Thursday, February 13th 2014

Founded 1876 daily since 1892 online since 1998

Thursday february 13, 2014 vol. cxxxviii no. 9

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Due to the winter storm expected Thursday, The Daily Princetonian’s Street section will not run today. Instead, Street will run tomorrow Friday. We regret any inconveniences. Follow www.dailyprincetonian.com for breaking updates.

ACADEMICS

How popular are the McGraw Center and the Writing Center?

Visits to the Writing Center Sept. to Dec. 2012

Sept. to Dec. 2013

Reading Period 2012

Reading Period 2013

By Jacob Donnelly staff writer

Follow us on Twitter

2130 visits

2737 visits

+ 28 percent 15 Years Ago...

@princetonian

607 visits

364 visits

+ 66 percent

2014

In Opinion

Rebecca Kreutter discusses life as a walkon student athlete, and Katherine Zhao relates her experience at the Women’s Mentorship Program retreat. PAGE 4

A number of events have been canceled due to the expected snowstorm.

The Archives

Feb. 13, 1997 A study by Psychology professor Joel Cooper found that University students would not have been allowed to sit on most juries because their quantitative and analytical skills were too good.

PRINCETON By the Numbers

7600

The number of students expected to visit the McGraw Center by the end of this year, a 31 percent increase from last year.

News & Notes State of emergency declared in preparation of storm

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie announced a state of emergency for the state of New Jersey on Thursday, closing state offices and schools for what is expected to be the largest snowstorm this winter. The nor’easter storm is expected to cover the state with up to 10 inches of snow in central New Jersey.

The snow is anticipated to begin at midnight on Thursday See STORM page 4

Historical Society moves to new location

The Historical Society of Princeton announced last week that it would be vacating its current headquarters, Bainbridge House on Nassau Street, Town Topics reported. The Society will move all operations to Updike Farmstead on Quaker Road by the end of next year. Bainbridge House, which the University currently owns, has been used by the HSP since 1967.

An official at the University, quoted by the Topics, said that no decision has been made on what to do with the house, but added that the exterior will not be altered since the house is part of the Princeton Historical Town District.

See SOCIETY page 4

7 Writing Fellows

76 Writing Fellows

McGraw Learning Consultations Number of Consultations

Today on Campus

Student visits to McGraw increase

300

300

Decrease Increase

250

Number thus far 200

200

190

180

150 105

100 50

79 2007-8

92

2008-9 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 Academic Year HELEN YAO :: DESIGN EDITOR

The McGraw Center for Teaching & Learning has seen an increase in the number of student visits throughout the years. This academic year, it expects to see a total of 31 percent increase in visits.

The McGraw Center for Teaching and Learning has received over 3,800 visits since the start of the academic year and is expecting to receive over 7,600 visits by the end of the year. If the trend holds, McGraw will see an increase of 31 percent from last year’s recorded visits.

The number of recorded visits to the Study Halls was 5,563 in 2011-2012 and 5,800 in 2012-2013, an increase of 4 percent, according to McGraw Center Associate Director Nic Voge said.

The McGraw Center organizes so-called “Study Halls,” where students meet to work on problem sets together and can ask for assistance from other students who have previously taken the course. McGraw also arranges individual learning consultations, where consultants work with students to develop academic goals and strategies, as well as group academic skills workshops.

The number of individual learning consultations increased from 79 in 2008-2009 and 180 in 2011-2012 to 300 in 2012-2013, a 280 percent increase in the past four years. The number for this year, as of Feb. 12, is 190, putting McGraw on track for roughly 350-380 consultations by the end of the year, a 17 to 26 percent year-over-year increase.

Workshop attendance increased from 368 in 2011-2012 to over 500 in 2012-2013, an increase of at least 36 percent. Data is not

yet available for fall 2013.

“The word is getting out better. We work closely with faculty to make sure they let their students in their courses know about the availability of free tutoring at Study Hall,” Director of the McGraw Center and Associate Dean of the College Lisa Herschbach said in an interview.

Partly in response to the increased volume, McGraw has recently hired a part-time staff member to oversee the learning consultation program and another associate director to run programs tailored to graduate students, Herschbach explained. She added that McGraw has recently expanded its offerings to include a series of workshops centered around science, technology, engineering and mathematics courses.

