games for us. They all felt like championship games,” he added. “All those games were big games. That kind of gives us confidence going into each game here.”

On Saturday, the Orange and Black (23–8 overall, 10–4 Ivy League) extended their winning streak — and their season — by riding lock-down defense and clutch three-point shooting to a dominant victory over Missouri (25–10, 11–7 Southeastern). Their 15-point margin is the largest ever attained in the NCAA Tournament by a 15-seed, and they are the first Ivy League team to make the Sweet 16 since Cornell in 2010.

“We are so thrilled to be going to the Sweet 16,” Henderson said. “It is an absolute pleasure being around these guys. They just grit their teeth and they do it.”

As was the case in Princeton’s first-round upset against Arizona, the biggest keys to victory were their rebounding and defense. Princeton — who ranked 14th nationally in rebounding margin entering the game — out-rebounded Missouri 44–30, while blocking four shots and holding their opponent to just 41 percent shooting from the field for the game. First-year forward Caden Pierce led Princeton in rebounding with 16, a career-high mark that was also the second-highest total by any player in this year’s NCAA Tournament at the time of the game’s conclusion.

“[We’re] a really tough group. We can switch. [They] know exactly what they’re supposed to do,” Henderson said, emphasizing his team’s mastery of man defense principles. “They keep their body in front of their guys. Good old-fashioned, tough-nosed defense.”

The repeated stellar defensive and rebounding efforts in both the Arizona and Missouri games did not mean there wasn’t room for improvements to be made between the two, though. Absent from the otherwise exemplary display against Arizona was a complete performance on the offensive end; although Princeton scraped together enough baskets for the win, they shot just 40.6 percent from the field and 16 percent from three-point range. Not one starter for

Princeton notched a three-point basket.

“[Senior guard] Ryan Langborg, Cade Pierce, [junior forward] Zach Martini, they’re going to make some threes,” Henderson told the media before the Missouri matchup. “[They’ve] got to keep shooting it.”

By the end of the game, all three of these players would have a three-point make. Against Missouri, Princeton hit 12 long balls as a team, tripling their total from the Arizona game.

First up was Langborg, who hit three triples within the game’s first six minutes, and scored 11 of the team’s first 13 points. He would finish with 22, the second-highest total of his career and a team-leading mark.

“Shots weren’t going in for any of us really the last game,” Langborg said. “To see the ball go through the net is always a great start to the game.”

“This guy on my right was not named to any all-league teams at all … and he was the best player on the floor [today],” Henderson said in the press conference, gesturing towards Langborg. “If you want to argue, I’m happy to argue with anybody.”

After two dunks from senior forward Keeshawn Kellman, Martini was next up in the shooting showcase, knocking down a three-pointer that gave Princeton a 24–14 lead with just over seven minutes left in the first half.

As the team began to heat up from outside, the crowd — both neutral and Princeton supporters — began to roar with each attempt.

“We really drew on the strength of our fans this weekend,” Henderson said. “I don’t think anybody does it quite like Princeton … We are so proud to be representing our school and playing great basketball in front of what I thought was just a terrific crowd.”

While the three-pointers rained in, the Princeton defense dominated. Despite seven early points from forward Noah Carter, the Missouri offense stagnated in the first half, even enduring one seven-minute stretch during which they only managed three points.

Carter, who scored nearly half of his team’s first-half points, fought to keep Missouri in the game, though. While Princeton led by as many as 14 in the first half, they entered the locker room up by just seven points, thanks to a buzzer-beating layup by Missouri guard Sean East II.

“‘We’re going to get on that flight, [and] no matter what, when we get on that flight, we’re going to be us,’” Henderson recalls telling his team at half, referencing their planned red-eye out of Sacramento Saturday night.

“We felt like the best version of us could beat the best version of them.”

In the first half, the Orange and Black were looking pretty close to the ideal unit Henderson described. Despite being pressed by Missouri for much of the half, they had just four turnovers, and only one through the first 10 minutes, warding off a defense that was second nationally this season in steals per game (10.2). They were also out-rebounding Missouri 21–14, out-scoring them in the paint (18–8) and shooting 10 percentage points better from the floor (46.7

percent compared to 36.7 percent).

Lastly, in the first half, Princeton held Missouri’s two leading scorers — forward Kobe Brown and guard D’Moi Hodge — to just four points. The pair were each averaging over 15 points per game entering Saturday’s contest, and combined for 42 points and eight three-pointers in Missouri’s first-round win over Utah State.

Despite the lack of production from their stars, Missouri fought hard to open the second half. Although three-pointers from junior guard Matt Allocco and Pierce built another double-digit lead for Princeton, the Show-Me State squad bounced back with a vengeance, cutting the lead to 43–37 with 11 minutes remaining.

Enter sophomore guard Blake Peters.

Although he was late to the three-point hoedown, having only played two minutes with zero shot attempts in the first half, he would soon become the life of the party. In the game’s final 11 minutes, Peters made five three-pointers and tallied 17 points while leading his team on a 16–4 run that put the game away for good. He was shooting 57.1 percent from deep in the NCAA Tournament.

“All year I’ve been working on reading Tosan [Evbuomwan] and other guys,” he said. “I think I do a good job finding open space when he drives. Missouri kept coming off [of me], so I just tried to find open space.”

“At the end of the day we’ve all put in a lot of work shooting the ball,” he said. “Our slogan is ‘Make Shots.’ Today I made shots.”

