December 3, 2015

Page 1

Founded 1876 daily since 1892 online since 1998

Thursday december 3, 2015 vol. cxxxix no. 114

{ www.dailyprincetonian.com } ACADEMICS

Barton ’16 awarded Rhodes Scholarship By Ruby Shao news editor

Nicholas Barton ’16 won a Rhodes Scholarship for graduate study at the University of Oxford, the University announced on Wednesday. Barton, an astrophysics major, will pursue a M.Sc. in Mathematical Modelling and Scientific Computing and an M.Sc. in Applied Statistics. “Because I liked nature so much, because I spent so much time outside as a little kid, I was always more drawn to study those things that I liked,” he

said. “One of those things was stargazing, and it just really caught my interest.” A citizen of Bermuda, Barton joins four current and former students who won United States Rhodes Scholarships last month. Thirty-two Americans and 57 individuals from other countries win the award each year. Following his studies in the United Kingdom, Barton said he would like to conduct academic research in astrophysics. He identified an interest in applying statistical methods to recently discovered data that has

so far received little attention. Specifically, he noted he would like to examine exoplanets, meaning planets outside of the solar system. “There are a bunch of new telescopes going up right now that are giving us a bunch of new data that nobody is really looking at yet, so applying these methods to this new and exciting field would be my goal,” he said. He said that while these statistical methods are widely used in his discipline, University professors never teach them See RHODES page 4

COURTESY OF PRINCETON.EDU

Nicholas Barton ’16 was awarded the Rhodes Scholarship.

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

Firestone begins fourth of six stages of renovation this month By Hannah Waxman staff writer

LECTURE

{ Feature }

U. community shares perspectives on campus suicides By Shriya Sekhsaria senior writer

Scully Hall dormitory assistant Melody Falter ’16 was sitting in her hall’s study room on Oct. 30 when she noticed a number of firefighters and public safety officers around the building. When Falter went outside and asked for details, all she was told was that a student had been injured in Scully and was being treated at a hospital. What happened, however, was not a mere injury: a student allegedly hanged himself on the roof of Scully. Falter noted that several people reached out to her for details about the victim to ensure that it was not one of their friends after the incident. “It was really sad and severing to me when there were people asking me, ‘Do you know if it was this person?’ Like, ‘Hey, I’m worried it might be my roommate. Can you tell me whether it was my roommate or not?’ ” she said. She added that she was very affected by the incident. “To be honest, every time I walk outside my dorm … look at that part of the building of Scully and walk past that entryway, I just think of that and it makes me sad. It makes me hurt for all the students on campus who are going through so much,” she said. The percentage of undergraduate students seriously considering suicide at the University is

slightly lower than the national average, according to data from the American College Health Association’s National College Health Assessment. A sample of University undergraduates in spring 2014 reported that in the last 12 months, 7.5 percent had seriously considered suicide, 0.2 percent had attempted suicide, and 32.9 had “felt so depressed that it was difficult to function.” The next assessment survey will be filled out in spring 2016, according to Director of Counseling and Psychological Services Calvin Chin. These numbers have remained fairly steady over the past decade, he said. Chin added that the trends and numbers at the University follow those of the national reference group very closely. The national sample for the same time period saw 8.6 percent students seriously consider suicide, 1.4 percent attempt suicide and 33.2 percent feel so depressed that it was difficult to function. There have been 24 undergraduates, seven graduates, seven professors and four staff members who have committed suicide at the University that have been reported in The Daily Princetonian since 1876. The first reported suicide at the University was in 1888 and involved Reverend Edward Harrison Camp, Class of 1861. The most recent took place in early 2015. Audrey Dantzlerward ’16 was found dead in her room on Jan.

maintenance work, including replacement of windows and repair of parapets, on the roof of the Trustee Reading Room. Asbestos abatement projects are taking place on the A and B f loors. According to the Firestone Library Renovation blog, the fourth phase is expected to finish in fall 2016. The renovations concerning the Department of Rare Books and Special Collections are particularly complicated See FIRESTONE page 2

