Today's paper: Tuesday, Oct. 8

Page 1

Founded 1876 daily since 1892 online since 1998

Tuesday october 8, 2013 vol. cxxxvii no. 83

WEATHER

{ www.dailyprincetonian.com } HIGH

LOW

69˚ 47˚

Intervals of clouds and sunshine. chance of rain:

10 percent

Follow us on Twitter @princetonian

In Opinion Morgan Jerkins weighs our moral obligations in relation to free food, and Lea Trusty discusses finding her academic passion. PAGE 4

Today on Campus 7:30 p.m.: Ezra Klein of the Washington Post speaks about why Washington is horrible. Whig Hall.

The Archives

Oct. 8, 1993

Toni Morrison, the Robert F. Goheen Professor in the Humanities, is awarded the 1993 Nobel Prize for Literature.

By the Numbers

2004

The year the grade deflation policy was approved.

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

Faculty to rethink grade deflation

Eisgruber ’83 calls committee to examine grading policy By Anastasya LloydDamnjanovic news editor

The University’s controversial grade deflation policy — which stipulates that no more than 35 percent grades given out in any department should be A’s — will come under review over the next year, the University announced Monday morning. The review of the grad-

ing policy comes only three months after new University President Christopher Eisgruber ’83 took over from former University President Shirley Tilghman, and also on the same day Eisgruber began a tour that will take him to three continents in order to introduce himself to alumni. At the first of these events, held on Monday night in New York City and moderated by University Trustee and jour-

nalist Charles Gibson ’65, Eisgruber noted that grade deflation was the number one issue raised during an initial ‘listening tour’ during the early stages of his presidency. He also acknowledged that Dean of Admission Janet Rapelye had told him that the grade deflation policy might be affecting the admission yield, since the policy has become part of Princeton’s image for applicants.

BEYOND THE BUBBLE

However, Eisgruber said in response to one of Gibson’s questions that the committee’s formation was not an admission of the policy’s failure. “It’s an admission that after 10 years of discussing a policy that I think has had two admirable objectives — and moved us in an appropriate direction — we should be thinking about whether or not we can learn anything from the experiences we’ve had,” Eisgruber

said in New York. Eisgruber was not available for comment Monday, according to his assistant, Mary DeLorenzo, who said Eisgruber was in meetings all day before traveling to New York for the alumni event. In an April interview with The Daily Princetonian immediately following his selection to be the 20th University president, See DEFLATION page 2

BEYOND THE BUBBLE

Eisgruber ’83 defends grade deflation, legacy admissions By Teddy Schleifer senior writer

NEW YORK — University President Christopher Eisgruber ’83 defended the high percentage of legacy applicants that earn admission to Princeton on Monday evening in an address to University alumni at the midtown Sheraton Hotel that proved to be the most candid unveiling of his presidential platform to date.

The event was the first of 13 visits Eisgruber will make to alumni around the globe over the coming academic year and about 1,200 alumni — ranging from the Classes of 1945 to 2013 — attended the event. In an hour-long onstage interview with former ABC World News anchor and current University Trustee Charlie Gibson ’65, Eisgruber also explained his worries with

the University’s grade deflation policy, elaborated on his plans to expand the size of the student body and admitted to Gibson that he feels uncomfortable talking about himself. On Monday, the University also announced a committee to review the grade deflation policy. Eisgruber also previewed a slogan that he hopes will define his presidency: “More See EISGRUBER page 3

TECH TALK

On the Blog ARIEL FUTTER :: CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

Lizzy Bradley reviews HAIM’s “Days are Gone.”

Maen Rashid Areikat, chief representative of the delegation of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, spoke on campus Monday.

