Monday, Apr. 15, 2013

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Monday april 15, 2013 vol. cxxxvii no. 42

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

ACADEMICS

Solomon ’13 wins Marshall Scholarship

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In Opinion

By Ella Cheng

The Editorial Board revisits issues surrounding grade deflation. PAGE 6

staff writer

Today on Campus 4:45 p.m.: A 2-hour afrobeat workshop with the Zongo Junction band from Brooklyn will be held. Wilson Blackbox Theater.

The Archives

April 15, 1991 President George H. W. Bush accepts an invitation to give an address to the University and receive an honorary degree.

On the Blog Sports editors predict the women’s water polo team’s performance at the CPWA Southern Championship.

On the Blog Staff writer Jarred Mihalik reviews The Strokes’ most recent album, ‘Comedown Machine.’

PRINCETON By the Numbers

4

The number of new student groups approved by the USG, including food discussion group Spoon.

News & Notes Smoke alarm causes evacuation in Wilf Hall

a smoke alarm in Wilf Hall was activated at 3:26 a.m. on Sunday morning, summoning Public Safety officers to the scene and prompting an evacuation of the building. Officers found that the alarm appeared to have been activated by the removal of a fire extinguisher, as no evidence of a fire was found on the premises. Officers and staff who responded to alarm found “a yellowish powder on the floor and a cloud of dust in the area in the basement level,” University Spokesperson Martin Mbugua said. It appeared that a dry chemical fire extinguisher had been removed and discharged in the area near the elevator. The removal of the fire extinguisher set off the alarm, Mbugua explained. In response to this alarm, about 100 people were evacuated from Wilf Hall. They were allowed to return about 30 minutes later after the circumstances that provoked the alarm were determined and the alarm was reset. At this time, Public Safety has no suspects for the incident, Mbugua said.

4.15 news FOR LUC.indd 1

JULIA WENDT :: FILE PHOTO

Stairs at Frist Campus Center have been taped to celebrate LGBT Pride Week. Other locations have also been decorated, such as the steps of Blair Arch and the pillars of Robertson Hall.

Polis ’96, Tilghman talk at 1st LGBT alumni forum By Allison Kruk contributor

As part of “Every Voice,” the University’s first conference for LGBT alumni this weekend, Colorado Congressman Jared Polis ‘96 spoke to alumni about his experience as an undergraduate at the University and his position regarding LGBT rights.

The three-day symposium featured a series of speakers, panel discussions, films and mixers meant to re-engage LGBT alumni with the University community. Friday’s sessions included a series of panels ranging from a discussion of the student LGBT experience today, moderated by English professor and Rockefeller College Master Jeff Nunokawa, to a

talk on Princetonians active in social causes titled “Princeton Activists: Pioneers for Equality,” moderated by New York Times Managing Editor Alan Flippen ‘84. Alumni discussions were the focus of Saturday’s panels, which included a discussion of LGBT parenting titled “The Joys and Challenges of LGBT See EQUALITY page 4

ACADEMICS

‘EastCon’ to explore Asian popular culture By Seth Merkin Morokoff contributor

Student organizers of the Princeton University East Asian Undergraduate Conference will host what they describe as one of the first academic conferences in the nation focused on featuring undergraduate research related to East Asian culture on April 26 and 27 in Lewis Library. The undergraduates planning

the conference, abbreviated as EastCon, have chosen the theme “Beyond Gang­ nam Style: K-Pop and the Rise of Asian Pop Music” for the inaugural year and will focus on hosting students who will present work related to East Asian pop music, according to Sarah Pak ’15, one of the eight Princeton undergraduates organizing the project. “We decided to call it ‘Beyond Gangnam Style’ because we saw

how popular the song had become, but it was almost overshadowing or coloring people’s perceptions of what East Asian pop culture really was,” Pak explained. “East Asian pop isn’t just about the horse dance.” The conference will feature the work of twenty researchers, who are predominantly undergraduates from a variety of universities, and will be organized into See CONFERENCE page 3

