December 10, 2015

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Thursday december 10, 2015 vol. cxxxix no. 119

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U N I V E R S I T Y A F FA I R S

U. architect discusses furniture on campus

By Marcia Brown staff writer

ZHENGYANG CONG :: STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Historic Bainbridge House on Nassau Street will be turned into an office, event and information center.

U. to renovate Bainbridge House

By Kristin Qian senior writer

The University will convert Bainbridge House, one of the longest standing buildings in Princeton since its construction in 1766, into a multifaceted arts and culture space open to the community.

The goal of the restored Bainbridge House is to make it attractive for a passerby to open the front door, go in and have a moment of discovery by learning more about Princeton, both the town and the Univer-

sity, University Art Museum Director James Steward ’70 explained.

The Historical Society of Princeton has rented the 158 Nassau St. building from the University as a museum and library since 1967.

Before the Historical Society began using it, the Princeton Public Library was its tenant for over 50 years. Other community organizations and tenants have rotated through the building during its lifetime, according to the Historical Society’s website.

Q&A

The society temporarily closed the space this month to undergo renovation and restoration, Curator of Collections and Exhibitions for the Historical Society Izzy Kasdin ’14 said.

She added that construction on Bainbridge will begin in 2016 and the project should be completed in the fall of 2017.

“We have a great relationship with the University and always have, so I don’t think that there will be any difficulties in the transition,” Kasdin said.

The society, which had been See BAINBRIDGE page 3

While certain pieces of furniture around the University’s campus have a list price of several thousand dollars and others are listed as several hundred, the University typically receives a discount of 30 to 40 percent compared to showroom prices, University Architect Ron McCoy GS ’80 said.

McCoy noted that these list prices do not reflect the discount the University receives from retailers.

He explained that the University bids all furniture, meaning that they appeal directly to the sellers for deals and can essentially get discounts on every piece of furniture because they are either returning customers or making a bulk order. While furniture can be expensive, there are limits, McCoy said.

“We set ourselves a budget and then we work within that budget,” McCoy said. “I would say we stay within the limits that we give ourselves. There are so many different components in furniture, you have a lot of options to invest in one area and be more economical in another.”

For example, the University may purchase hundreds of cheaper chairs at around $200 each while only purchasing handfuls of large lounge chairs which may cost $3,000 to $5,000, McCoy said.

Moreover, although the Uni-

versity is more liberal than a typical state institution in that it can buy furniture from various vendors, not specific vendors with which they have deals, they do frequently receive deep discounts, McCoy said.

“Some retailers give us a deep discount because they’re a big company and we’re consistent clients,” McCoy said. “Other times we have to pay closer to retail rather than wholesale so it’s really all over the map.”

Assistant Vice President for Office and Design of Construction Anne St. Mauro noted that in a typical building project interior furnishings are budgeted as five to seven percent of the project budget. St. Mauro explained that each building project, while funded in part by a large donation, is not entirely funded by the donor. Thus, the University’s budget is designed well in advance, she said.

A typical project takes two to three years and the iterative process of choosing furnishings like chairs begins about a year into the project, according to St. Mauro.

She added that when architects submit their proposals for interior furnishings, they are immediately checked to see if they match the budget.

“If you’re going to order expensive chairs that might mean you’re going to have to give up something else,” St. Mauro said.

The interior choices ought to See FURNITURE page 4

LECTURE

Q&A: Robin Chase, co-founder of Zipcar staff writer

Robin Chase, co-founder of the world’s largest car sharing company Zipcar as well as Buzzcar and Veniam, gave a lecture titled “How a New Organizational Paradigm is Changing the Way We Work, Build Businesses and Shape Economies” on Wednesday. Before her talk, she sat down with The Daily Princetonian to discuss transportation, the economy and entrepreneurship.

The Daily Princetonian: How did you first become interested in transportation and environmental issues?

Robin Chase: I had a co-founder — she was German — and she went to a café when she was in Berlin on vacation, and she looked across the street and saw a shared vehicle happening there.

And so I said wow, great idea, that’s exactly what I want to have, which is a car to use sometimes just when I want and not have to own a whole car. Once I started doing transportation, that’s when I realized whoa, it’s the center of the universe! So it affects your access to opportunity, it affects where you can go to school, where you can get a job, which friends you can see, what fun things you can do. So if we want to build more opportunity we have to make sure people can get to those things.

From a climate perspective, I think I’ve been a relative environmentalist in that I have cared

that we haven’t made things worse, for sure. It was only three years ago that I finally understood how severe and urgent and fast-moving this issue was. Scientists are saying that we will be warming the planet by eight degrees Fahrenheit by 2100. And what we don’t understand is what it feels like to warm a planet by eight degrees. And if we went to the last ice age, we are minus seven degrees Fahrenheit from today. So when scientists say it’s catastrophic, they are honestly really meaning catastrophic. We will have pushed into extinction 50 percent of the plants and animals on the planet.

DP: What first opened your eyes to the severity of the climate change crisis?

RC: People had said [that] the World Bank did this report called 4 degrees centigrade and you should really read it, so I said huh, maybe since I work in the environmental issues I really should read it. So I read the executive summary and when I read that summary, I was completely blown away. So we are at a moment of extreme emergency and what’s kind of interesting about that is that then people say, well why don’t you act like that? And I think when you walk around with that urgency, people stop listening, because you seem like a crazy person and you seem scary, and you don’t want to deal with it. But if you See Q&A page 4

ATAKAN BALTACI :: STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Robin Chase, the co-founder of Zipcar, spoke about innovation in technology at a lecture on Wednesday.

Chase discusses innovation, calls for replacing outdated technology

By De Vann Sago senior writer

Startups are attractive in the outward-facing parts but disgusting behind the scenes, Robin Chase, the cofounder and former CEO of ZipCar and Buzzcar said at a lecture on Wednesday.

“If we think about startups, they kind of remind me of hotels [in] that the public areas are really beautiful,

and then you open up that wrong door and you go into the back cement area that’s dirty and has mud,” she said.

Chase discussed how the idea for ZipCar developed from a 1999 conversation with her child’s best friend’s mother.

The German woman went on vacation to Berlin, where she sat in a café, looked across the street and saw a shared car. Noticing the idea, she re-

In Opinion

In Street

Columnist Ryan Dukeman discusses how Donald Trump has made even the most conservative Republicans appear moderate and columnist Nicholas Wu argues why it is good for Princeton to be economically diverse. PAGE 5

This week in Street’s Q&A issue, Senior Writer Kristen Coke sits down with Dean of the College Jill Dolan and Staff Writer Catherine Wang talks to diSiac about “Legend.” PAGE S1-4

turned to Cambridge, Mass. and met with Chase because of her business background — Chase had a degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management.

“When I heard this idea of car sharing, it is true that this light bulb went on over my head and I said, ‘Whoa, this is what the Internet is made for — sharing a very See LECTURE page 2

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Thursday december 10, 2015

Chase emphasizes need to transform industries LECTURE Continued from page 1

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specific asset among lots of people,’ ” Chase said.

Chase worked to develop a business plan and to raise funds to support the plan before launching the company in June of 2000. Among the savings, she mentioned that the first $50,000 for the company came from the first millionaire of her class.

Chase expressed admiration for the way technology is changing the lives of workers.

“I want to say wow, we have now had industrialization where we have piled all of the social safety nets and all of the benefits into fulltime employment but we are going into a world where everyone is going to be working independently. This new world has this one potential for it that is fabulous — that is, I can now have a bazillion income streams,” she said.

