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Tuesday december 15, 2015 vol. cxxxix no. 122
{ www.dailyprincetonian.com } U N I V E R S I T Y A F FA I R S
LOCAL NEWS
Princeton one of 84 cities to sign amicus brief By Katherine Oh senior writer
U. trustees commission committee to study Wilson’s legacy By Abhiram Karuppur staff writer
The University Board of Trustees has commissioned a special committee to study the legacy of former University President Woodrow Wilson, Class of 1879, and determine whether or not the Wilson School and Wilson College should be renamed, in light of demonstrations by the Black Justice League, University President Christopher Eisgruber ’83 said. Eisgruber explained that the committee has created a website to collect observations and opinions about Wilson, and to share these findings with the greater University community. According to the website, the
committee will be meeting in the spring semester to review perspectives on Wilson’s legacy. Committee chair Brent Henry ’69 said that of the demands of the Black Justice League, only the question of renaming the Wilson School and Wilson College fell under the purview of the Board of Trustees. He explained that the committee has enlisted the help of scholars and biographers to post their views of the issue on the website, and the committee will conduct in-person interviews with students and faculty in the spring. “We really want to hear from people, and more importantly, have a dialogue and hear from as many people as possible,”
Henry said. Other members of the committee include Board of Trustees chair Kathryn Hall ’80, Wilson biographer A. Scott Berg ’71, Margarita Rosa ’74, Denny Chin ’75, Angela Groves ’12, Katherine Bradley ’86, Robert Hugin ’76, Robert Murley ’72 and Ruth Simmons ’98. The committee will also be staffed by members of the administration. Groves deferred comment to Hall and Vice President and Secretary of the University Robert Durkee ’69. Murley, Bradley and Berg declined to comment. Hall, Rosa, Chin, Hugin and Simmons did not respond to a request for comment. See TRUSTEE page 3
U N I V E R S I T Y A F FA I R S
CPUC discusses faculty, graduate student diversification at meeting By Samvida Venkatesh staff writer
The Council of the Princeton University Community discussed diversifying the faculty and graduate student bodies through creation of new fellowship programs and better recruitment at its monthly meeting on Monday. Dean of the Faculty Deborah Prentice said that the solution to increasing diversity lies in understanding the “pipeline” problem, which means that while 17 percent of the undergraduate population is made up of underrepresented minorities, this number falls to 7 percent in the graduate student population and almost completely disappears at higher levels, including postdoctoral fellows, junior faculty and senior faculty. Increasing faculty diversity will require a broad-based approach that tackles all stages of the pipeline, she said.
Citing the Report of the Trustee Ad Hoc Committee on Diversity in 2013, Prentice noted the University has overall become more diverse since 1980, but has very little growth in the percentage of certain underrepresented minorities — blacks and Hispanics. The report recommends faculty initiatives, which include refining the search process to yield more female and underrepresented minority candidates by creating watch-lists and tracking potential candidates, and improving recruitment and retention of women and underrepresented minorities by creating family-friendly initiatives and implementing cluster hiring, she added. “Historically, we have not paid much attention to [postdoctoral fellows] because they have been squirreled away in their labs across various parts of the campus, so much of the work lies in strengthening the sense of community amongst
the post-docs,” Prentice said. Other initiatives include the development of a new competitive, honorific fellowship program to attract the top women and underrepresented minority candidates, she said. As for initiatives at the graduate student level, the work mainly lies in improving the selection process and creating bridge-year and summer programs to attract students who might not have otherwise considered graduate school, Prentice added. “The decision to hire a certain faculty finally lies with the academic department itself, so there needs to be strong leadership from faculty that are already in the department,” Prentice explained. She noted the molecular biology department of the University as a “best practice” case, where underrepresented minority populations in the graduate school went from 4 percent in 2008 to 24 See CPUC page 2
ACADEMICS
CST StudioLab to open for the spring semester By Betty Liu staff writer