“[Peters is] very calm under pressure,” Henderson added. “That’s how he is. That’s how he goes about his business.”

Impressing alongside Peters and Langborg in the stat-sheet was Evbuomwan, who was key as a ball-handler in breaking the Missouri press, and finished with nine points, nine rebounds, and five assists.

“You won’t see that again at Princeton for 50 years,” Henderson said, referencing Evbuomwan’s court vision and unorthodox skill set. “I mean, he’s really a very unique passer.”

Evbuomwan and his teammates are delighted to be moving on, but don’t plan on their tournament run ending here.

“I can’t really put the feeling into words right now, to be honest. It’s just an unreal feeling to do this with my guys,” Evbuomwan said. “We just have such a close group. We love to work with each other. We love to push each other. It’s showing.”

“Obviously being here is pretty surreal,” Langborg added. “Coming into this tournament, this is what we all wanted.”

“We’re not done yet. We’ve got a bunch of games left … we’re all so excited and ready to get after the next one.”

Princeton will play against either third-seeded Baylor (23–11, 11–7 Big 12) or sixth-seeded Creighton (23–12, 14–6 Big East) in Louisville, Ky. on Friday in the Sweet 16.

In the meantime, spring break is over, and the team — especially the seniors — will have plenty of academic challenges to tackle this week, amid the eruption of their national celebrity.

“I’ve got five seniors and they’re all writing a thesis right now,” Henderson said. “It’s due in two weeks. There’s no extensions. They’ve got to get to work.”

P om P and C ir C umstan C e iii

By Gabriel Robare Head Puzzles Editor Emeritus

ACROSS

1 For the birds?

6 Eavesdropped, maybe

11 Artist of "19," "25," and "30"

16 Pro ___

19 Grammy-winning Kravitz

20 "The Governator"

21 National mammal of the United States

22 Text-speak for "My two cents are..."

23 With 113-Across, "Congratulations to the ___"

26 On the ___ (fleeing)

27 Mode who's the 56-Across for the Incredibles

28 Obsolescent communication medium

29 "Yoo-___!"

30 Hobby practiced with some frequency?

32 No ___ (theater sign)

34 Like some sandals

36 Fastest train service in the Americas

37 "The ___ of Pooh"

38 Junbi fare

39 Fifth-most commonly used word in English, after "the," "be," "to," "of"

40 With 67- and 91-Across, lines after "Tune every heart and every voice / Bid every care withdraw"

46 ___ Dhabi

48 On the ocean

49 Many a Tiktok user

50 Morse code unit

51 ___ culpa

52 Bunny hill conveyance

54 20% of a Shakespeare line, usually

56 Dior or Lauren

58 Highest-grossing DC comics film

60 Begins slowly

65 Word after rock, water, or land

66 Sister

67 See 40-Across

68 Mens ___

69 Baseballer with 762 home runs

72 Cry of praise

73 20-yard long area on a football field

77 Cheese choice

79 69-Across had 1,996

81 "It is the ___, and Juliet is the sun"

82 "Glee" star Michele

83 Begin together?

84 Flaky mineral

88 Gets off the fence, say

90 Doesn't want?

91 See 40-Across

96 Little toymaker

97 German fruitbread

98 The "E" of E.S.L.: Abbr.

99 [Nation whose name in its native language means "sun origin"]

102 Casey who won seven World Series as Yankees manager

103 Tastes

107 Villain of classic arcade games

110 Princeton dept. based in Morrison Hall

111 Journalist Swisher

112 Charlie Parker instrument, for short

113 See 23-Across

117 Oxford, e.g., familiarly

118 Old Macdonald letters

119 Birthplace of every human being (so far)

120 What Toto blesses does down in Africa

121 Sault ___ Marie, Minn.

122 Legendary snake exterminator, for short

123 Damascus's land

124 Forget, in modern parlance

DOWN

1 Author Horatio

2 Salsa ___

3 Boring

4 Slow, walking pace, in music

5 School largely based around Washington Square Park: Abbr.

6 National dish of Indonesia, which is often accompanied by lontong

7 ___ fixe

8 Place to stay

9 Like some old gaming consoles

10 Adorn

11 Dr. J's org.

12 Sink neighbor

13 "In this ___ I will..."

14 Warp-and-weft machine

15 Given the right to vote

16 There's one in São Paolo

17 "This meeting could have been an ___"

18 58-Across portrayer Jason

A letter from Graduate Student Government

To the graduate class of 2023,

We send our sincerest congratulations for your graduation: an accomplishment worth celebrating; we know that it took grit and perseverance to get here. You overcame hurdles; powered through the COVID-19 pandemic; and brought your full self to every research meeting, lab, and classroom you contributed to.

Princeton would not function without its graduate students – its Princeton stars. Over the past several years you led precepts, spent late nights grading, championed for your students, went to conferences, contributed to discourse across campus, spoke out in class, attended and led events, and made this campus the vibrant and thriving place that it is. Getting to Princeton is no small feat. Graduating with your MA, MPP, MPA, or PhD is equally momentous. Our deep congratulations at your accomplishments are paired with an equally deep appreciation for what you have brought to your peers and to the rest of your community.

We urge you to keep in touch with current Princeton students, faculty, and your fellow graduate alumni. The network of Princetonians is global; we work together each day to ensure all Tigers have the tools to thrive during and after their time on campus.

Congratulations again for this incredible achievement. We cannot wait to see the directions you will head and the heights you will reach in the coming months and years.

With gratitude,

The Graduate Student Government Executive Board.