Chase emphasized the necessity of transforming industries.

“When I was in France working for a couple of years, people would say to me, ‘Oh my God, you’re taking the auto industry out.’

I’m thinking, ‘Do I care if I’m taking the auto industry out? ’ ” she said. “I think we need to move faster and move faster means I’m not protecting any industries that aren’t with the program.”

She gave the example of

her time visiting the sewer museum in France. When Paris built its sewers, the city eliminated 50,000 jobs for water carriers.

“Do I wish we didn’t have sewers so people could carry poop out and clean water in?

No, I don’t,” Chase said. “So I look at this and I think we really have to transform world economies and legacy companies.”

She noted that because the time for change has come, she wants to have no mercy on outdated technology.

Titled “From Zipcar through Uber and Beyond: How a New Organizational

“This new world has this one potential for it that is fabulous — that is, I can now have a bazillion income streams.”

Robin Chase

Paradigm is Changing the Way We Work, Build Businesses and Shape Economies,” the lecture took place at 4:30 p.m. in Robertson Hall.

Chase was visiting as part of the Dean’s Innovation Science, Technology and Environmental Policy Initiative at the Wilson School.

ATAKAN BALTACI :: STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Transportation entrepreneur Robin Chase describes how she co-founded Zipcar in a lecture.

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Challenge expected for architect to maintain historic fabric of house BAINBRIDGE Continued from page 1

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operating from two sites, has recently moved out of Bainbridge House and will permanently function from its Updike Farmstead location on Quaker Road starting in January 2016, Kasdin said.

The Historical Society is confident that the University will do right by the building, Kasdin said, adding that the University has a lot of respect for all of the historical assets on campus, so she does not expect that they will treat Bainbridge House any differently.

“It’s a beautiful building with lots of great history and great stories. It’s one of the few buildings on Nassau Street still in its original stone foundation,” Kasdin said.

Erin Dougherty, executive director of the Historical Society, was not available for comment.

Steward, along with a group of other University representatives, including Kristin Appelget, Director of Community and Regional Affairs, decided to introduce a set of “mixed-use possibilities” on the ground floor.

Appelget was not available for comment before press time.

Steward said he thinks there are opportunities to work with community partners given Bainbridge House’s location near “cultural amenities” like the Garden Theatre and Labyrinth Books.

Bainbridge will contribute to cultural programming at the University, which Steward noted is already done on a rather dispersed basis, as demonstrated by the variety of spaces for performing arts, visual arts and the Art Museum at the core of campus.

“Symbolically there is something to be said about bringing awareness to some of these programs to the ‘other side of the Street,’ ” Steward remarked, adding that having a presence on Nassau Street will further make the statement that there is a public benefit to having a great research university like this in the heart of Princeton.

Because Nassau Street acts as a divide between the town and the University, Steward said he hopes that Bainbridge House can symbolically transcend that separation.

He added that given that Bainbridge House has long served a public function, the University’s goal is simply to retain that sense of public accessibility.

“It’s really exciting for us that [the University] will still keep that site open to the public and that there will still be a public presence on Nassau Street,” Kasdin said.

Kasdin noted that Bainbridge House has a great location, which definitely serves well for its purpose of inviting community engagement. She said that the building is already set up to be a museum and gallery space, since the

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Historical Society has done a couple of renovations of the space in the past to accommodate it to its museum needs.

According to Steward, the ground level will certainly still include a gallery space with contents yet to be determined, as well as a satellite of Art Museum stores, which will help showcase the work of regional artisans. The second and third floors will act as an extension to the Museum’s education department.

Caroline Harris, associate director for education at the Art Museum, did not respond to requests for comment.

There will also be a branch of the ticketing office, so community members can be aware of performance schedules.

A couple of the rooms will be used as classrooms, meeting rooms or gathering spaces, according to Steward. For example, Steward said, after a second grade class from the Trenton Public Schools visits the Art Museum, the students can move to Bainbridge House and do hands-on art activities. Additionally, after a film screening at the Garden Theatre, interested guests can go next door and have a discussion led by an expert on film,

Steward said.

“One of the things we very much want to do, and I think it will be a challenge for the restoration architect to figure out how to do this, is how to maintain the historic fabric of the house and yet create more of a sense of openness,” Steward said.

Murphy Burnham & Buttrick Architects of New York City will be working with the University to design the changes.

Founding partner Jeffrey Murphy deferred comment to Dale Edghill, project manager at the University Office of Design and Construction, who did not respond to a request for comment.

According to Steward, restoration will mostly entail systems maintenance, from heating and cooling to electrical work.

“We’re really pleased with what the University plans to do with it and think that it should work out really well for everyone,” Kasdin said. “I think the whole staff would really love to see what the University does with it and come back once it’s done.”

The last full renovation for Bainbridge House happened from 1991 to 1992.

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Thursday december 10, 2015

Character of U. in Chase advises young people to be “intellectually honest and learn fast” designs, architect says Q&A

Continued from page 1

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recognize it rationally and you just prioritize your life to the rational side, then you don’t have to keep reevaluating or reminding in your mind each and every second. You set the goal and you set the path, based on facts, and then you can back off and just not think about it at the top of your mind, because it’s too, too, too depressing.

DP: How did Zipcar really come about? You mentioned before that your co-founder went to Germany, and then how did Zipcar get started?

RC: So, she wasn’t my co-founder then, she was German, and [when] she went home for vacation, she saw the car sitting in the café in Berlin, and she came back home and she asked me. I think there really was a lightbulb that went on over my head, and what I saw in the fall of ’99 was that this was what the internet was made for: sharing very specific things easily and quickly among lots of people. I had three children, and a husband, and we had one car that he would take to work everyday, and I lived in the city, so I really only wanted a car by the hour. So it spoke to me, and I understood how technology could be used to do that. And to put it in context, in 1999 – and we launched in 2000 – only 25 percent of the people had cell phones, they definitely were not smart, and only 50 percent of the people had access to the internet, and that was at work.

And so we built this thing that you could only reserve online, on the internet, and then later you could make a telephone call reservation. We were really on the front edge of lots of trends. So we guessed right and had good timing.

DP: How do you envision the future of the sharing economy, given the controversiality of companies like Uber and Airbnb over safety factors?

RC: When people think of the sharing economy, they’re thinking about physical assets that are being shared person-to-person, but what’s happening in a larger

sense is that platforms are being built to harness excess capacity of all kinds and are inviting the participation of people outside the company to get it done.

Around the regulation piece, and these physical assets, there’s three different places that we regulate at. So one would be the government, which does regulations across everything. So they say you have to have your car inspected every six months because no one should be driving unsafe cars. Then, at the platform level, more regulations are being applied. So for Uber, if they do what they say they’re doing, they’re doing a background driving check on everyone. And then coming down to the third level, which is people, each and every time I ride in an Uber taxi, or I stay at an Airbnb house, I rate it at that exact moment.

One last piece on these regulations is there’s three types of regulations: we should regulate to protect the public safety and protect the public good. Those are good things and I believe in them; no one should be putting public safety at risk. The second set of regulations include things that once made sense but now are old and don’t make any sense given the technology we have today. The third type of rule that gets created are just around to protect the status quo. We want to protect this industry, or this type of workers, and I think those are bad rules and I’m not interested in supporting old industries that need to change.

DP: What excites you most about what you’ve been doing and what you do now?

