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Monday october 5, 2015 vol. cxxxix no. 81
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U N I V E R S I T Y A F FA I R S
Principedia, wiki of courses at U., launches
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In Opinion The Editorial Board calls on mandatory bystander intervention training for leaders of student organizations. Columnist Lea Trusty describes her response to the recent shooting at Oregon’s Umpqua Community College. PAGE 4
Today on Campus 4:30 p.m.: A study abroad in Africa and the Middle East info session will cover opportunities to study abroad in Ghana, Senegal, South Africa, Israel, Jordan, Morocco, and Turkey. Frist 206.
The Archives
Oct. 5, 1967
The Princeton Photography Club was given $700 as an initial grant for a darkroom at 185 Nassau St. The Club would also receive $300 per year for continued operation of the darkroom.
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News & Notes Safety advisory issued to all colleges in Philadelphia area following online threat
The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives have issued a safety advisory to all colleges and universities in the Philadelphia area about a possible threat on Monday. The threat surrounded a social media posting that threatened violence at an unnamed university in the Philadelphia area. The FBI and ATF have denied knowledge of any specific threat. In response to the threat, campuses have increased police, security officers and CCTV patrol, according to advisory alerts from the University of Pennsylvania and Drexel University. According to an advisory alert from the University of Pennsylvania, the violence is threatened to occur at 2 p.m. on Oct. 5. The threat comes days after a shooting at the campus of Umpqua Community College in Oregon on Oct. 1, where nine people were fatally shot and another nine were injured.
LINH TRAN :: CONTRIBUTING STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
De Tierra Caliente performed at the SABROSURA: LatinX Heritage Month Festival on Saturday evening. ACADEMICS
Humanities Sequence adds mentors, event organizers By Shriya Sekhsaria staff writer
The Humanities Sequence at the University has undergone many changes since last year, including doubling in size and doing away with applications. The Council of the Humanities has also set up a team of student mentors called Humanities Mentors, social event organizers called Symposiarchs and interns called Scribes. Kathleen Crown, executive director of the Council of the Humanities, said the Humanities Sequence of HUM 216-219 is an intensive yearlong double course taught each semester by six faculty members from the disciplines of literature, philosophy, history, music, art and classics. A double course refers to a course that counts as and takes the same number of classroom hours as
two courses. Crown said that one of the Council’s goals in eliminating the application was to make the sequence available to more students due to high student interest and positive student feedback. She explained that the course administrators received around 100 requests to reserve spots, which was triple the usual number of students who had applied to take the class in the past. This increase was due to both the waiving of applications and publicity through events like dinners with HUM alumni and faculty, Crown said. Crown noted that the sequence included an additional precept this year, raising the enrollment limit to 60 from 45 previously. She noted that this addition was not easy because the precepts are all facultyled and each must be structured and built into the course.