Noting as an example workshops focused on the programming language R, “The way that [a] course is designed might not leave space for the actual learning of the software,” Herschbach said. “It’s the application of the software that might be focused on.”

McGraw will soon offer Saturday afternoon Study Halls for MOL 214: Introduction to Cellular and Molecular Biology and possibly other courses, Herschbach added. Study Halls are typically offered Sunday through Wednesday.

In response to a December 2013 article published in The Daily Princetonian documenting overcrowding at McGraw See MCGRAW page 2

STUDENT LIFE

O’Shea ’16 wins first round and qualifies for semifinals on Jeopardy! College Championship

By Konadu Amoakuh staff writer

Theresa O’Shea ’16 is a semifinalist on this season of Jeopardy! College Championship, which premiered Wednesday night.

O’Shea came in first place in Wednesday night’s round.

“I’ve been interested in trivia for a really long time.

I do Mathey College Trivia every Monday, and then one day I realized that it was possible for me to go on the show and meet Alex Trebek and compete,” O’Shea said.

“I took the online college

trivia test, and I was lucky enough to be selected to go to an interview in New York.”

O’Shea said that she was informed that she would be on the show about six months after her interview in New York, and in January she was f lown out to Los Angeles with her fellow competitors to begin filming. She added that she was surprised at being selected for the show because it was her first time trying out, noting that many others have to try out three or four times before being selected.

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

O’Shea is also a cartoonist for The Daily Princetonian.

Some of her fellow attendees of Mathey College Trivia Night said they thought it made sense O’Shea was chosen.

“I can’t say that I was surprised [that O’Shea was chosen] because she’s really good at trivia,” Kelly Rafey ’16, a fellow attendee of Mathey College Trivia Nights, said. “It’s always exciting to know someone on trivia, and to be able to say that you have played trivia with that person is an added bonus.”

Rafey is also a staff writer for the Street section of the ‘Prince’.

“She’s such a perfect candidate for the show because she’s obviously incredibly smart and also very personable,” Emma Boettcher ’14, who has previously auditioned for Jeopardy! College Championship, said.

“Sometimes you get kind of arrogant people in Jeopardy that are just obsessed with showing off how smart they are, and Terry’s not like that all.”

The first place winner of Jeopardy! College Cham-

pionship wins $100,000, the second place wins $50,000, the third place wins $25,000, the semifinalists win $10,000 and the quarterfinalists win $5,000.

There are 15 competitors on the show in total.

Though O’Shea is only guaranteed a spot on Wednesday’s show, she does have the opportunity to win some Jeopardy! prize money. However, O’Shea said that, for her, much of the excitement of being on the show comes from the experience itself.

See JEOPARDY page 4

BEYOND THE BUBBLE

Neuroscience building Lecturer Grohsgal GS ’13 runs for receives positive reaction Pennsylvania State Representative

By Sheila Sisimit staff writer

Classes are now being held in the new neuroscience building, which houses the Princeton Neuroscience Institute and the psychology department in Peretsman-Scully Hall.

Construction of the new building, which is named for Nancy Peretsman ’76 and Robert Scully ’72, began in the spring of 2010 and was completed in fall of 2013. It reached full occupation in January. The building cost about $180 million in total.

The structure is equipped with laboratories, office spaces, workrooms, conference spaces,

a study area and classrooms and is expected to house up to 50 faculty, 30 departmental staff and 250 to 300 graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and research staff.

The opening of the new building has elicited positive reactions from some students and faculty members.

“My class is in the lower level, but it’s a really nice room,” said Margaret Wang ’17, who has NEU 259: Introduction to Cognitive Neuroscience in the new auditorium. “The seats are really nice, so I don’t get distracted by discomfort. It is very convenient.”

Erika Davidoff ’17, enrolled See NEURO page 3

By Jacqueline Gufford staff writer

Dov Grohsgal GS ’13 is running for a position as state representative in the 194th district of the state of Pennsylvania. He is alecturer in the Princeton Writing Program and history department, as well as an academic adviser to the men’s basketball team, According to Grohsgal’s campaign website, his platform is framed by seven main issues: economic development, education, efficiency in government, healthcare, transportation and infrastructure, unions and voter IDs.

However, Grohsgal explained that his platform focuses on rebuilding the middle class.

“Too many people have been struggling for too long.

This campaign is about making things a little bit easier for them,” Grohsgal said.

