The Daily Princetonian: February 14, 2020

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Friday February 14, 2020 vol. CXLIV no. 10

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{ www.dailyprincetonian.com } STUDENT LIFE

Students revive ‘Princeton Against Gun Violence’ advocacy group

By Rachel Sturley

Assistant Features Editor

COURTESY OF JULIA ELMAN ‘23

A poster used by Ana Blanco ‘23 and Julia Elman ‘23 at their tabling event in Frist Campus Center.

In the aftermath of the calamitous shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas (MSD) High School on Valentine’s Day of 2018, over 400 Princeton community members rallied against gun violence outside of Frist Campus Center in March of the same year. Since then, the campus has been virtually silent on gun reform issues — and two first year students are hard at work to change that.

Ana Blanco and Julia Elman, both members of the Class of 2023, have been planning since the fall to revive Princeton Against Gun Violence (PAGV), an advocacy group formed after the MSD

shooting in 2018. After organizing the highly successful protest that spring, the club quickly became inactive.

Blanco and Elman, both prospective Wilson school concentrators, met on Community Action and quickly recognized their shared passion for gun law activism.

After coordinating with the former president of the club and the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students, the two assumed the position of co-heads of PAGV. They tabled at Frist last week to gauge interest and are still in the phase of recruitment; they plan to host their first meeting within the next two weeks.

Julio Martinez ’23 was one of the first to join the club

and since then has assisted in initial organization. All three students were involved in gun reform advocacy in high school. Blanco lived less than an hour away from MSD in Parkland, Fla., while Martinez grew up 20 minutes from Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, the site of the deadliest attack in history against the LGBTQ+ community in the United States.

After noticing the lack of a group on campus in which to discuss gun violence, the three agreed on the necessity of forming their own.

“In my neighborhood, there was a shootout at the bus stop where I went every day to pick up my little See GUNS page 2

U . A F FA I R S

Divest Princeton delivers CPUC proposal on steps of Nassau Hall Assistant News Editor

On Thursday afternoon, about 50 people planned to march to the office of University President Christopher L. Eisgruber ’83 and protest the University’s investments in fossil fuel companies.

Divest Princeton organized this demonstration. The group was created in 2019 and is a collective effort between undergraduate and graduate students, alumni and some faculty members. In addition to the protest, Divest Princeton delivered a proposal to the Council of the Princeton University Community (CPUC) to the door of Nassau Hall, petitioning that the University divest from all fossil fuel companies.

University spokesperson

Ben Chang confirmed that the President’s Office and CPUC received the proposal.

Chang noted that the CPUC Resources Committee, which is responsible for review of divestment matters, will begin the established process for considering divestment proposals.

The protest began in front of Frist Campus Center, where organizers gathered with signs and invited passersby to join in the protest. An iPad was passed around for students to sign a petition, stating that they would not donate money after graduating until the University divested.

That survey currently has 800 signatures from current students and alumni.

Tom Taylor, a graduate

ROOYA RAHIN / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN

Fifty students gathered in front of Nassau Hall in support of divestment.

See DIVESTMENT page 3

STUDENT LIFE

U . A F FA I R S

U. names Ian Deas as Assistant Dean of Undergraduate Students

By Naomi Hess Associate News Editor

COURTESY OF DENISE APPLEWHITE / OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS

Press ’20 (left), Coley ’20 (right) have excelled in academics and extracurriculars at the University.

Coley ’20, Press ’20 awarded Pyne Prize, highest undergraduate honor

By Caitlin Limestahl Assistant News Editor

Emma Coley ’20 and Ben Press ’20 have won the University’s highest general undergraduate distinction — the Moses Taylor Pyne Honor Prize. This honor is granted to the senior who best exemplifies outstanding scholarship, strength of character, and effective leadership skills.

The honor is named after Moses Taylor Pyne, Class of 1877, a

long-time benefactor of the University and University trustee for 36 years beginning in 1884; his tenure lasted through the University presidencies of James McCosh; Francis Landey Patton; Woodrow Wilson, Class of 1879; and John Grier Hibben, Class of 1882.

In addition to the prize, Pyne is also the namesake of the upperclass student dormitory Pyne Hall, as well as the M. Taylor Pyne Professorship, which is

currently held by Chair of the Department of Art and Archaeology Michael Koortbojian.

Coley is a religion concentrator who is simultaneously pursuing certificates in ethnographic studies, humanistic studies, and urban studies.

Coley has been a leader across several campus organizations, including holding a co-chair position on the Pace Council for See PYNE page 2

Ian Deas began his journey in higher education as a first-generation, low-income college student from Charleston, S.C. This month, he was named the inaugural Assistant Dean of Undergraduate Students and Director of Student Leadership and Engagement at Princeton University, marking a University-wide commitment to prioritizing student engagement opportunities.

Formerly a Program Coordinator in the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students (ODUS), Deas has been at the University since September 2017.

Before joining the ODUS team, Deas studied biology at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, S.C. He devoted much of his time in college to student government as vice president and later president.