RC: What excites me about this new organization structure is that we need to transform world economies very, very fast, and this organizational structure makes that happen. So when I think about climate change I think wow, that’s why we really need to be doing things that leverage what’s happening today and we need to get lots of people working at it. So platforms can look at all of the activity that’s happening and they can analyze it and figure out best practice and say whoa, let’s do more this way, and they can look at worse practices until everyone stopped

doing it that way. And the last piece is that when you have this Peers Inc collaboration with all these people, you can have a lot of experimentation and adaptation locally, so you can make things hyperlocal.

These are brand new tools that are exciting because they’re going to help us address climate at the speed and scale required.

We’re recognizing and celebrating individuals’ unique aspects and able to bring those into the standardized industrial world that we’re used to having. Because of this new collaboration and because of the internet, we can now have the best of both worlds. We can celebrate and enjoy and value local, unique things and still bring them to scale. I think we’re at this moment where it’s kind of an exciting, new world. We started this conversation with the depressing future, but the flip upside is you and your generation, and I’m helping as much as I can — we have at this moment the ability to really reinvent world economies because they all are positively crumbling right now.

DP: What advice would you give young people who are interested in startups, entrepreneurship and innovation?

RC: My advice is to be intellectually honest and learn fast. Both of those things are tied. You have your idea, and you should be hyper-vigilant to what your skills are and what skills you have to bring around you and how that idea is unfolding in real time.

There are bad ideas out there; realize if your idea is a bad one and ditch it before you spend your life at it. Evolve your ideas. How can you become a person or a company that learns as quickly as possible? Make yourself that company, because that’s how you beat out the old big companies, because big companies are not close to the ground — they’re not close to their customers, it takes them a year to figure out there’s a problem, it takes them a long time to respond — and that’s why entrepreneurs ever succeed. You can be told things and not learn them. Be honest about what you’re learning, and change and adapt as quickly as possible.

FURNITURE Continued from page 1

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reflect the building, St. Mauro said.

“We want it to be consistent,” St. Mauro said. “It has to reflect a thinking that is complete and, you know, the architect has strong ideas and hopefully it comes out as a continuation of what they were thinking when they designed the building.”

Although the University must stay within budget, other factors contribute to choosing the furniture such as comfort, how it fits with the building, and durability. Moreover, in every space, a variety of seating is ideal because these factors are so subjective to each individual, St. Mauro said.

McCoy also said he wants to avoid a setting that is anonymous, ubiquitous and generic, and that he thinks about the University’s character in his designs.

“We select furniture that we think reinforces the character and quality of the building,” McCoy said. “That is, I think, combined with sort of enduring qualities of Princeton that have to do with a scale of intimacy and comfort and friendliness.”

It’s especially critical to maintaining a building’s character that the chosen furniture is

durable so that it won’t have to be replaced, McCoy said. There is a budget for replacing public furnishings in the Office of the Provost, but durability is key, he added. If the furniture is not durable and the University does not have a budget in 10 to 30 years, then the University would have to replace the chair with leftovers, which he said is not acceptable.

The variety of furniture in the Princeton Neuroscience Institute offers a practical place to study and talk over coffee about research, neuroscience concentrator Emily Avery ’17 said. Avery said she thinks it’s worth an investment but that if the money could go to a student on financial aid, that seems like a stupid way to spend it.

McCoy explained because the University does not have limited vendor agreements like some state institutions, they allow their designers to choose items more particularly. To choose furnishings for a project, the architectural team, the user, personnel from facilities and specialists in furniture from the Office of Design and Construction each contribute, he said.

McCoy added that chairs are often the most important furnishing.

“There’s a whole discipline to design chairs,” he said.

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Opinion

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A step forward for the town of Princeton

vol. cxxxix

Nicholas Wu Anna Mazarakis ’16 editor-in-chief

Matteo Kruijssen ’16 business manager

BOARD OF TRUSTEES president Richard W. Thaler, Jr. ’73 vice presidents John G. Horan ’74 Thomas E. Weber ’89 secretary Betsy L. Minkin ’77 treasurer Michael E. Seger ’71 Craig Bloom ’88 Gregory L. Diskant ’70 Richard P. Dzina, Jr. ’85 William R. Elfers ’71 Stephen Fuzesi ’00 Zachary A. Goldfarb ’05 Kathy Keily ’77 Joshua Katz Rick Klein ’98 James T. MacGregor ’66 Betsy J. Minkin ’77 Alexia Quadrani Jerry Raymond ’73 Randall Rothenberg ’78 Annalyn Swan ’73 Douglas Widmann ’90

NIGHT STAFF 12.9.15 senior copy editors Grace Rehaut ’18 Jessica Ji ’18 Maya Wesby ’18

columnist

W

e often talk about the need for a more inclusive, diverse campus environment, but we unfortunately tend to forget about the town of Princeton when holding those conversations. Although the world outside the Orange Bubble can sometimes seem very distant from campus life, the town and the University maintain a symbiotic relationship. When the town benefits, so too does the University. Even something as seemingly mundane as housing and zoning laws can have an outsized benefit on the overall environment of the campus and town.

In a piece of good news, the Princeton Packet reported this week that the town of Princeton was in the process of filing its latest plan for implementation of affordable housing. The town took this action in response to a New Jersey State Supreme Court ruling that effectively mandated the construction of more affordable housing throughout New Jersey’s cities. The plan shows that the city is making strides in making affordable housing more accessible. Some of the newest real estate developments in the town of Princeton have specifically set aside affordable housing units, and the city has highlighted opportunities for zoning changes that would encourage the construction of future affordable housing developments.

It is undeniable that the town of Princeton is a highly desirable place to live. In fact, by some metrics — quality of life or education and health — Princeton is ranked the best small city in the country. Insofar as affordability is concerned, however, Princeton fell to 1,144th place out of 1,200 in that same ranking. The high cost of housing in Princeton is one of the major reasons why the affordability ranking was so low.

For lower-income families, housing under-

standably consumes a larger amount of the budget than it does for higher-income families. The New Jersey Department of Community Affairs defines a low-income household of four in Mercer county as having a maximum income of $45,696.

An average lower income family spends about 56 percent of its income on housing each year, and the deleterious effect of that spending is multiplied by the smaller number of dollars that the family has to spend. Trulia.com, a real estate aggregation website, gives the median sale price of a house in Princeton as $657,500, with that price on an upward trend. Given the high cost of living in Princeton, it is important that the government help decrease those high costs of living; otherwise, lower income families in the Princeton area will be priced out by the increase in real estate costs.

And that is why it is important that after these plans are approved by the Mercer County Superior Court, the city take the steps necessary to make sure that affordable housing is constructed as quickly as possible. The recent protests on campus showed the need for greater inclusivity on campus and beyond, and the amelioration of socioeconomic issues through affordable housing is an important step toward achieving that goal. I am not advocating for the creation of the Princeton Commune, but having a steady roof over your head is an intangibly large benefit. Additionally, there is a large body of research indicating that American cities have become more socioeconomically divided, following the country’s larger trends of wage inequality, and that inequality threatens to restrict the further development of Princeton. A demographically homogenous town is antithetic to the ideals of this University as a place of learning in the service of everyone in the nation. The town of Princeton has an opportunity to create a more equitable environment, and I hope that opportunity will not be squandered.

Ryan Dukeman is a Wilson School Major from Westwood, Mass. He can be reached at rdukeman@ princeton.edu.

news Betty Liu ’18

Tall poppy syndrome

T

he school system back in Australia is a little different, especially in how we’re tested and how we’re prepared for the college application process.