StudioLab, a new space developed by the University’s Council on Science and Technology, will open in late December, according to Naomi Leonard, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering. The Council on Science and Technology supports intellectual exchange and interdisciplinary collaboration in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields, according to its website. The space is being created in order to bring people together and broaden connections between the STEM fields and the arts, humanities and social sciences. The StudioLab will be located on the B level of Fine Hall. Associate Director of the Council on Science and Technology Evelyn Laffey explained that the space is roughly 2,500 square feet and will include a motion capture system, green screens and unistrut, a metal framing system to customize lighting and sound. The StudioLab will also offer various tools such as a CNC milling machine, a precise cutting machine used for engineering, 3-D printers and a laser cutter, she said. Laffey also said that the StudioLab will be an open and flexible space with easily reconfigurable furniture and a sprung floor, a type of floor that is ergonomically correct for humans and robots, which will provide a durable
In Opinion
Today on Campus
Guest contributor Urvija Banerji ‘15 argues for greater diversity in the campus artwork, and senior columnist Newby Parton considers the University’s data gathering from students’ proxes. PAGE 4
7 p.m.: Composer Louis Andriessen will hold a concert, preceded by a discussion by him and Music professor Simon Morrison. Taplin Auditorium Fine Hall.
surface for many different activities. The project is scheduled to be complete by the end of the December, Leonard said. Laffey noted that the StudioLab will be open for general use after the spring semester. Faculty, students or staff will be able to submit an online request to use the space, which will be reviewed by members of the CST administration, she said. The space will be home to a new course titled “STC/EGR/ MUS 209: Transformations in Engineering and the Arts,” which will be offered in the spring semester, Laffey added. Leonard, one of the professors teaching this course, said that the course explores intersection between engineering and the arts. “We are going to be merging processes, systematic thinking and artistry to think about how we can create as artist engineers or engineer artists,” Leonard said. She added that students will be using the different equipment to complete class exercises, called ‘mini-challenges,’ which will focus on as transformations within or between the different kinds of media. Some faculty from the School of Engineering and Lewis Center for the Arts will also be involved in teaching the course, along with Douglas Repetto, a music professor at Columbia University, Leonard said. “It’s a really interesting experiment,” professor of See STUDIOLAB page 2
WEATHER
KAREN KU :: PHOTO EDITOR EMERITUS
Wilson School concentrators celebrated finishing their theses. The name of the Wilson School is currently being studied by a committee of University trustees following protests on campus last month.
Princeton is among 84 cities and counties nationwide to sign an amicus brief, put together by the Cities United for Immigration Action, that supports President Barack Obama’s Executive Order on immigration and opposes a Texas court decision that has put a hold on the executive action on a national level, Princeton Mayor Liz Lempert said. Obama’s executive order gives undocumented people, including people with children who are U.S. citizens or legal residents, the opportunity to receive work documents. The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in Texas had blocked the executive orders in its ruling. The brief explains that executive action is necessary for the integrity of immigrant families and for the safety and economic development of cities. It also states that the Supreme Court should be reviewing the case to resolve the issue of the use of executive action for immigration relief. The Cities United for Immigration Action is a group run in New York and led by the administration of Mayor of New
York City Bill de Blasio. CUIA includes New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta and Boston among other cities and localities. Representatives of CUIA declined to comment. Lempert explained that the Mayor worked with the town council to decide whether to sign on to the amicus brief, but that Princeton does not have to spend any legal costs. She added that Princeton’s signing on to the brief is a show of Princeton’s support that will benefit the CUIA. “It helps them; the more towns that sign on, it helps send the message that this is an issue affecting everybody,” Lempert said. “It should be something that the Supreme Court prioritizes.” The town of Princeton usually does not get involved with legal cases unless there is a direct local impact, Lempert noted. In this particular case, she added, the federal decision has a lot of bearing on the town, because the town of Princeton has a sizable immigrant population. Lempert said she hopes immigrants will be able to come out of the shadows and become fully functioning participants in the economy. See IMMIGRATION page 3
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