Deas then served as Student Representative to the Board of Trustees of Winthrop, which gave him valuable insights into college administration.

“I got to see higher education, not just from a student lens, but also an administrative and sort of leadership lens, which was in-

In Opinion

Today on Campus

Senior columnist Liam O’Connor points to how school-based admissions trends influence Princeton’s social culture, and guest contributors from Divest Princeton urge the University to divest from fossil fuels.

8:00 p.m.: The Program in Theater presents Sister Mok-rahn

by Eunsung Kim, translated by Dayoung Jeong, and directed by visiting artist Seonjae Kim.

PAGE 4

Wallace Dance and Theater

teresting,” Deas said.

These experiences, as well as the impact his own college administrators had on him, motivated him to pursue college administration.

“It wasn’t until I attended college that I realized you could actually work at a college and have quite a bit of fun while doing it,” he continued.

Deas received a M.S.Ed. in Higher Education from the University of Pennsylvania. He worked briefly as a coordinator for the Education Entrepreneurship program at Penn before applying to work at the University on a whim.

“I stumbled upon campus on a snowy Sunday afternoon and fell in love with it. I applied to work in ODUS later that evening and fell further in love with Princeton during my interview process,” Deas wrote in an email.

As Program Coordinator, Deas helped support student organizations by advising events and running training on policies and procedures. He was also part of the ODUS student engagement team, which runs events like Lawnparties and Dean’s Date See DEAS page 3

WEATHER

By Rooya Rahin

HIGH

32˚

LOW

12˚

Sunny chance of rain:

0 percent

The Daily Princetonian

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Friday February 14, 2020

Blanco: Actual issue is that this is an everyday problem for some GUNS

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brother. When things like that happen, it’s no longer theoretical,” Martinez said.

“I’m getting chills now as I say this, but the possibility of my family getting caught up in a shooting all of a sudden seemed real.”

The group aims to create a continuous dialogue around gun policy reform, rather than merely responding to tragedies. Blanco described a cycle of national attention as having “spikes” after every mass shooting and almost complete silence in the inter-

vals between. Both co-heads emphasized their view of gun violence as a rights issue, a public health concern, and an imminent, rather than periodic, crisis.

To that end, this semester, the group will be working on a documentary that Blanco hopes will “pop the orange bubble,” wherein she said members of the University have only come into contact with gun violence in its sensationalized form in the media. The film will aim to capture the life of high schoolers in Trenton who are in close proximity to shootings on a regular basis.

“There’s a mass shooting, and people come together

immediately, and the media is all over it, and everyone cares for a concentrated period of time,” Blanco said.

“But the actual issue is that this is an everyday problem for some.”

PAGV also hopes to educate voters about the various stances of elected officials, and will be working alongside the Princeton Vote100 campaign this Friday, Feb. 14, at the Vote100 Day of Action.

“We will be registering voters and using that platform to make sure that everyone is aware of which representatives have which gun policies — not telling them who to vote for, but making what can be a sometimes opaque

policy issue more accessible,” Elman said.

Elman and Blanco also reiterated that their objective is to debate, not to preach. They see a comprehensive understanding of the different sides of this divisive issue as a way forward and want PAGV to be a platform for that kind of education.

“Princeton is very liberal, but we can’t cut ourselves off from people of different political affiliations,” Elman said. “Making [gun violence] a partisan issue really detracts from the importance of finding a solution to what is not just a problem, but a crisis.”

Martinez also noted that he

has found few faculty members at the University who have a vocal stance on gun reform and hopes to galvanize intellectual support for their movement.

“It’s important for the Princeton community to not feel as if they are above this issue, or that they only need to talk about it when it is trendy to do so,” Martinez said. “When Princeton students, and particularly also professors, protest — that’s when people start to listen.”

Interested students can visit the PAGV website to sign up for the listserv, or contact jelman@ princeton.edu and ab53@princeton.edu for more information.

Coley, Press to be recognized at Alumni Day on Feb. 22 PYNE

Continued from page 1

Civic Values and the University’s Religious Life Council, and she has played a role in creating the Princeton Asylum Project, a partnership between Catholic Charities Community Services, Archdiocese of New York, and the Office of Religious Life.

Coley said leadership to her was “holding and creating space for others,” a practice she has tried to maintain across her various involvements and said she is most proud of.

In an interview with The Daily Princetonian, she expressed gratitude on being able to infuse her academic pursuits with her personal advocacy interests.

“One of the things I most appreciate about my Princeton experience that I hope comes through in my academic work is that the questions I ask academically are the questions I care deeply about personally, [like] what does being a good

friend and neighbor have to tell us about justice and democracy?” Coley said.

“For me, that ability to think across those two lines — the personal and the political — has been something that I really learned here from my peers and my professors,” Coley continued in reference to her work facilitating discussions about spirituality, sexuality, and gender.

Coley said her reaction to receiving this top distinction was one of gratitude, but also considerate of Pyne’s role as one of the University’s largest benefactors who received much of his wealth from slave labor on plantations.