Almost nothing we do before the end of “year 12” counts toward our formal assessment; no test, exam or coursework contributes to our official record as a student. Our entire education is assessed through a series of final exams at the end of senior year. What we’re left with is a national ranking, a percentile that places us among all Australian students in our cohort (e.g. 65.70, 88.35, 99.95).

Predictably, on the day that these scores are released there is a frenzy of interest in the results of friends and peers. There is one consistent rule, one overarching taboo — if you achieved a high score, you’re not to publicize.

If you’re asked, by all means share, but unless you want to be perceived as palpably self-righteous and arrogant, you’ll keep it to yourself.

This phenomenon isn’t unique to Australians’ final results. Around the world, others may not always look favorably upon exceptional achievements that raise someone else above the average, from high SAT scores and GPAs to leadership positions and awards. This is sometimes dubbed “tall poppy syndrome.”

The great example that we all have in common is our future alma mater. We’re all aware of the weight behind the word “Princeton,” and we’re probably aware of the effect that the word has on others. (This isn’t the first column that alludes to it – previous authors have even gone so far as to name this effect the “P-bomb”.) Sometimes we may get a purely

positive response, if others take genuine pride in our good fortune. However, more often than not it’s a conversation stopper, and it can become antagonistic.

There’s something wrong with the fact that we’re not socially allowed to be overtly proud of this achievement. Gaining admission to the University, or any elite school, represents the culmination of a great deal of effort and achievement. It’s something to be proud of, and though there’s obviously no need to run around New York in orange and black screaming the Locomotive Cheer at the top of your lungs, it’s also disgraceful to think that you should be embarrassed or even ashamed to hold up your head and say that you’re a student of the University. On the fair assumption that everyone who is a part of this university has earned it, it is absurd to suggest that we are barred from the American tradition of fierce school spirit and pride in one’s college.

The question stands as to just why tall poppy syndrome exists, why “Princeton” becomes the “P-bomb” when we struggle to share that part of our identity. It’s worth noting that not everyone will have a contention with our college affiliation. A young woman with military ambition at the United States Military Academy at West Point is not likely to prick an ear the mention of Princeton, and a person who’s halfway through a carpentry apprenticeship with every ambition of owning his own carpentry business may be perfectly pleased with his own situation, or else completely apathetic to our fortunes. It may simply be the case that people cut down tall poppies when they’re insecure about the comparison they make to themselves. For someone who is completely content with his or her own choices, achievements and ambitions, there exists no reason

I

Samuel Parsons is a freshman from Wangaratta, Australia. He can be reached at samueljp@princeton. edu.

Rita feng ’17

columnist

columnist

to respond negatively when the P-bomb gets dropped.

Or is there another reason? Princeton is one of America’s greatest vessels of privilege, and every one of us, despite the hard work, enjoys four years of a relatively comfortable and enriching lifestyle. Some people may be perfectly content with their own lot, but they can also be bothered by the fact that we are able to obtain an experience that is denied to most people in the world. If that is the case, then my earlier assumption that hostility is the product of insecurity would become incredibly aggravating and unduly condescending.

The most important question then is whether or not we deserve the education we’re getting and the lifestyle and opportunities we experience every day. I believe that the years of effort, dedication and sacrifice through academics, service and co-curricular endeavors that earned us our places here means that we do indeed deserve Princeton, and we deserve to be proud of it.

Of course, some people find themselves in a socioeconomic, geographical or political position that compromises any chance they may have of ever getting into Princeton, regardless of merit. It is for this reason that for every moment we’re proud of being at Princeton, we should also be grateful, aware and respectful of the fact that in the end, we were all positioned in some way to have this life as a possibility. Pride ought to run hand in hand with respect and humility, and achieving that is the key to turning the P-bomb into a wellreceived “Princeton.”

Nicholas Wu is a sophomore from Grosse Pointe Shores, Mich. He can be reached at nmwu@ princeton.edu.

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Samuel Parsons

Ryan Dukeman

n the days after President Obama’s rare Oval Office address to the nation in the wake of the San Bernardino terrorist attack, the Republican presidential candidates’ pushback was predictably racist and horrible. Ted Cruz ’92 and Jeb Bush doubled down on their absurd and unenforceable Christians-only refugee idea, and Mike Huckabee claimed the President cared more about the “reputation of Islam” than the security of the American people. But of course, none was more repugnant than Donald Trump’s idea to ban all Muslims from entering the United States for any reason.

In light of his previous proposals to deport all 11 million immigrants who came to this country illegally, to build a database of all Muslims in the United States and to have the federal government shut down mosques, there’s simply no reasonable characterization of his campaign left that doesn’t involve the idea of a 20th century fascist police state. It’s quite literally gotten to the point where people have started to see for themselves how Hitler could have risen to power in Nazi Germany.

Finally, though, other Republican officials have begun to push back. The previous months of tepid claims that Trump “doesn’t speak for us” made by minor Republican strategists no one has ever heard of were finally not enough. House Speaker Paul Ryan gave a brave and blistering speech to the press, in which he defended religious freedom, tolerance and American Muslims. He explicitly denounced Trump’s Muslim travel ban, saying “what was proposed yesterday is not what this party stands for, and more importantly, it’s not what this country stands for.” Former U.S. Senator from Kansas Bob Dole, who lost the 1996 presidential election to President Bill Clinton, added that he might “oversleep” on election day if some of the top GOP candidates (Trump or Cruz, namely) had been nominated. Even former Vice President Dick Cheney, who is possibly the last person I’d think of in a wordassociation test for “human rights,” said that it “goes against everything we stand for and believe in.” (So does waterboarding, but that’s a conversation for another column.)

While it’s admirable that top-tier Republicans have finally started calling Trump what he is — not a conservative but a fascist — it says something horrible about the state of our politics more broadly that denouncing someone who proposed a Third-Reich style registry of religious minorities just places you to the left of him as a “relative moderate” on the GOP spectrum.

Dole is not a moderate; when he ran against Clinton in 1996, he ran from what was then the far-right wing of the right-wing party. He now claims that neither he nor President Ronald Reagan could win a primary today, given how Hard Right the party has gone. Ryan is an avid proponent of the cruelest forms of laissez-faire capitalism and admits to getting his economic philosophy from the pages of Ayn Rand. And I don’t think even Cheney ever thought someone more conservative than himself could be a serious contender for President. But denouncing fascism, which is to say, having basic human decency, does not make you a “moderate” compared to Trump’s “conservatism.” It makes you an arch-con compared to Trump’s fascism.

A problem in the way our media has covered this frankly absurd election cycle is that objective factual truths have given way to everything being seen on a spectrum, and all points on that spectrum being seen as legitimate political positions. So any time the right has moved further down the spectrum since 2010, those who were previously considered “far-right” were re-dubbed “the Republican establishment” or a “moderate.” They are anything but.

Just because U.S. Senator from Arizona John McCain believes refugees shouldn’t be discriminated against on the basis of religion, or Jeb Bush recognizes it would be impossible to round up 11 million undocumented immigrants and deport them en masse, does not mean they are not far to the right of what’s deemed conservative in any other Western liberal democracy. Even Marine Le Pen, the leader of France’s far-right National Front, has more generous views on social welfare than Jeb. The fact that there’s a right, a far-right and a fascist wing of the Republican party, when such parallels simply do not exist on the Democratic side, does not mean we have to say “both parties have their extremes.” Asymmetric polarization is real, and to deny its existence is simply to ignore facts.