STUDENT LIFE
USG senate talks diversity, reform By Katherine Oh staff writer
The Undergraduate Student Government senate introduced the Office of the Vice President for Campus Life’s work for diversity and inclusion during its weekly meeting on Sunday. Vice President for Campus Life W. Rochelle Calhoun, who recently joined the University from Skidmore College, joined the meeting and explained that she and her colleagues are paying particular attention to the role that diversity, equity and inclusion plays in that vision. Among her priorities as vice president for campus life are concerns about safety and a sense of belonging, as well as how to make sure students can have fun, she added. Coming to the University from a different institution, Calhoun said she noticed the University could do more for everyone to understand how the fact that we are a diverse community fundamentally changes who we are. “I used to think about my diversity work and I’d label it ‘them,’ ‘us,’ and ‘me,’” Calhoun explained. “ ‘Us’ is the inclusion part. How do we
reimagine who we are, and how does it change who I am. The gap for Princeton, the ‘them’ you got down. It’s the ‘us’ and the ‘me.’ ” The Office of the Vice President of Campus Life is currently working to “inf luence, impact and change for the better” the real life experience for students on campus, Calhoun said. “I think about this being the best place for you to be. I think about how we are intentional in our work so Princeton students can have a great experience,” Calhoun explained. “What I hope is that together with my colleagues in campus life, we can at least figure out pathways for success for your personal development. Whether you choose those pathways is up to you.” Outgoing chief elections manager Grant Golub ’17 went over, but the Senate did not vote on, proposals for reform of the referenda process, including raising the signature count necessary to petition, as well as adjusting the timing of referenda to coincide with the USG election cycle. Golub is a former staff writer and senior copy editor for The Daily Princetonian. Sung Won Chang ’18 was See USG page 3
According to Crown, current enrollment in the sequence stands at 60 students compared to the 36 students last year. “Most students who were on the waitlist, and who came to class and who were persistent, as far as I know, those students all ended up getting space in the course,” she said. Monique Claiborne ’17, a Humanities Mentor and Symposiarch, said that applications to the sequence were counterproductive, especially for freshmen, because many students chose not to apply to the sequence due to the pressure of having to produce the “perfect application.” “A lot of students have been intimidated by the HUM sequence,” she said. ”You know, you come to Princeton and you’re excited that you got in this really exciting enSee HUM page 2
Principedia, a community-sourced wiki of courses offered at the University, was launched at a hackathon event called Hackademics on Saturday. Principedia gathers knowledge by inviting contributions from the community, similar to Wikipedia, Associate Director of the Undergraduate Learning Program Nic Voge said. He added that this method of gathering knowledge is useful because the community has more knowledge than each individual, and so can contribute more information. Voge said that students at the University are continuously building layers of knowledge and accumulating knowledge about how to be effective students. Principedia is a way to capture this knowledge, collect it, organize, build upon and circulate it to students, he added. The results will be compiled in articles that are also called “course analys[es]”, which is a technical term for an analysis of the pedagogical content of a course, cochair of the Principedia Editorial Board Nathan Agmon ’17 explained. He added that this “course analysis” would consist of articles on University courses that students are constantly updating. Nicole Wang ’17, another co-chair, said that this course analysis will go beyond what students will find in course evaluations on the registrar’s page. “What Principedia is really asking you is to think about what made you successful in the class you took,” she said. “Be ref lective and objective. We encourage students to write about courses they’ve enjoyed or have had a big impact on their academic experience. Ref lect on the learning process.” Wang said that a student’s netID is attached to the articles they write and is accessible to University students. Only students with a valid University netID, he said, can contribute to the website. Agmon noted that people may initially doubt Principedia’s efficacy because it is crowdsourced. Ref lection and introspection play a crucial role in how people learn and become effective learners, Voge said. He said he has observed this pattern in his work with the McGraw Center and conversations with students on how they learn. “Seven or eight years ago, at UC BerkeSee PRINCIPEDIA page 3
MUSIC
GRACE JEON :: ASSOCIATE PHOTO EDITOR
The Sikhs of Princeton held a musical workshop in the 1915 Room on Sunday afternoon. STUDENT LIFE
Cannon accepts 13 out of 19 bickerees, Tower accepts 15 of 52 in fall Bicker By Paul Phillips associat e news editor
Cannon Dial Elm Club and Tower Club, the two eating clubs to have completed Bicker so far this year, saw a total of 71 bickerees. This fall, Cap & Gown Club did not participate in fall Bicker, while Ivy Club will begin conducting its Bicker
sessions this week. Tiger Inn and Cottage Club have historically foregone fall Bicker. The number of bickerees at Tower almost doubled, rising from 27 in 2014 to 52 in 2015, according to Tower president George Papademetriou ’16. The number of students accepted fell slightly from 22 to 15, and the accep-
tance rate fell from 81 percent to 29 percent. The number of bickerees at Cannon stayed roughly constant, at around 19, according to sources within the club. This fall, the number of accepted bickerees fell and the acceptance rate rose, with 13 out of 19 bickerees accepted for a rate of 68 percent. SevSee BICKER page 3