“Of course it was an honor — I’m really proud of the work I’ve done here — but also it’s caught up in the idea of ‘what types of work get recognized here on a campus like this?’”

Coley said of the history of this award’s namesake.

Press is a history major, who is pursuing certificates in history and the practice of diplomacy, as well as medieval

studies.

In an interview with the ‘Prince,‘ Press was also grateful on the opportunities, both academically and personally, that the University has offered him and the significance of receiving this award.

“My first feeling is of gratitude, not only to the University for its decision to recognize me, but really to those around me, who I think this award really is owed to,” Press said.

“The amazing thing about Princeton is the freedom it gives you to do a million different things a million different ways,” he continued.

“Princeton has been, for me, a journey of exploration in a lot of directions I would not have ever envisioned when I first came here, but a place of incredible freedom.”

It was this freedom to explore that resulted in Press’s switch from a prospective student of the Wilson School to a history concentrator. Press says it was after two lectures in a course titled the Civilization of the High Middle Ages that

he decided to become a history major.

In recognition of the “strength of character” aspect of the award, Press refers to his work co-leading the Undergraduate Student Government’s Mental Health Task Force and helping to increase the accessibility of the Council of the Princeton University Community (CPUC) meetings, where he sat until January.

His leadership has spanned across many aspects of campus life, including work as an Orange Key Tour Guide, former deputy captain of the University Model UN team, co-chair of the Butler College Council, and a fellow with the Center for International Security Studies.

Among his many activities and involvements on campus, Press says he views his greatest accomplishments on campus to be varied in nature.

“In an institutional sense, I’m really proud of the efforts we’ve made on the Honor committee reform,” Press said.

“I think it is something that

has changed the system fundamentally for the better and something that will endure well past my time here, I hope.”

“In a personal sense, the thing I’m most proud of is that in my time here is that I’ve been able to make amazing friends with people who I treasure and I know I will be friends with for the rest of my life,” Press remarked.

“I’ve been able to help bring people together, within Butler, the Princeton community, and within my own friend groups,” he continued. “Being able to connect people and see new friendships form is something I just love.”

Press is unsure of what the future holds, but he mentioned an interest in working in a think tank in Washington D.C. or entering work related to U.S. foreign policy. He also discussed the possibility of furthering his schooling at graduate school for either political science or history.

Coley and Press will be recognized at the 2020 Alumni Day on Feb. 22.

The Daily Princetonian

Friday February 14, 2020

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Deas: Colleagues and students helped make Princeton feel like a home DEAS

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Celebration. A final part of his role involved working on ODUS communications.

Deas points to his development of Clever, a campus life event registration system, as one of his proudest achievements from his position as Program Coordinator.

“I was one of the drivers on that project, so it was the one of my first opportunities to really take a formalized leadership role amongst a team of staff and direct a project that impacts campus broadly,” he said.

The development of the new position indicates a renewed commitment on behalf of the University to learn how to best support student organizations.

“What we’ve realized is that student organizations provide an interesting opportunity for students to build a community, to engage with the university, and to also develop their leadership skills,” Deas said.

“This position represents a rejuvenated prioritization of that, but also the opportunity to assess the work that we’re doing and determine if it is effective, and then using that information to better develop systems that guide the work of student relations,” he continued.

Deas’s colleagues in ODUS are excited to see the impact he

will have in this new position.

“Ian has a thorough and nuanced understanding of the different co-curricular and leadership experiences that students have at Princeton, and I know that he will bring this knowledge, hard work, positivity, and innovation to this new role and will continue to have such a positive impact on students at Princeton,” wrote Claire Pinciaro ’13, Leadership Program Coordinator at ODUS, in an email.

Chitra Parikh ’21, current Undergraduate Student Government (USG) President, has previously worked with Deas during her time in USG and on the Projects Board. She believes Deas will excel in his new position.

“I’m looking forward to working with Ian in his new role; I believe he’ll do a fantastic job in his new role, given his strong understanding of how Princeton processes work already,” she wrote in an email.

Parikh also remarked on how Deas’s new role demonstrates the importance of teaching students about leadership.

“Having a new administrator that focuses on student engagement and leadership is especially exciting not only for me personally, but also for many other students. It signals that Princeton values fostering and teaching leadership,” she said.

Emma Parish ’21, Class of 2021 President and co-Chair of the Student Groups Recognition Committee, had similar

Cohen Shields: Important to see climate change as humanitarian crisis DIVESTMENT Continued from page 1

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student and leader of Divest Princeton, introduced the cause and taught the crowd a chant, originally used in the 1980s during protests against investment in companies supporting South African Apartheid.

“Princeton divest / just like the rest / and if you don’t / we will not rest,“ they chanted as they marched to Nassau Hall.