Trump isn’t the “conservative” to Jeb Bush’s “establishment wing” of the Republican party. He’s the fascist to the basic human decency of us all.

It’s 100, BTW

contributing copy editors Sarah Kim ’17 Katie Peterson ’19 Nina Rodriguez ’19

When basic human decency makes you a ‘moderate’

Sports

Thursday december 10, 2015

page 6

{ www.dailyprincetonian.com }

Hockey teams look to build off successes

by Rachel Spady and Vincent Po :: Staff Photographers Both the men’s and women’s hockey teams took on their Ivy League rivals this past weekend — the men against Brown and Yale, the women against Harvard and Dartmouth. Each team came away with back-to-back victories — they look to continue their success in their last weekend of play before a winter break rest. The women’s hockey team will battle Penn State in a doubleheader this weekend at Baker Rink, while the men’s team will take on the Nittany Lions in State College before returning for an exhibition match against the USA U-18 squad.

Tweet of the Day “About to hoop for the first time in bout 4 months y’all pray nobody has the bounce on me tonight” jason ray ’14 (@yj43rd), football

Stat of the Day

6 straight After last weekend, the men’s and women’s hockey teams have won a combined 6 straight games.

Follow us Check us out on Twitter on @princesports for live news and reports, and on Instagram on @ princetoniansports for photos!

The Daily Princetonian

Thursday december 10, 2015

page S1

THE Q&A ISSUE PAGES DESIGNED BY LIN KING :: STREET EDITOR

Asking questions and receiving thoughtful answers is the fastest way to learn. This week, Street sat down with some campus leaders and artists to ask some big questions. Here are their answers.

JILL DOLAN

DEAN OF THE COLLEGE Interviewed by

KRISTEN COKE Senior Writer

Jill Dolan is a professor of English and Theater, director of the Program in Gender and Sexuality Studies and, since July of this year, Dean of the College. In this interview, Dean Dolan talks about the importance of arts in academia and the recent activism on campus and gives advice to undergraduate students at Princeton.

Daily Princetonian: To start things off, what inspired you to join academia?

Jill Dolan: I never intended to be an academic. I wanted to be an actor, so when I went to college, it was to be an actor in this professional theater training program I enrolled in at Boston University. But, that changed very quickly for various reasons, and I became a critic instead. And then after I graduated I spent two years writing theater criticism and then I decide to go to graduate school because what I was really interested in was feminist theater criticism. I just wanted to learn more about it and how to do it, but I was going to be a writer, not a professor. But it turned out when I finished my Ph.D., colleges and universities were actually looking for people in my field. So, I decided to apply to jobs and I got a position at the University of Wisconsin-Madison teaching in the theater and drama department. So it was kind of serendipitous. I never really expected to be an academic, but it turned out it’s everything I love, really.

DP: How has the undergraduate experience changed since you were at school?

JD: That’s such a good question because I was an undergrad so long ago, and I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately in relation to the activism on campus. When I was in college, we couldn’t get close to the president of the university. It was just this real sense of him being up here and us being down here. I didn’t even know where his office was, and I feel like now students are more handson in terms of their education and the expectation is universities will be more hands-on with them. It used to be more of a transactional relationship I think, except of course for professors and students. But in terms of how the administration relates to students, I think that has changed a lot and, of course, at a place like Princeton that is pretty small, I think it’s

easier to form more personal relationships.

DP: What defines your style of teaching, or what do you go into a classroom trying to accomplish?

JD: I like to go into a classroom with questions rather than answers and with a great deal of curiosity for my subject that I hope to inspire in my students. As a critic, I try to only write about things I like and want to recommend. As a teacher, I like to teach things that excite me and that interest me and that I think students might not find on their own. So for me it becomes about sharing things that I care about and believe in and want other people to experience. Of course I can do that because I teach primarily in the arts. I teach theater courses and performance studies courses. But that sense of trying to inspire people in a way they haven’t thought about before — which I’m sure lots of teachers do — is really my way of teaching.

“

It’s always been to me that the arts are really kind of an interesting emotional and political laboratory that literally lets us rehearse things together that other aspects of life don’t.

”

DP: Why do you feel that the arts are so important?

JD: I think the arts are so important because they tell us stories about who we are and who we might be. And they give us a place to imagine worlds that we are not experiencing right now, worlds that don’t exist right now, they give us a way to imagine other sets of social relations. They let us think about pleasure and beauty and pain and grief. It’s always been to me that the arts are really kind of an interesting emotional and political laboratory that literally lets us rehearse things

together that other aspects of life don’t.

DP: How have the arts and your career within them prepared or inspired what you hope to accomplish as dean of the college?

JD: I think that being a theater person all those many years and being a critic and someone who has taught in theater departments, I’ve never stopped being around the process of doing theater. You just have to learn collaboration in any art form really. The arts are so much … about seeing yourself in relation to other people and having a common project that isn’t going to succeed unless everyone is doing their best and allowing everyone else to do their best too. That’s what I feel like I bring to this very large portfolio of the Office of the Dean of the College, is trying to bring everyone together to do our best work for the students who are the people who are constituents.

DP: Speaking of which, for students who might not have a complete understanding of what the dean of college does, what’s a quick description of your work?

JD: (Laughs) Very few people do know what my job is actually, or what I do! The elevator speech would be that my office is responsible for the whole undergraduate curriculum, so we have some responsibility for vetting new courses, for putting together the course schedule, for approving certificate programs, working with departmental representatives, anything that touches the undergraduate curriculum. International programs, the Writing Center, McGraw Center are all under the dean of the college, as well as undergraduate research. It’s all about the undergrads and their curricular experience.

DP: What has been your favorite moment and one of your toughest moments so far as dean?

JD: Well thinking off the top of my head, one of my favor-

ite moments was interviewing Laverne Cox … I felt very keenly that as the person that was interviewing her publicly, I was playing that role [as dean] in terms of trying to facilitate that experience for the undergrads for whom the event was meant. But it just felt great to be in that community of people and hear her talk in such an inspiring way and hear her be really academically, socially and politically acute was wonderful. One of the more challenging moments was being in the president’s office with the activists and really trying to be productive and generative, and make things that would be good for the whole entire campus happen.

DP: What are your general thoughts about activism on campus, especially the recent activism related to the Black Justice League?

JD: I think the fact that we are having conversations about race, history and belonging on

“

When I came here, people said to me “Princeton is so apathetic, the students there aren’t terribly political,” and I honestly haven’t found that to be true.

”

campus is all really important.

And we are inspired to do this with a certain kind of urgency because of students making this visible and important and also because of what is happening nationally. I think we are part of a national conversation about all of these issues and it translates in very specific ways at Princeton. We have this myth that Princeton is an Orange Bubble and that we are all insulated by ourselves here, and it’s so not true. This semester has demonstrated the ways in which we are connected to

history and how we are connected to what is happening in the rest of the world in really important ways. So that’s I think the good part of it.

DP: Have there been other instances of activism over your eight years at Princeton?

JD: I guess not to the extent that has happened this year if we count starting last spring, but there has been a lot of agitation. There is an ongoing need for Asian American studies, and students and alumni have been very activist in their desire to see an Asian American studies program be established. I think there has been a lot of activism on the part of LGBT students, especially trans students, about gender pronouns and those types of issues. This is the first time during my experience at Princeton where the activism has been so visible and so public, but I think there is a lot of student agitation on campus. When I came here, people said to me “Princeton is so apathetic, the students there aren’t terribly political,” and I honestly haven’t found that to be true.