Victoria Solomon ’13 has been named a 2013 Marshall Scholar, the second Princeton student this academic year to be awarded the scholarship after Jake Nebel ’13. Solomon is majoring in electrical engineering and will use the scholarship to complete a masters in medical electronics and physics at a British university. Solomon said she is still in the process of applying to and h ea ring back from London universities. The Marshall Scholarship funds students each year to study at a graduate level for up to two years at any institution in the United Kingdom. Around 1,000 students are endorsed by their universities, around 150 students are interviewed and up to 40 are selected, according to the scholarship website. Solomon was at home for Passover when she found out that she had received the scholarship. “I was completely shocked,” she said. “I called my parents and I told

VICTORIA SOLOMON ‘13 Recipient of Marshall Scholarship

them and the next thing I did was I called my fiance.” Solomon plans to pursue a career in designing medical technology for people with disabilities. “Basically, my goal is to be designing and developing these devices that can change people’s lives. I want to do that in any way I can,” she said, adding that she also hopes to work with non-profit organizations to make such devices accessible. “She’s brilliant, so I’m not surprised she got it,” Atara Cohen ’15, a close friend of Solomon, said. “When I spoke to her about what she wants to do, even before this, she was speaking about how she really wants to be an engineer so she can use engineering to help other people. See ENGINEER page 5

LOCAL NEWS

Class council positions largely uncontested By Anna Mazarakis staff writer

All positions for the 2014, 2015 and 2016 class councils are uncontested except for the Class of 2016 vice president, the USG released on its website after registration for spring elections closed Saturday evening. The Class of 2016 vice president position is being contested by Daniel Chen ‘16 and Gwen Lee ‘16. No candidates have registered to run for the Class of 2015 social chair. At the USG meeting Sunday night, senate members said they were surprised that all but one of the positions were uncontested because the Class of 2016 class council was elected in the fall as a body rather than for individual positions. “I think this is the phenomenon that Julian [Dean ’13, former chief elections manager] brought up in December: internal primaries,” U-Councilor Elan Kugelmass ’14 said. “Undoubtedly, the

’16 class council all decided in advance what position each of them were going to run for to eliminate contested elections.” Chief elections manager Rachel Nam ’15 also asked the members of the senate what they thought about using the computers on the 100 level of Frist as voting stations, with screens set to the Helios voting website and posters at the welcome desk reminding students to vote. Members of the USG debated whether the wording of the Elections Handbook allowed for this new policy. Nam said she did not think candidates should ask students to use the Frist computers to vote for them. Social committee chair Carla Javier ’15 questioned Nam’s objection, saying she didn’t see a difference between telling someone to vote at a computer in Frist or voting on a personal laptop. Javier is a senior writer for the news section of The Daily Princetonian. See ELECTION page 2

NIGHT MARKET

STUDENT LIFE

Frey ’09, Haugen GS ’12 start bamboo bike venture By Paul Phillips contributor

Aluboo Bikes, a company founded by Nick Frey ’09, Drew Haugen GS ’12 and James Wolf, has launched a campaign using the crowd-funding site Kickstarter to support their production of sustainable bicycles with bamboo tubes inside aluminum frames. Frey and Haugen spoke about their experiences with entrepreneurship and crowdfunding at a talk on April 11 hosted by the Keller Center. The company, based in Fort Collins, Colo., launched a campaign on Kickstarter, a crowd-funding site that allows members of the public to pledge donations to support independent projects. Project creators set a funding goal, which

must be reached in order for the project to receive any money. Aluboo’s campaign, which began March 23 and runs until May 7, met its goal of $50,000 in nine days. As of April 14, 143 backers have donated over $70,000 to the project. Frey, Haugen and cofounder Wolf created Aluboo in the summer of 2012 in order to widen the accessibility of its parent company, Boo Bicycles, which markets high-performance racing bicycles. Frey created a prototype bamboocarbon fiber bicycle while at the University in 2008, and founded Boo Bicycles after graduation a year later. Aluboo, which targets a more general audience, uses aluminum frames made in Vietnam instead of carbon fiber frames. Haugen See KICKSTARTER page 2

REBECCA TERRETT :: CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

Asian American student groups served various dishes at the ‘Night Market’ on Thursday evening.

4/15/13 12:19 AM


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