Upon reaching Nassau Hall, Divest Princeton member Kenji Caltado ’20 read an open letter published in today’s opinion section of The Daily Princetonian beginning with “Princeton must divest from fossil fuels.” The open letter also listed demands that Divest Princeton has included in their proposal to the CPUC. According to Micah Fletcher, a graduate student and another leader of Divest Princeton, the CPUC, PRINCO, and the Board of Trustees have five guidelines for divestment, which Divest Princeton has used as the headers for its document.

“One of [the headers] is the idea that the core values of the University are at stake and it would be inconsistent for the University to associate and support companies that are against our core values,” Fletcher said.

During the reading, the crowd was positive and enthusiastic, cheering and applauding as Caltado read the demands.

Demi Zhang ’21 stated that while she didn’t agree with all the demands, she appreciated that the group was sparking a conversation on campus.

“Of the many points … the third point was the Univer-

sity ceasing to accept funding for climate change research from the companies that are still partaking in fossil fuels, and obviously for someone that may be engaged in that research … and taking away their funding, does that limit their opportunities? These are questions that need to be asked,“ Zhang said.

According to Divest Princeton, the University has divested in the past, from South African Apartheid divestment in the 80s, to divestment from companies doing business in Darfur, South Sudan in 2006.

Naomi Cohen Shields ’20, one of the founding members of Divest Princeton and the leader of the Princeton Environmental Activism Coalition, pointed out that the University has divested previously in other humanitarian crises. Cohen Shields noted that it is important to recognize climate change as a humanitarian crisis as well.

Divest Princeton leaders also reiterated multiple times that divesting from fossil fuels is representative of the University upholding its unofficial motto: “In the Nation’s Service and in the Service of Humanity.”

“The University makes all these claims about how they are committed to addressing climate change and sustainability initiatives and basically preserving this ideal of being in the nation’s service and protecting its student body … we believe firmly that the University’s investment and endowment are part of those,” Cohen Shields said.

Divest Princeton stated that they will be deciding shortly regarding when they will make their CPUC Proposal public.

T HE DA ILY

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words of congratulations and excitement for Deas.

“Ian is incredibly hard working and dedicates endless amounts of time to improving the Princeton experience for all students on campus,” she wrote in an email.

“He has done an amazing job in the role of Program Coordinator and I am excited to see all the wonderful things he does as the Assistant Dean of Undergraduate Students and Director of Student Leadership and Engagement,” she continued.

In his new position, Deas looks forward to continuing to work with students like Parikh and Parish.

“I didn’t know anyone when I got here, and I think both my colleagues but also students really helped to make Princeton feel like a home, so this position definitely represents the opportunity for me to continue developing those relationships,” Deas said.

Even with his promotion, he wants to make sure that students know they can rely on him for support.

“Irrespective of titles or roles, I think my goal has always been to be accessible to students. I have an open door policy, so if

at any point, any student has any issues or questions, needs, advice on bringing a dream to life they can certainly still stop by our office,” Deas said.

“It doesn’t matter what my title is; I’m happy to have the conversation.”

COURTESY OF THE OFFICE OF THE DEAN OF UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS

Deas was a first-generation, low-income college student.

Friday February 14, 2020

Opinion

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Princeton must divest from fossil fuels Ryan Warsing Isty Rysava

Guest Contributors

T

he climate crisis is with us now, from the f loods in Indonesia to the fires in Australia that have been burning out of control since June 2019. Looking ahead, land occupied by 150 million people will likely be permanently below the high tide line by 2050, devastating cities and regions around the world. For instance, modeling predicts that Southern Vietnam “could all but disappear.” The vast populations projected to be affected forebodes the possibilities of mass displacement and surging climate refugeeism.

Ninety-seven percent of climate scientists agree that climate change is human-made.

Experts have estimated that 400,000 people die annually from climate change, and casualties multiply when considering long-term exposure to poisoned air and water.

Climate change is also causing a devastating impact on our biodiversity. Humanity has wiped out 60 percent of animal populations since 1970 and a further 1 million species of our planet are currently under threat of extinction.The IPCC urged that every effort must be made to limit warming to 1.5˚C — a commitment made by 175 countries in the 2016 Paris Climate Agreement. In order to achieve this goal, global emissions must be halved in the next ten years.

Despite these dire findings, Princeton University supports the very companies at the root of the problem, primarily — but not exclusively — via investments from the University’s $26 billion endowment. Divest Princeton is calling on the University to divest of fossil fuels.

In response to these calls, President Eisgruber has repeatedly argued that the University’s divestment from fossil fuels would amount to political position-taking.

However, to continue to fund the fossil fuel industry is a political stand and doing nothing in a time of crisis is

a moral failure.

Divestment has a precedent, both inside and outside academia. In 1985, Princeton joined other universities and institutions to divest from companies supporting South African apartheid. In 2006, the University divested from companies doing business in Darfur, South Sudan, where millions of Darfuri civilians had been killed in brutal genocide. In 2020, we face a new crisis - arguably the worst global humanitarian crisis we have ever faced.