I think students have a variety of strongly held political opinions and they feel comfortable expressing them.

DP: What do you wish students understood better about the administration?

JD: I wish one of the things students understood is that academic institutions are very complicated. I’ve never worked anywhere else [other than academic institutions], so I can’t compare it with corporations.

But I think because we touch on so many aspects of people’s lives and futures, because we work with faculty and staff and students, because students are here for four years and then we get new students all the time, I think the transmission of information about how things work is really challenging. I

CONTINUED ON S2

COURTESY OF THE BROCK NEWS

The Daily Princetonian

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Q&A WITH DEAN JILL DOLAN CONTINUED FROM S1 think I want students to know that the administration has a lot of good will and they really want to do the right thing and be as transparent as possible.

People aren’t trying to mystify anything, it’s just an elaborate institution that has its ways of doing things.

DP: Shifting gears, as a woman in academia, what are some of the things you have observed or seen change in terms of women in academia?

JD: I think partially because I’ve always been in theater studies and women’s studies, I’ve felt gender and race and ethnicity differences a little differently than peers in, for instance, the STEM fields, because the arts historically have been more gender-balanced and also more generous about differences in general. But in my experience as an administrator, there is still a lot of gender and racial imbalance in terms of who really holds these administrative roles. I know it’s changing incrementally so there are relatively speaking more women and more people of color in administrative roles

than there were when I started out as a student, but I’m still amazed by how imbalanced it is even though people are working so hard to shift that balance.

DP: What are some of your goals as Dean?

JD: One of my goals is to get more people to take a sense of

“

One of my goals is to get more people to take a sense of agency over their education.

Not just their grades, not just their plans for the future, but really how they experience themselves as students.

”

agency over their education.

Not just their grades, not just their plans for the future, but really how they experience themselves as students on campus. I would love to see us be less about benchmarks of success and more about the pleasure of thinking — of ex-

Thursday december 10, 2015

periencing new things and with the courses that you for any reason that has to do thinking about how you grow choose to take or what you with your future career, but as a person through what you choose to major in, but what because you are interested in study in the classroom. If I you choose to do on campus. what it means to be thinking could accomplish a little piece My friends at the Lewis Cen- that way. If I had my educaof that, I think I would be very, ter always said, “Don’t feel tion to do over again, I would very happy. I’m also excited like you have to know any- really try to branch out and about the General Education thing about dance or theater experience as many different Task Force work and what we or photography, but give your- things as I could. I would push can accomplish in terms of re- self the experience of trying against this notion that you envisioning that process and something that is completely have to specialize and encourwhat it means. To me, being out of your wheelhouse.” Take age students to have a broader, involved in what it means to a computer science class not more varied and more experibe an educated person in the 21st century is really exciting, and if I can contribute anything to that process on campus I would be delighted.

DP: What advice would you give to undergraduates at Princeton?

JD: I would really encourage people to think of their undergraduate education as COURTEST OF PRINCETON.EDU a place to take risk and experi- Dean of the College Jill Dolan talks to Laverne Cox about transgender rights. ment. Not only

LILY GELLMAN ’17 CO-PRESIDENT OF PRIDE ALLIANCE Interviewed by

CATHERINE WANG Staff Writer

Pride Alliance is a community-building organization for LGBTQA+ people on campus. Street spoke to co-president Lily Gellman ’17 about the group’s initiatives and what’s next.

Daily Princetonian: Can you describe the Pride Alliance and what it does on Princeton’s campus?

Lily Gellman ’17: I would describe it as a community building organization for LGBTQA+ people on campus.

We mostly do social events, and we say that we’re not explicitly a political group, but we do take sides on things on campus that are important to our community as long as we discuss them as a board and we agree on them. Right now we’re revising a letter of solidarity we’ve written to the Black Justice League and their actions.

DP: What are some of the major events for Pride Alliance?

LG: In terms of our own events, some of the regular events we put on are CafeQs, which are just informal gatherings that we put on every two weeks with a theme, and we have snacks and play games.

We put on a faculty dinner series with professors called “Being LGBTQA in Academia,” where we invite professors to have dinner with us in the private dining rooms and have fun conversations with them.

This past Friday, we had our second Queer Formal, which was a huge success.

The biggest event we do every year is Pride Month, which used to be Pride Week actually, but under the administration of Diana Li ’16 and myself, we’ve expanded that to Pride

Month because we found that we jam-packed the week with so many events in the past that people got overwhelmed.

Last year’s Pride Month had a Queer Artistry theme, which ran from April 3-25, with events like an exHOTic other Burlesque Workshop and Performance, a Better Than Sex* (*to asexuals) Series and Queer Yoga and Karaoke. One of our more successful Pride Month events was a spoken word performance by Kit Yan, a transgender, queer, Asian American slam poet from Hawaii who explores being transgender and poor in the medical and social services systems and working through heartache in queer identity.

“

It’s very meaningful to me to make spaces for people where they can be themselves and also talk to a huge diversity of people who identify in similar ways.

”

DP: Why did you initially decide to join the Pride Alliance?

LG: I wanted to get involved ever since I first visited Princeton. Seeing that there was a strong LGBT Center and small surrounding communities was a factor in my coming because I didn’t want to go to a school that had everything al-

most figured out already, and else read them, read it them- plication out soon through a I did see that there was room selves or speak more extempo- Google Form, and if you aren’t for improvement at Princeton. raneously from the heart. We signed up for the listserv you It’s very meaningful to me to held it in Cafe Vivian last year, can always shoot me or Diana make spaces for people where and that was a really powerful an email. We also recently inthey can be themselves and event that was part of Pride troduced associate memberalso talk to a huge diversity of Month. I was proud that we ship, so besides the Pride expeople who identify in similar could facilitate that as a group. ecutive board that does stuff, ways. It’s also just fun to plan DP: Is there anything that you can sign up to be an asthe events that I would want you would like to say to those sociate member to show your to go to, while also redistrib- who are interested in becom- support. Ultimately, I think uting our university’s capital ing more involved with Pride that the more we have student into the hands of guest speak- Alliance? involvement and a robust comers and performers who are LG: Regardless of your pre- munity through student orgatrans, queer, people of color vious level of involvement, if nizations, the more it will also ... who we can invite to spread you have any interest in orga- happen naturally outside of their knowledge. nizing events for and by the the auspices of those organiDP: Is there a particularly community, then you should zations. It’ll just help people memorable or meaningful apply to be a part of the board. feel like they can find affinity experience that you have had We’re going to have the ap- and have a sense of place here. while in Pride Alliance?

LG: For the past couple of years, as part of Pride Month, we have done something called Queer Monologues.

It’s not as performative in nature as something that Ellipses does, but in people write and submit their own stories and ex per iences.

They could do it anonyCOURTEST OF PRINCETON PRIDE ALLIANCE mously and Pride Alliance members and students at a performance with poet Kit Yan. have someone

WRITE FOR STREET features, theater, dance, music, art, fashion, humor, health.

For more information, email us at: streeteditors@gmail.com

The Daily Princetonian

Thursday december 10, 2015

page S3

RICHARD HU ’16 & CADEE QIU ’18 ON PRINCETON CHINESE THEATRE’S ‘TIMELESS LOVE’ Interviewed by

OLIVER SUN Senior Writer

Princeton Chinese Theatre’s “Timeless Love” is a time-traveling love story that straddles the present and a world on the cusp of World War II. Before the show’s opening this weekend, Street spoke to PCT’s president Richard Hu ’16 and the show’s director Cadee Qiu ’18.