12, the ‘Prince’ reported that day. According to a Feb. 4 article on NJ.com, Dantzlerward committed suicide by ingesting a lethal dose of over-the-counter sleeping pills. Naimah Hakim ’16, who took GSS 397: Feminist Media Studies with Dantzlerward in spring 2014, said that she was devastated when she heard of what happened to Dantzlerward. “I was upset because I felt like as a student who is a black woman, as someone who has often felt like I didn’t fit in here at Princeton, it felt like losing one of us,” she said. “It made it very difficult to focus on work for a period of time because grief is something that you deal with in those kind of moments.” Hakim said that she attended the vigil for Dantzlerward and appreciated having that space in the immediate aftermath of her death. “Something that Princeton students would really appreciate is having the sense that the University is actually taking the steps towards not just addressing the incident in its immediate short term sense but how on the long term, we are taking preventative steps and taking steps to reimagine life here, because it’s so much broader than any one event,” Hakim said. She said that she criticized the fact that an email acknowledging the event was not sent out in a timely manner, so that as a community member, she did See SUICIDE page 3

Holy Cross professor Dagli discusses Islam in face of ISIS By Claire Lee staff writer

Muslims are in a state of relative weakness, College of the Holy Cross Associate Professor in the Department of Religious Studies Caner Dagli argued at a lecture on Islam in current affairs on Wednesday. “We need to rebuild our intellectual and cultural institutions,” he said. “There was once a definite intellectual culture, a culture of interacting that was healthy.” Muslim Life Program Coordinator and Chaplain Imam Sohaib Sultan, who hosted the event, noted that Dagli has been at the forefront of addressing many pressing issues that have arisen in the past decade for the Muslim community. According to Dagli, a controversial article published in The Atlantic electrified the culture of misunderstanding and hate in America against Muslims when author Graeme Wood wrote, “The reality is that the Islamic State is Islamic. Very Islamic.” Dagli said that Wood’s emphasis on ISIS being strongly associated with Islam is problematic because his use of the word “Islamic” is ambiguous. ISIS may be considered Islamic, but does not represent Islamic values, he said. “You can’t be an Islamic studies professor these days

In Opinion

In Street

Columnist Imani Thornton looks at the relationship between a person’s major and involvement in student protests, and contributor Paul Kigawa explains why the point of college is to be offended. PAGE 5

Street profiles the classes taking trips over spring break, Associate Street Editor Harrison Blackman describes an “Unfamiliar Street” in the Sierras, and Street photo previews the Lewis Center production of “Cloud Nine” and BAC’s “The Motive.” PAGE S1-4

without someone not wanting to talk to you about ISIS,” he said. “You just can’t.” Dagli called for an emphasis on strengthening Muslims themselves because they are in a state of “relative weakness.” He mentioned the successes of black movements, saying that Muslims can do better to counter Islamophobia. The fact that questions such as “Does Islam promote violence?” continue to appear in popular media is very problematic, Dagli noted. “Why are these questions being constantly posed all the time?” asked Dagli. “It’s astounding. If you view the question in light of the other communities, you can see just how insulting it is. Just imagine if someone were to write, ‘Does Judaism make Jews greedy? ’ It’s unthinkable in our culture.” Dagli said that there is a power relationship in the United States in which Muslims are in a “powerless” state as a result of the questions Muslims feel they are pressured to answer. Dagli added that Muslims should push back against these questions because trying to answer them would not solve the problem. Dagli was one of 138 Muslim signatories in A Common Word Between Us And You, a 2007 letter addressed to Christian leaders in an See LECTURE page 4

WEATHER

BEN KOGER :: SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

Firestone Library will be under extensive renovations until 2018.

Firestone Library began the fourth of six renovation stages in November. The fourth phase will introduce the new space for the Digital Center for the Humanities, a renovated Rare Books and Special Collections suite and a new home for the Video Library formerly located in East Pyne. There will also be additional open study and stacks

areas completed on the A and B f loors. Most of the fourth phase takes places within the original 1948 building, Design and Construction Project Manager James Wallace noted. These renovations primarily affect the A, B and C f loors of the library as well as various projects in the former Rare Books and Special Collection Gallery. Additionally, the long atrium of the building has been closed off. This project coincides with

HIGH

49˚

LOW

34˚

Partly cloudy. chance of rain:

10 percent


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.