Major peer institutions (Stanford University, University of California and Georgetown University), wealth funds (BlackRock, Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and Caisse des Dépôts), as well as many other organizations (the British Medical Association and the Tate museums) have committed to rapidly divest from the fossil fuel industry.

Students at the University regularly express wishes for urgent climate action and divestment. Previous divestment campaigns have garnered thousands of signatures and a recent petition initiated by University alumni has garnered 800 signatures as of this submission, with signatories vowing not to donate to the University until it divests from fossil fuels.

Fossil fuel companies now seek to rebrand, touting altruistic investments in renewable technologies and generous funding to universities such as BP’s $43 million and ExxonMobil’s $6.7 million donated to the University’s climate change research. Despite the shift in branding, investments in sustainable enterprises are dismal with only 1 percent of their budget spent on nonoil and gas projects. Meanwhile, the industry’s efforts to integrate themselves into University research helps to change the narrative and def lect blame from their own culpability. In fact, while the companies like BP claim to be interested in supporting research into climate solutions, they continue to politically thwart adoption of

these same solutions.

For decades, many of the 20 fossil fuel companies responsible for roughly a third of carbon emissions have understood the risks of their activities. Yet, in public, they remained involved in lobbying and donations to block action on climate change and to fund sham science to obfuscate and shape different narratives about the impacts of climate change and where the responsibility lies. As the Carbon Tracker Initiative report states, extracting and burning all planned coal and oil gas reserves would release five times more carbon than we can afford if we hope to remain under 2°C of global warming. Through its continued support of the fossil fuel industry, the University not only legitimizes the unethical behaviour of these companies, but also weakens its capacity to contribute to the climate change debate in an impartial way. To protect its moral integrity and credible scholarship, the University should follow its peers and divest.

Divestment from fossil fuels is not only a powerful symbolic gesture, but also a measure to protect the University community. New Jersey is the sixth-fastest warming state in the country, and such changes in temperature have been increasing the severity of downpours, storms, and inland f loods. In the past 10 years, the University had to cancel several classes and events due to f loods and lightning storms. The University’s responsibility, however, doesn’t end at Nassau Street — as an institution of historical privilege, the University owes a debt of reparation to marginalized communities, even more so now as black and brown people around the world have been, and will continue to be, the worst affected by climate change.

The University should not fund projects that are incompatible with its (“unofficial”) motto to be “In the Nation’s Service and the Service of Humanity.” Likewise, the University should not accept large funding of research activities from fossil fuel com-

panies (particularly on the very issue that those companies have spent decades trying to obfuscate). This is even less acceptable now, as the environmentally responsible industries have become just as profitable, or more profitable, than oil and coal, and likely more successful in the long run. Instead, the University should redirect its investments and focus to promote ecological resilience and overall community wellbeing, focusing on projects and business increasing community empowerment and prosperity while shifting away from dependence on extractive industries.

We, Divest Princeton, an association of University students and alumni, submitted a petition to the Council of the Princeton University Community for the committee’s review and consideration.

Specifically, we recommend the following: Princeton University divests of all its direct holdings of fossil fuels; Princeton University divests of all indirect holdings of fossil fuels (e.g. commingled funds and shareholders of major fossil fuel companies); Princeton University prohibits all new research or associative financial relationships with fossil fuel companies; Princeton University establishes a body to ensure its endowment is ethically invested; and This new body hosts open meetings and releases regular, publicly verifiable reports to measure its progress.

We are all compelled to fight climate change to the extent that our power allows, and with $26 billion under its control, the University has more power than most.

If universities like Princeton who pride themselves on reason and evidence-based leadership fail to take the necessary steps in the fight against climate change, who will?

Ryan Warsing and Isty Rysava are graduate students and members of Divest Princeton.

They can be reached at ffdivestprinceton@gmail.com.

editor-in-chief

Jonathan Ort ’21

BOARD OF TRUSTEES president Thomas E. Weber ’89 vice president Craig Bloom ’88 secretary Betsy L. Minkin ’77 treasurer Douglas Widmann ’90 trustees Francesca Barber David Baumgarten ’06 Kathleen Crown Gabriel Debenedetti ’12 Stephen Fuzesi ’00 Zachary A. Goldfarb ’05 Michael Grabell ’03 John G. Horan ’74 Joshua Katz Rick Klein ’98 James T. MacGregor ’66 Alexia Quadrani Marcelo Rochabrun ’15 Kavita Saini ’09 Richard W. Thaler, Jr. ’73 Abigail Williams ’14 trustees emeriti Gregory L. Diskant ’70 William R. Elfers ’71 Kathleen Kiely ’77 Jerry Raymond ’73 Michael E. Seger ’71 Annalyn Swan ’73 trustees ex officio Jonathan Ort ’21