Daily Princetonian: When was Princeton Chinese Theatre founded and what are its goals?

Richard Hu ‘16: PCT was founded in 2008. We had seen a lot of theater groups on campus such as Triangle Club and Theatre Intime, but we didn’t have a group that could represent Chinese students in particular. We felt that even though there was a large presence of Chinese students on campus, we did not have a platform to showcase our performances. This provided the initial motive for forming the group.

We also wanted to encourage students taking Chinese courses at Princeton to have an opportunity to express what they had learned and to interact with other students. We put up one performance every semester. Besides the pro-

ductions every semester, we also put up some small acts, such as a small skit during the Chinese New Year’s presentation.

DP: Is this small skit an original PCT production?

RH: Sometimes we write our own scripts, and sometimes we borrow from scripts online. The same goes for our productions.

For this show, “Timeless Love,” we found the script online and contacted the producers for permission to perform it at Princeton.

DP: Can you tell us more about why you chose “Timeless Love” for this semester’s production and any adaptations you made to bring it to the stage?

RH: The theme of time travel is very popular right now, and it is also something that we have never done before. It is set during

JAMES SUN :: STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

JAMES SUN :: STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

World War II, and it is a mix of romance and time travel, which makes us think it will be a great show to put on in Frist [Film/Performance Theatre.] Some of our shows we perform in Frist, and others [in the Class of 1970 Theatre] in Whitman [College.] The shows in Whitman are for more interactive settings between the cast members and the audience, while Frist allows us to exploit the larger stage setting. Frist is therefore a better place for shows that require more cast members. As to why PCT wanted to put on this show, Cadee can provide a good explanation.

Cadee Qiu ‘18: I just feel like “Timeless Love,” the love presented in it, is very pure. It is so ideal that it is almost non-existent in real life. It makes you think, “Wow, that’s a lot,” but I feel like in normal life we get so bogged down by reality and things like schoolwork and job-finding and other practical implications for love that we don’t consider the pure form of it. In addition, it’s not just a play about love and time travel.

It’s also about a love for nation, a love for friends and sacrifice. It’s not just a love story. There are a lot of surprisingly complex emotions that come from these simple characters. These characters are actually very emotionally pure.

They’re not trying to engage in mischief or sabotage each other.

RH: Also, one thing I want to add one is that for most of the cast members, their role in the show is college students, just like ourselves. I feel that the audience can resonate with the emotions in the show.

DP: In what other ways do you

think Princeton students in particular may resonate with “Timeless Love?”

CQ: A lot of them are either in love, or have never been in love or have never dated. A lot of our cast members, through team bonding, have discovered much about each others’ romantic histories, and they’re very diverse. There are a lot of messy things that we get tangled up in in real-life relationships that we have to be tangled up in, but “Timeless Love” takes those all away and shows us the real, pure human emotions here.

RH: And also, as Cadee just mentioned, this is not just love as in romance, but also love for your friends and the projects that you are working on. So in many ways, it resembles what students have at Princeton. I feel that the audience can really feel that this is very close to what they encounter in their daily lives.

DP: Can you walk us through the production process?

RH: The initial stage of selecting proposals started at the end of the previous semester. Over the summer we looked over scripts selected by directors, and we ultimately chose “Timeless Love” as the show for this semester. After that, we started recruiting cast and crew members through an auditions process. After casting, we started weekly rehearsals. We usually have three or four rehearsals every week, and the total time ranges from five to eight hours per week. This week, the last week before our actual production, we move into the stage, and every day the crew members, actors and director stay here to run through different scenes, and we also have

full dress rehearsals every day.

DP: Did you adapt it at all, or are you presenting it largely as written?

CQ: It’s mostly originally as written. Most of the adaptations were scenic in nature. There were parts of the script that saw minor changes. Sometimes we saw a character as too flat so we modified some lines. We also took away some of the repetitive dialogue.

Another thing is that I’ve never seen a production of “Timeless Love” itself; I just read through the script and really liked it. So I imagine that our production will be very different from the original one, since we didn’t really have a reference point.

DP: Is there anything else you’d like the students to know?

CQ: I think this is a really emotional roller coaster ride. There’s comedy, and there’s romance, but it’s definitely not a rom-com. In “Timeless Love,” the love is very simple. It’s the little things between the characters, the things that they do, that matter. There are some dramatic effects that we do, but afterward you see how deep these friendships are and how devoted they are to each other, and their dreams, and their projects.

And I don’t want to give away the ending, but it is very, very moving. When I read it the first time, I cried.

RH: It’s not a show that you can guess what the ending is.

There are a lot of plot developments that you would never expect.

PCT presents “Timeless Love” this Friday, Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. in Frist Film/Performance Theatre.

ASK THE SEXPERT

This week, we discuss starting out with sex.

Dear Sexpert, My partner and I are starting to get pretty serious.

We’ve been together for quite a while. I don’t think I’m ready to have sex, but do I need to be doing anything to stop Sexually Transmitted Diseases if I’m not having normal sex?

— Keepin’ it Clean

Dear Keepin’ it Clean, To make sure we are speaking a common language, let’s think about the expression “normal sex.” In this context, you seem to refer to penetrative sex (i.e., penetration of a vagina or anus by a penis). Technically, there is no “normal sex” because there is a wide range of sexual activities, behaviors and preferences. What is “normal” or right for you may be very different from someone else’s experience. Ultimately, what’s right for you and your partner is what matters most!

Consider what you want to do before you find yourself in a situation that you aren’t comfortable with. Practice expressing your desires and boundaries with your partner. If you need help, you can talk to your

residential college adviser or a friend about their experiences. You can also talk to a peer health adviser, a resource trained to listen, talk with you and help you make personalized decisions about health and wellness, including sexual health.

From your question, I gather that your experience involves engaging in sexual activities other than penetrative sex (e.g., oral sex, manual sex, etc.)

If that is correct, please know that there is a risk of contracting sexually transmitted infections through skin-to-skin contact or the exchange of bodily f luids. If engaging in penile-vaginal sex, appropriate protection, like an external (male) or internal (female) condom, will reduce the risk of transmitting STIs. Alternatively, if one partner is performing oral sex on a penis, an external condom on the penis will reduce risk. Condoms are available in many f lavors for this purpose. If one partner is performing oral sex on a vagina, a dental dam should be used.

Dental dams are thin sheets of latex that provide a barrier between the mouth and vagina, or the mouth and anus (if performing oral sex on an

anus) and also come in many f lavors. Furthermore, if engaging in penile-anal sex, an external condom should always be used. If performing manual sex, using finger cots or gloves reduces risk. All of these methods separate bodily f luids from areas in which they could transmit infection.

If you need sexual health supplies, like condoms or dental dams, you can get them from PHAs and RCAs, or the LGBT Center. PHAs also have other protection supplies you might be interested in, like f lavored lube and condoms in different colors and f lavors. You can also get 10 free condoms from the front desk of McCosh Health Center on weekdays.

Just remember: keep yourself protected, whatever activities you decide are right for you!

— The Sexpert

Interested in Sexual Health? The Sexpert is always looking for members of the community to join the team of sexual health educators who, along with fact-checking from University health professionals, help write these columns. Email sexper t @ dailypr incetonian.com for more information and questions about sexual health.

