Founded 1876 daily since 1892 online since 1998
Wednesday november 30, 2016 vol. cxl no. 109
{ www.dailyprincetonian.com } LECTURE
Forum discusses election’s impact on community By Samuel Oh staff writer
Members of the Princeton community, including town residents and University students and faculty, came together on Tuesday, Nov. 29 to discuss the challenges facing the Muslim community in the wake of the 2016 presidential election in a forum. Speakers in the forum discussed issues such as antiMuslim rhetoric and violence, civil and human rights, immigration, civic engagement, local politics, foreign policy, and international affairs. Favoring a town hall style, moderators listened to and wrote down points and concerns suggested by members of the audience on panels mounted around the room. Sohaib Sultan, the Muslim Life Chaplain in the University Office of Religious Life, said that he wished to discuss with a wide range of people what needed to be done in the face of a Trump presidency. “We wanted to bring people together for positive engagement and think through as a community what we can do to
organize and mobilize and so that energy can be directed positively,” Sultan said. Robia Amjad ‘18, one of the heads of the Princeton Muslim Advocates for Social Justice and Individual Dignity (MASJID), agreed, noting that students needed to reach outside campus for solutions and conversation. “After the election of Trump, we realized we had to reach outside of the Princeton bubble, that we had to speak and form connections with community members, because we could no longer stay within our orange bubble,” Amjad said. “We wanted to brainstorm what we could do for the community and how the community can inform us. And so, build some kind of solidarity.” The two-hour long debate concluded that positive outreach, engagement, and education were necessary to forestall fear-inspired attacks against the Muslim American community. “Talking to students, faculty, Muslim, non-Muslim, atheists – this is a microcosm of America here,” Andrew Zwicker, a Democratic Assemblyman in the New Jersey Legislature, said. “The See MASJID page 3
RICHARDSON
STUDENT LIFE
ROSE GILBERT :: CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
Teach-in supports gender-neutral housing By Rose Gilbert staff writer
At 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 29 more than 40 students gathered outside Frist Campus Center to support the gender-neutral housing proposal that the University Student Life Committee will vote on tomorrow. At present, only dormitory buildings with at least one more room than the number of inhabitants are eligible to be genderneutral, making only ten percent of undergraduate housing gender-neutral. Because the extra space makes these dorms very popular, they are often the first to be taken
during room draw, making them unavailable to trans and nonbinary students who don’t necessarily get to pick their rooms first. Rooms with private bathrooms, which many trans and nonbinary students may feel more comfortable using, are equally hard to get. Currently, students can request priority access to genderneutral housing, but the process can often be confusing and stressful. Many students who have requested priority access said that they feel the current application process, which requires students to explain their need for gender-neutral housing, pressures them to come out
to housing administrators without any guarantee that they will get accommodations that meet their needs. Despite rain, students stood outside, chanting messages like “What kind of housing do we want? Gender-neutral!” and “When trans rights are under attack, what do we do? Fight back!” Students who had shared testimonials in support of gender-neutral housing and bathrooms at betterprinceton.org recited them to the crowd. Student organizer Lafayette Matthews ’17 said that the stressful process of requesting and potentially being denied genderSee TEACH IN page 2
BEYOND THE BUBBLE
BEYOND THE BUBBLE
News & Notes
Former U. professor Gutmann to serve as UPenn president to 2022 By Claire Lee associate news editor
Former University professor and current President of the University of Pennsylvania Amy Gutmann has had her contract extended to 2022, which will make her the longest-serving president in the school’s history. Prior to her appointment at Penn, Gutmann served as Provost at the University and was also the Laurance S. Rockefeller University Professor of Politics, teaching at the University from 1976 to 2004. She was the Founding Director of the University Center for Human Values, which works to foster teaching, research, and discussion of important ethical issues in private and public life through curriculum at the University. Gutmann also served as Dean of the Faculty
and as Academic Advisor to the President before leaving to become the eighth President of the University of Pennsylvania in 2004. According to The Daily Pennsylvanian, Gutmann’s contract was scheduled to end in 2019, but her tenure will now run to June 30, 2022. The extension will make Gutmann’s total time as Penn’s president 18 years, one year more than the time served by the former longest-serving president, Gaylord Harnwell. The news was announced Tuesday morning by Penn Board of Trustees Chair David L. Cohen in an email to the Penn community. “Since assuming the Presidency in 2004, Amy has done a superb job leading our University forward, and her outstanding leadership of Penn has been nothing short of transformaSee GUTMANN page 4
In Opinion Columnist Jack Bryan evaluates the meaning of posttruth in the modern political environment, and columnist Kaveh Badrei discusses the often-unobserved specter of poverty in the wider Princeton township. PAGE 6
Christie plans to serve out remainder of his term to 2018 By Claire Lee associate news editor
New Jersey governor and ex officio University trustee Chris Christie has announced that he plans to finish his term, which ends in 2018, according to the New York Times. He criticized the media for continuing to speculate whether he will leave the state to serve in President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration. Despite his plan to finish his term, Christie has not ruled out continuing to serve in the Trump administration. “For some reason, people think I’m equivocal about this,” Christie said during a news event. “And I’m not. I’m completing my term.” “Now, I will tell you that if something extraordinary happens in the world where my service is needed, I will consider any requests that are made,” Christie added. “That’s not being equivocal about it. That’s understanding what the real world is. But I want you to all take a deep breath and relax.” On Nov. 11, according to the Times, the campaign of President-elect Donald Trump announced that Christie will
Today on Campus
become vice chairman of the transition team, a 16-member advisory committee, aimed to help guide Trump’s choices as he moves to assemble a government. Christie had originally been in charge of the transition for several months after dropping out of the Republican primaries and actively supporting Trump. After his two former aides were convicted in a scandal involving the closing of access lanes at the George Washington Bridge in 2013, however, his standing in the transition team fell as Vice Presidentelect Mike Pence took over the transition effort. Trump also picked others for Attorney General and White House Chief of Staff, positions for which Christie was reportedly a contender. When Christie’s office announced he was holding a rare news conference Tuesday at the statehouse, many reporters, photographers, and cameramen showed up to see the governor speak, according to NJ.com. While the event was listed as being open to the press, Christie’s office changed the schedule to note that the event would be a press announcement in which Christie
7 p.m.:Latin American Studies will host a Princeton Lecture Series: “Olympic Urbanism and Contested Futures in Rio de Janeiro” to discuss implications connected to Rio’s transformation for the 2016 Olympic Games. 216 Burr Hall.
wouldn’t take questions. During this announcement, Christie ended up announcing a four-year $300 million renovation of New Jersey’s deteriorating 18th-century statehouse. “From some of the reaction I got that I was having a press announcement, I think many of you thought I was announcing something else,” Christie said toward the end of the event. “I appreciate all of you being here for the Statehouse renovation. It’s really wonderful.” “For those of you who would be distraught over the idea that I would leave before January 18 of 2018, no reason for you to be distraught,” he said. “For those who are looking forward to me leaving before January 18 of 2018, sorry to disappoint you, but I’m not going to. For whatever camp you fall into, I’m not going anywhere.” Christie also urged the press to “use a little common sense.” “If I was really leaving to take a job in the Trump administration, would I be doing it in the rotunda of the Statehouse, by myself, without the person who would be actually giving me the job?” he asked. “Knowing him, he’d want to be there.”
WEATHER
ATAKAN BALTACI :: ASSOCIATE PHOTO EDITOR
News & Notes
HIGH
60˚
LOW
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Thunderstorms. chance of rain:
100 percent