144TH MANAGING BOARD managing editors Benjamin Ball ’21 Elizabeth Parker ’21 Ivy Truong ’21 Cy Watsky ’21 Sections listed in alphabetical order. chief copy editors Lydia Choi ’21 Anna McGee ’22 associate copy editors Celia Buchband ’22 Sydney Peng ’22 head design editor Harsimran Makkad ’22 associate design editors Abby Nishiwaki ’23 Kenny Peng ’22 head features editor Josephine de La Bruyère ’22 head multimedia editor Mark Dodici ’22 associate video editor Mindy Burton ’23 head news editors Claire Silberman ’22 Zachary Shevin ’22 associate news and features editor Marie-Rose Sheinerman ’22 associate news editors Naomi Hess ’22 Allan Shen ’22 head opinion editors Rachel Kennedy ’21 Madeleine Marr ’21 associate opinion editors Shannon Chaffers ’22 Emma Treadway ’22 head sports editors Tom Salotti ’21 Alissa Selover ’21 associate sports editors Josephine de La Bruyère ’22 Emily Philippides ’22

NIGHT STAFF copy Jordan Allen ’20 Annabelle Duval ’23 Auhjanae McGee ’23 Jeremy Nelson ’20 Catie Parker ’23 Isabel Rodrigues ’23 design Benjamin Benjadol ’23 Ashley Chung ’23

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Friday February 14, 2020

Opinion

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Princeton’s high school problem Liam O’Connor

Senior Columnist

W

hen I investigated Bicker for The Daily Princetonian two years ago, I distinctly recall an Ivy Club member telling me, “I went to the Lawrenceville School. A lot of people in Ivy went to Lawrenceville.”

For readers who — like me at the time — have never heard of the Lawrenceville School, it’s a $67,000 a year, two-century-old boarding school that’s a 10-minute drive from campus, down Route 206. The connections between Lawrenceville and the University are legion, and they span decades.

The schools’ alumni corps share plenty of overlap. Old Nassau’s former students serve on Lawrenceville’s faculty. The Tab reported that Princeton asked a low-income applicant to do a $52,000 postgraduate program there to secure her admission the following year. The University maintains a special endowed scholarship for Lawrentians. And leaked Ivy cards exposed that members flag educational pedigree when evaluating students during Bicker.

I didn’t understand the significance of what my interviewer said at that time. But I do now. Some high schools — which usually require tremendous wealth to attend — send so many students here that their graduates dominate entire social circles.

PolarisList, a website that compiles college admissions data, released its latest findings

over winter break on American admissions to Princeton, Harvard, and MIT for the Classes of 2015–2018. For the first time ever, we have a complete picture of how many people individual high schools contributed to the student body, up to the current junior class.

To ensure that the figures were reasonable, I compared them to schools’ self-reported college matriculation statistics, as well as the University’s own enrollment records. (Disclosure: I noted a few, albeit minor, discrepancies.)

In any case, the student body is intensely concentrated: nearly 30 percent came from only six percent of all the high schools with alumni at Princeton.

According to Polarislist, the Lawrenceville School, which sent 63 students in four years, was in first place. Princeton High School added another 60.

Together, they were roughly the same size as the football team.

Thomas Jefferson High School tied with Bergen County Academies — both magnets — for third, at 40 each.

Princeton’s admissions office boasts that 60 percent of incoming first-year students come from public high schools.

But 90 percent of seniors nationwide graduated from public schools last year, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

Either some aspect of admissions favors private school applicants, or their students are simply sending in more applications with better knowledge of the process. A National Association for College Admission Counseling found, for example, that public school counselors

spent 22 percent of their time giving college advice, versus 55 percent for those in private schools.

Public schools were wellrepresented at the pinnacle of the top high schools sending students to Princeton, claiming four of PolarisList’s top five slots. But they lost ground just below it. More than half of the leading 100 high schools — actually 125, due to ties — were private. The likes of Phillips Exeter Academy (annual cost: $56,302), the Delbarton School ($40,400), Deerfield Academy ($63,220), and Phillips Academy Andover ($57,800) took over.

If a bright student in New York doesn’t get into one of the city’s elite high schools, her chances of going to Princeton are practically nil. Around two-thirds of Princetonians from the Big Apple went to private schools.

They received an education whose average cost was $45,413 per year.

Three places — Stuyvesant, Bronx Science, and Hunter College — were responsible for the majority of those who attended public schools. Only 8 percent of New Yorkers came from typical neighborhood high schools.

tively.

While private school graduates were a minority in Chicago’s Cook County, Ill., students from magnet and wealthy public schools — mainly along the prosperous North Shore — comprised a slight majority. In Washington, D.C., and its bordering counties, magnets alone accounted for about 40 percent of Princetonians.

“Admitting an outsized

number of their applicants has far-reaching consequences that affects everything from Bicker to club auditions to academic performance.

But — ironically — these admissions decisions may be harming admissions itself.”

In the Boston area, almost seven-tenths of students were privately educated. Magnet schools played a smaller role.

But the public schools that did send a lot of their seniors were located in affluent towns, such as Dover and Lexington. The Census Bureau reveals their median household incomes to be $224,784 and $172,750, respec-

Los Angeles County, California had the greatest share among these five cities of students from non-selective high schools in average neighborhoods. But private schools — courtesy of the Harvard-Westlake ($42,200) and Marlborough ($42,900) Schools — remained the biggest contributors.