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ALEXANDRA LOH ’17 & EMILY WOHL ’16

STREET’S

TOP TEN

ON DISIAC’S ‘LEGEND’

Interviewed by

CATHERINE WANG Staff Writer

This weekend, the lights on diSiac’s fall semester show go up in Berlind Theatre. Street got the inside scoop on “Legend” from president Emily Wohl ’16 and publicity chair Alexandra Loh ’17, who came up with the show’s theme.

Daily Princetonian: Why is the show called “Legend,” and what makes it unique?

Alexandra Loh ’17: Our shows in the past have been: You pick a general word like “Heist” or “Rush” or “On the Edge” where there’s no real story that lends itself to it, even though you can still fit pieces under the theme. We went in the opposite direction this year.

Emily Wohl ’16: Our last show was called “Novum,” which was a really general idea of “Something New,” and choreographers really went wild with that — but this year we wanted to try something new, something that diSiac has never really done, which is come up with a story that drives the entire show, instead of a general word that people kind of fit their piece to later when we have to come up with the program.

So instead of coming up with a word first and thinking of what could fit into that, Alex came back from the summer suggesting that we look into doing a Greek mythology-themed show. Everyone jumped on board, and we liked the idea of being able to tell stories from the myths.

From there, it was actually weeks later, that we realized we need a name because we can’t just call our show the Greek show, so we came up with “Legend” to say that this whole show will be based off of the Greek myths. I think the choreographers did a great job in being

LISA GONG :: STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

inspired by the different myths.

AL: Also, the structure of our show is a little different. We really wanted to challenge ourselves to not just do 12 pieces that don’t connect, where there’s a blackout between every piece, because that’s what our pieces have been before.

So we’re really trying to connect our pieces in ways that make sense visually — like one piece ends in a diagonal line and another starts in a diagonal line, so you put them next to each other to transition instead of putting a blackout in the middle. We’re also doing collaborative things, like we have a slam poet coming to introduce a piece, and there’s a violinist.

EW: There’s also a guitarist coming, so there’ll be live music, which we’ve never done since I’ve been here. The transitions between the pieces really make it a production rather than a show that has separate mini-shows within it.

DP: What was the process of creating this show?

EW: In the beginning of the year, we came up with a theme, and then what happens is that the people who want to choreograph can come in and propose their pieces. Because our show was so specific this year, it meant that choreographers had to come in with an idea of what myths they wanted to use, and show a couple of phrases of choreography. Then the two artistic directors, Colby Hyland [’16] and Casey Ivanovich

[’17], worked together to pick which pieces will be in the show and who’s going to be in the pieces. We also did something new where we had all of the choreographers and officers meet to talk about the transitions between pieces, so it’s been more collaborative this year. In the past, we would see all the pieces for the first time in the theatre, whereas this year we’ve been trying to work on the transitions in our company rehearsal every week.

DP: Is there a specific piece or anything else in particular that you are most excited for the audience to experience?

EW: It’s interesting because you don’t get to see the pieces you’re in until we film them. All of my pieces are very different this year, [and] we’re both in one about the Underworld which is creepy and crazy, but I’m also in one that’s a battle, which is very technical and sharp. So I’d say that I don’t have a favorite right now. Also, we haven’t seen the whole show completely put together yet [Author’s Note: at the time of the interview], so that’ll be a whole new adventure with the costumes and the set.

AL: I’m excited to hear what people have to say when they see it, because from our perspective it’s very different from what we usually do. It’s almost a little scary to put it out there because we don’t know how people are going to react. We tried to go a more artistic route this year instead of going for pure entertainment. Of course we’re still trying to keep it accessible, fun to watch and entertaining.

EW: It’ll still lend itself to the students who come here looking for a fun time, but it’ll also hopefully be great for the artists on campus. The goal this year has been to focus on making this a production, something new for diSiac.

1 3 5 7 9

Thoughts on Winter Formals It’s “winter.”

2 4 6 8 10

So dress “warmly.”

Like that ice sculpture will melt. But —

One week more.

Another day, another non-date.

TThis never-ending road to winter break.

These people who seem to know my work.

Will surely come back for a second twerk.

Will we ever meet again?

And yeah, still one week more.

CAMPUS PICKS MUSIC PRINCETON UNIVERSITY ORCHESTRA PRESENTS “DECEMBER 2015 CONCERTS” Richardson Auditorium Thursday and Friday, 7:30 p.m.

Get your classical fix this Thursday and Friday with PUO, who will be playing Schubert’s Symphony No. 8 and Mahler’s “The Song of the Earth,” featuring mezzo-soprano Barbara Rearick and tenor Daniel Weeks. Passport to the Arts eligible.

EVENT PRINCETON STUDENT EVENTS COMMITTEE PRESENTS “WINTERFEST” Frist Campus Center 100 Level Friday, 3 p.m.

Still a child at heart? Don’t want to do your problem sets? Either way, join PSEC at WinterFest, where you can make your own stuffed animal, snow globe and winter-themed picture frames.

There will also be cookies, a hot cocoa bar and bread pudding, as well as the ever-popular Winter Wonderland photo booth.

MUSIC ST. DANGER ALBUM RELEASE SHOW 2 Dickinson St. Co-op Friday, 8:30 p.m.

LISA GONG :: STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

St. Danger, a four-piece band featuring Conor McGrory ’16, our very own staff writer Doug Wallack ’16, Charlie Baker ’17 and Kenny Hulpach, dropped its debut EP, “July,” last Friday. This Friday, you’re invited to hear it live. Don’t miss out.

FILM ASIAN AMERICAN STUDENTS ASSOCIATION PRESENTS “THE SEARCH FOR GENERAL TSO” SCREENING AND DISCUSSION Jones 100 Friday, 8:30 p.m.

LISA GONG :: STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

LISA GONG :: STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

HEADLINERS AND HEADSHAKERS headlines you didn’t read this week DAILY PRINCETONIAN STAFF U. TO DEMOLISH BUTLER APARTMENTS FOLLOWING DE LAYS,

USTILGHMAN TO JOIN NEFARIO ESTIGIOUSSOUNDING BUT EQUALLY PR ORATION SOUNDING HARVARD CORP

Harvard Law professor Kennedy ’77 to speak at Baccalaureate, no word yet if Harvard will complete the swap and grab Robert George

Czulak ’17 wins USG presidency in runoff, passes ‘Go,’ collects $200

ERA OF LAKESIDE HAS BEGUN

U. to offer P/D/F reversal option for concentration requirements, wow that survey had a quick turnaround

Firestone begins fourth stage of renovation, two stages left until asbestos finally gone forever

Ever wondered why people from China have never heard of General Tso’s Chicken? Find out all about the iconic Chinese American dish and its transnational origins this Friday at AASA’s screening of this critically acclaimed, Sundance Selects documentary. Oh, and you’ll get to enjoy some General Tso’s Chicken and Tofu.

COMEDY QUIPFIRE! IMPROV COMEDY WINTER FORMALS SHOWS Frist Film/Performance Theatre Friday and Saturday, 11 p.m.

Follow up your winter formals with style this weekend by hopping on over to Quipfire’s winter shows. According to their Facebook page, there will be improvisation based on, uh, your Facebook pages. Do you still need more convincing?

EVENT WE ARE PRINCETON Taplin Auditorium in Fine Hall Saturday, 8 p.m.

Celebrate diversity at Princeton with this multicultural concert, featuring performances

by Latin dance group Más Flow, Bulgarian Undergraduate Society, Japanese drumming group Tora Taiko, Muslim Students Association, American Sign Language Club, Hibir EthioEritrean Dance Group, Asian American Students Association, Natives at Princeton and Chinese Music Ensemble.