The issues central to accomplishing this are education and job creation, he explained.

“People need good jobs that pay a living wage … We need to think harder and smarter about how to create those jobs … We need to be really smart about spending more money on education and about where we’re spending money on edu-

cation,” he added.

To accomplish these goals, Grohsgal said that he advocates a solution-based approach to policy issues. For example, he noted that fixing the educational system requires working with educators who understand the challenges.

As of now, Grohsgal said he has no plans to take a sabbatical from the University should he win the race. Though both campaigning and teaching are time-consuming commitments, he said, the students that he interacts with daily make it worthwhile. He also noted his desire to keep politics See OFFICE page 2

The Daily Princetonian

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Thursday february 13, 2014

Grohsgal focused on middle class Writing center sees popular demand OFFICE

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out of the classroom.

“I am motivated and inspired by undergraduates here — their seriousness, their dedication to their work, their ability to ask really good questions and discuss really important ideas,” Grohsgal said. “It is essential and really important to me that the classroom remains a place where we can explore all kinds of ideas without any attention to politics and what I am doing outside of the classroom.”

Hilary Lloyd ’17, a former student in Grohsgal’s WRI 184: American Revolutions writing seminar, said that Grohsgal is a knowledgeable and down-toearth professor. His evident passion for American politics as well as his professorship at

Princeton will likely help him in the campaign, she said.

Bradley Schneider ’17, another former student in Grohsgal’s American Revolutions class, added that Grohsgal is open and

“Too many people have been struggling for too long.”

Dov Grohsgal GS ’13

relates well with the “younger population.”

“He’s very friendly, extremely open and really engaging with his students,” Schneider said.

Grohsgal explained that he has always been interested in

civics, but his primary motivation in this campaign is to aid others.

“When I wake up every morning exhausted from the two jobs I have right now, I think of the opportunity to makes people’s lives a little bit better,” he said.

Dov Grohsgal received his B.A. in economics and history, as well as an M.A. in history, from Emory University.

He recently earned his Ph.D. in history from Princeton, and his current research explores American civil rights policy in the 1960s and early 1970s. This is his first bid for political office.

Grohsgal will be running to replace the incumbent Pamela DeLissio. His bid will come to a close in 87 days when voting begins. Former Army Captain and Democrat Dave Henderson is also running for the Representative position.

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MCGRAW Continued from page 1

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Study Halls, McGraw has experimented with reserving some of the multipurpose rooms in the basement of Frist Campus Center for use when demand warrants it.

The Writing Center has also seen similar increases in the number of visits so far this year.

Associate Director for the Princeton Writing Program Khristina Gonzalez noted that the number of conferences held at the Writing Center has risen from 2,130 during September to December 2012 to 2,737 in fall 2013, an increase of 28 percent. Reading period conferences from January 2013 to January 2014 increased from 364 to 607, 66 percent.

The Writing Center also projects that it will see a 30 percent increase in the number of conferences it holds for independent work projects to approximately 500 by the end of the academic year, Gonzalez said.

She noted that the number of Writing Center fellows, who are paid undergraduate and graduate students, has increased from seven fellows 15 years ago to 76 in 2014.

“I think, freshman year, everyone comes in used to being good at what they do.”

Rohan Bhargava ’14

Email join@dailyprincetonian.com Writing Center fellows occasionally hold so-called “on the road” conferences at various locations around campus during midterms and reading periods, Gonzalez said, noting that there is not always enough space in Lauritzen Hall to meet the demand fully.

Gonzalez explained that, in regard to course papers, the Writing Center does not primarily give topic-specific or grammatical advice but instead aids in the process of thinking about and structuring writing.

“One of the biggest areas of growth that we’ve seen is students bringing in science writing,” Gonzalez said. “We’ve made a concerted effort not only to do outreach to science students and to the faculty but also to do more training with our fellows around science writing.”

“Science writing” includes advice on lab reports and grant proposals, Gonzalez said.

Helping the University’s growing international student body adjust to American academic writing if needed, working on graduate school applications and cover letters for job applications and planning for junior papers and senior theses are also growing shares of the types of conferences that the Writing Center holds, Gonzalez added. She also said writing seminars still make up “probably 40 percent” of the volume for its conferences, and many students come back to the Writing Center in later years due to positive first experiences with the Writing Center.