With statistics like these, it’s no wonder that my Ivy interviewer mentioned that her clubmates went to Lawrenceville or that another asked me what kind of high school I attended. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand why this happens.

My prior analysis of club rosters found that Ivy had the highest

concentration of New Yorkers on the Street. For clubs such as Tiger Inn, a majority of members went to private schools.

Princeton’s penchant for these schools isn’t an accident.

PolarisList indicates that the same names consistently top the admissions roster. They have long standing feeder networks that place their students in the country’s best colleges.

Admitting an outsized number of their applicants has far-reaching consequences that affect everything from Bicker to club auditions to academic performance. But — ironically — these admissions decisions may be harming admissions itself.

A 1998 report noted that stellar high school seniors often avoid Old Nassau because of “the limited range of dining and social opportunities” in addition to the image of a “social environment [bearing] the enduring stamp of Fitzgeraldian legend.” It’s a clear jab at the eating clubs, a line that has been repeated several times in recent years.

Before faculty and administrators point fingers at Prospect Avenue — which certainly deserves its own share of the blame — they should first consider how admissions fuels the tacit hierarchies in Princeton’s social life. As my Ivy interviewer revealed, fitting in can be a matter of coming in with the right connections.

Liam O’Connor is a senior geosciences major from Wyoming, Del. He can be reached at lpo@ princeton.edu.

HARSIMRAN MAKKAD / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN

Friday February 14, 2020

Sports

page 6

{ www.dailyprincetonian.com } WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

No. 25 women’s basketball to travel to Yale, Brown

By Molly Milligan Senior Staff Writer

No. 25 women’s basketball (17– 1, 5–0 Ivy League) makes its second Ivy League road trip of the season this weekend. The Tigers will take on Yale (15–4, 5–1 Ivy) tonight in New Haven and Brown (7–12, 1–5 Ivy) on Saturday in Providence.

Princeton will look to extend its current 13-game win streak at Yale. The Bulldogs suffered their first league loss to Harvard last weekend, snapping a school-record-tying eight-game streak. The Tigers have already taken down Harvard by 14 points this year. But Yale is still off to its best start in program history: the Bulldogs are only half of a game behind the Tigers, who sit atop the Ivy League standings.

Yale is led by senior guard Roxy Barahman, a First-Team All-Ivy League selection last year, who has averaged 17 points per game this season.

The Bulldogs’ second leading scorer is Camilla Emsbo,

a sophomore center who is the identical twin sister of Princeton’s Kira Emsbo. The sophomore, who averages 15.9 points per game, should provide a strong match-up for Princeton senior forward Bella Alarie, who currently leads the Ivy League in scoring, at 19.6 points per game.

On Tuesday, Alarie was named on the Women’s Citizen Naismith Trophy Watch List. No Ivy League player has ever won the trophy, which has been awarded since 1983.

Alarie is also one of 10 finalists for the Katrina McClain Award, given annually to the nation’s best power forward.

On Saturday, Princeton will face the Brown Bears.

Brown has struggled in the Ivy League so far this season. The Bears earned their first league win of the 2019–20 season a week ago at Dartmouth, defeating the Big Green 83–71. In that contest, Brown relied heavily on the scoring power of junior guard McKenna Dale, who posted a career-high 26

points and added 11 rebounds for a double-double, while also going a perfect eight for eight from the free throw line.

Brown will look to senior guard Justine Gaziano and sophomore forward Ashley Ducharme to round out the offensive attack against Princeton. It will, however, be a tall task for the Bears: Princeton is currently the nation’s number-one-ranked scoring defense, allowing opponents an average of just 48.5 points per game. The second-place scoring defense, allowing 50.8 points per game, belongs to the Baylor Lady Bears, who are listed at number two in the USA Today/WBCA Coaches Poll.

The Tigers re-entered that same poll this week, coming in at number 25. The team had been ranked in both the USA Today/WBCA Coaches and AP polls in January, but fell out. Princeton also ranks 20th in the NCAA RPI, a tool that measures a team’s win/ loss record and its strength

of schedule.

Princeton looks to return to Jadwin Gymnasium with a still-perfect Ivy record. Following this weekend’s slate of games, the Tigers will have just seven left to play before the Ivy League Tournament,

which will be hosted in Cambridge, Mass., at Lavietes Pavilion from March 13–15.

The 64-team field for the NCAA tournament will be selected on Monday, March 16, just one day after the Ivy Championship will be

BEVERLY SCHAEFER / PRINCETON ATHLETICS

Senior Bella Alarie leads the team in scoring with an average of 17.9 points per game this season.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

On defense, handshakes, and bleeding orange: Carla Berube, new head women’s basketball coach

By Alex Gjaja Assistant Features Editor

Head women’s basketball coach Carla Berube wants to keep on learning.