PLO leader: Palestine cannot make more concessions to Israel

News & Notes Parking enforcement officer fired for allegedly taking bribes

a town parking enforcement officer was fired Monday after allegations that he overlooked parking violations in return for bribes, the Times of Trenton reported. Chris Boutote, who is also a retired Princeton Borough police officer, and another enforcement officer, John Hughes, were suspended last month after passersby reported certain cars with menus and shopping bags on the dashboards remained at metered parking spots downtown for up to 10 hours without receiving a ticket, while other vehicles were ticketed immediately. Meters in the area have a two-hour time limit. According to town administrator Bob Bruschi, Boutote received “goods” from car owners. He was terminated and will face administrative charges, but has not yet been levied with any criminal charges. Hughes will face administrative discipline, including a likely demotion and suspension. Bruschi told the Times that he does not believe the incident goes deeper than the one individual, but that police staff had been reminded of the policy prohibiting gifts and gratuities. According to the Times, state records indicated Boutote earned $48,109 a year with a monthly pension of about $4,400.

By Jacob Donnelly contributor

JENNY JIANG :: CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

Steve Strauch, vice president of Product from Priceline, spoke at the Tech Talk series on Monday. U N I V E R S I T Y A F FA I R S

Newman ’78 to prioritize graduate alumni participation in new role By Joseph Sheehan contributor

New Alumni Council chair Nancy Newman ’78 will make increasing graduate alumni participation in alumni events one of her top priorities, she said in a recent interview with The Daily Princetonian. Newman was elected to replace Henry Von Kohorn ’66 two years ago, and in accordance with the bylaws of the Alumni Council, served as vice chair for two years

NANCY NEWMAN Alumni Council chair

before becoming chair this past summer. Newman is also now president of the Alumni Association. “In the alumni association, graduate alumni hadn’t been participating at the same level as undergradu-

ate alumni,” said Margaret Miller ’80, Assistant Vice President for Alumni Affairs and Director of the Alumni Council. “So another strategic focus was to engage graduate alumni at the same level.” Graduate alumni outreach will continue under Newman’s term most immediately through a conference for graduate alumni from Oct. 17-19. The event, titled “Many Minds, Many Stripes”, invites graduate alumni to See ALUMNI page 2

While Palestine continues to engage Israel in negotiations for an independent state, the nation cannot make any more territorial concessions, Maen Rashid Areikat, chief representative of the delegation of the Palestinian Liberation Organization to the United States, said in a Monday evening lecture titled, “Twenty Years After Oslo: Lessons Learned and Future Options?” “When we call for the creation of a Palestinian state in the West Bank, in the Gaza Strip, with Jerusalem as its capital, we are accepting a Palestinian state of 22 percent of what used to be historic Palestine,” Areikat said before a packed Dodds Auditorium. “So that was the historic compromise that we made … We cannot accept a compromise on the compromise. It would undermine the creation of a Palestinian state that would be independent, contiguous

and sovereign.” “We are prepared to engage with the Israeli side,” he added. “We would like to see an end to the conf lict, because we believe we Palestinians are paying the heaviest price.” Areikat identified several contributing factors to the failure of the 1993 Oslo Accords to secure a permanent resolution to the IsraeliPalestinian conf lict. The ambiguous language of the Oslo Accords, the failure to give “third party” nations a meaningful arbitration role, the deferral of critical issues during the negotiations leading to the accords — including control of Jerusalem, security concerns, border demarcation, refugees, settlement housing and the supply of water — and the 1995 assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin were all important setbacks in the peace process, he explained. Areikat contrasted Rabin with the current Israeli See PLO page 3

STUDENT LIFE

Faculty committee to consider recommendations to improve final exams By Anna Mazarakis staff writer

Changes could be coming to the University’s final examinations period. USG Academics Committee chair Dillon Sharp ’14 presented a

series of recommendations for the final examinations period to the Faculty Committee on Examinations and Standing on Friday. His proposals ranged from giving extensions for Dean’s Date assignments to creating a

faculty-student committee that could help formalize how Reading Period is utilized. “I was very happy coming out of that meeting,” Sharp said. “I think that they received the recommenda-

tions well and I think that they appreciated the values that each one had.” The recommendations presented at the meeting partly came out of discussions Sharp had with numerous administrators,

professors and residential college directors of study. Sharp also used data collected in a student survey completed by approximately 10 percent of the student population across class years and See USG page 3


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.