The University’s answer to former head coach Courtney Banghart’s shock departure to UNC, Berube — a bronze medalist at the 1994 Olympic Festival — arrived on campus in early June. She’d spent her last 17 years at Tufts University, where she boasted a 356–93 overall record, guided the Division III Jumbos into the NCAA Final Four in four consecutive seasons, earned titles as the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) National Coach of the Year and USA Basketball Developmental Coach of the Year, and coached USA Basketball Women’s U16 National Team to a 2017 World Championship.

In the last eight months, she has turned Princeton’s defense into the country’s topranked force and the Tigers have jumped to No. 1 on the Ivy League leaderboard and No. 25 on the NCAA’s. Last weekend, she recorded her 400th career coaching win.

It’s a considerable — if clunky — list of accolades, but Berube isn’t happy yet.

“I think,” she said, “that I’m a work in progress.”

Adjusting to life in Princeton has been one as well for Berube, a self-proclaimed “Boston girl,” and her family — her wife Meghan and three children, Parker, Brogan, and Caden. The new backyard and the Jadwin Gymnasium Jumbotron have proved to be hits with the kids, who have become avid fans of both the Tigers and Tacoria.

But though she may love her new job — “I’m so lucky to be at Princeton,” Berube repeated time and again — adjusting to a new suburban life, a new NCAA Division, and 16 new players is a

daunting task. In her players’ minds, at least, she’s done a phenomenal job.

“She’s the kind of person who cares about everybody on our team,” said senior co-captain Bella Alarie. “She wants to check in and see how we’re doing as people.”

From the start of her tenure, Berube has placed an emphasis on strengthening her team’s interpersonal relationships. She assigned each of her staff members a group of four players with whom they regularly check in for meals or coffee. Berube has frequent individual meetings with her players, as well as weekly leadership meetings with Alarie and senior co-captain Taylor Baur. Berube has hosted the team at her house for dinner, as well for gatherings like a recent holiday bake-off.

Berube is most proud, she insists, not of her team’s 13game winning streak or likelihood to win March’s Ivy League Championship, but of its camaraderie.

“I’m proud that they are a really close-knit team. I think that makes coming to work and spending the two hoursplus with each other really enjoyable, because they like being around each other.”

And they like being around her, too.

“She can be super goofy,” Alarie said, “but also super intense and competitive. I think it’s just funny, because she’s sneakily really goofy. But you wouldn’t get that at first glance with her, where she seems kind of more serious and reserved. She’s really awesome and fun to be around.”

From Tufts, She’s brought a handful of lighthearted traditions: hitting a halfcourt shot before every game, a line of handshakes for her players to “lock in” with each other before matches. But she’s also brought some more serious changes: a new, regimented emphasis on her signature lockdown defense, for one.

“I love the defensive side of the ball,” she said. “I think we were successful at Tufts because we could really just lock down our opponents and make it really hard for them to do what they want to do.

I am trying to instill that at Princeton, and so far I think the team has really enjoyed just getting after it on the defensive end and buying into wanting to be a great defensive team.”

To Senior Communications Advisor Jerry Price, this season’s defense is “​stifling​.” To The Trentonian’s Kyle Franko, it’s “suffocating.” To Alarie – and the rest of women’s basketball – it’s a game-changer.

“I think it gives us more of a sense of security when we know we can shut down teams, and we can also score on offense,” she said. “If you watch our practice, we spend a majority of the time on defense. It’s the thing we’re most excited about, which kind of changes the team’s culture.”

Berube’s proved herself capable of changing the team’s on-court focus, its fellow-

ship, and its superstitions.

One thing she doesn’t want to change?

“I think there’s just an incredible winning mentality here and winning tradition,” she said. “And for alums and the current team, what it means to be a Tiger is something they feel really strongly about. They bleed orange and black.”

For her four years as an undergraduate at the University of Connecticut, Berube bled blue; for her 17 years as a head coach at Tufts, she did, too. She’s excited for the transition to orange and black. And Alarie — in the unique position of having been on Princeton’s campus three years longer than her coach — has some advice for making it happen.

“Just really embrace Princeton as a whole,” she said.

“Because I think the community is just really incredible here. And if you get just so caught up in Jadwin and basketball I think there’s a lot of amazing people and places you’ll miss out on.”

For Berube, though, exploration will have to wait.

Only six weeks of the season remain, and Princeton women’s basketball is focused on one thing.

“We’re just excited to keep chasing the championship,” Alarie said.

Berube has bigger dreams than just this year’s trophy.

She wants her team to stay an Ivy League title contender, wants to make the NCAA tournament and be in the nation’s top 25 every year. And some of her ambitions are loftier still.

“I want to have a very respected program, a program that’s going to attract really great people and really great students that Princeton is proud of,” she said. “And also put a brand of basketball on the Pete Carril Court in Jadwin Gymnasium that people in the Princeton community are really proud of, that they love coming to watch us play. I want us to get more and more fans because of the way we play and make it a really incredible atmosphere.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF TUFTS UNIVERSITY

Head women’s basketball coach Carla Berube.

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