“I think, freshman year, everyone comes in used to being good at what they do,” said Rohan Bhargava ’14, a residential college adviser in Rockefeller College, adding that he promotes McGraw and the Writing Center to his advisees.

“The most common use [of the Writing Center] tends to be for classes, of course, for papers, but a significant number of my friends use it for grad school applications, whether it’s law school, medical school, anything like that,” Bhargava explained. “And a significant number also used it for scholarship applications.”

Data provided by Gonzalez showed that the number of juniors and seniors using the Writing Center from the first semester of the 2013 academic year to the first semester of the 2014 aca-

demic year has increased sixfold.

“I’ve heard only good things about it from most people,” Bhargava said.

“They looked over my paper and gave me some suggestions as to how to revise it. I thought it was pretty helpful to have a second pair of eyes look over it,” Anirudh Dasarathy ’16 said.

Dasarathy added that the Writing Center could benefit from increased oversight of its fellows.

“From what I hear, it’s pretty hit-or-miss,” Dasarathy said.

“One of the biggest areas of growth that we have seen is students bringing in science writing.”

Khristina Gonzalez,

associate director for the princeton writing program

Gonzalez noted that the Writing Center scores highly on student satisfaction surveys.

Jack Axcelson, Wilson College director of studies, said students often learn that they have to adjust their expectations of what Princeton requires of them.

“There’s ... the problem of the short teaching term, which makes things especially intense and makes the types of activities common at other colleges, like skipping class, a dangerous thing to do,” he said.

Like Bhargava, Axcelson said people often need academic support to respond to the adjustment from high school to college.

“You get a lot of people who are high-flying, academically, and when they get here, a percentage of them aren’t anymore,” Axcelson said. “It can be a little traumatic when the first midterms come around.”

Senior Writer Catherine Ku contributed reporting.

SO PERCUSSION

ASAWARI SODHI :: PRINCETONIAN SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

Dave Molk, Dan Trueman, Andrea Mazzariello and Jason Treuting of So Percussion play new works Feb. 11 at Taplin Auditorium in Fine Hall. The event was free and open to the public.

The Daily Princetonian

Thursday february 13, 2014

page 3

Neuro building can house around 400 NEURO

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in the same course, also said that the lecture hall is nice.

Though she noted that the hall has a large capacity, she said the acoustics are “great” and it seems more intimate than the McCosh Hall auditoriums.

Overall, the building seemed to make a positive impression on Davidoff.

“I love the general aesthetic of the building,” Davidoff said.

“It seems a little complicated to navigate, but it has all these study areas and meeting rooms tucked away in places, and I feel like there are a lot of great spaces to explore.”

In addition to the lecture hall and classrooms, the building houses laboratories in which both students and professors can conduct research.

“I think our lab space is definitely a lot bigger,” said Dennis London ’14, who will now conduct research for his senior thesis in the new lab. “Previously it was a little bit cramped.”

London added that he thought it was “nice” that different laboratories are located next to each other because it allows students conducting research in other fields to mingle more. Students conducting research in the building are also able to use the office spaces available to them.

“The office is really nice,” London said. “You can write on the doors because they’re frosted glass, so that’s pretty cool.”

Davidoff works in the Witten Lab, which has also moved into the new building. Although she hasn’t been in the lab for more

than a few hours, she said she thinks it is great.

“The office space is incredible and will really help us communicate with each other,” Davidoff said.

Assistant professor of psychology and the Princeton Neuroscience Institute Tim Buschman said he thinks the building is “fantastic” especially because everything and everyone in the neuroscience department is in the same building.

“My lab is in one place and the facilities are top notch,” Buschman said. “It’s nice being in one building. I think that’s the biggest advantage.”

Professor of linguistics in the Council of the Humanities Adele Goldberg added that having both the neuroscience and psychology departments combined is “wonderful.”

However, there have been a few problems transitioning into the new building.

“There were a few problems with technology in the first few classes, but I think they’re getting it worked out,” Wang said.

“There’s also a little construction happening outside, but they’re going to get that done soon.”

There have been a few kinks with the Wi-Fi network, Davidoff noted, adding that it wasn’t unsolvable. Davidoff said that she and her lab members have also had some trouble with lighting in the lab, but they have been working with the building staff to fix the issues.

Moving into the new lab has also disrupted students’ work, London said, noting that it took a week and a half to disassemble and pack all of his gear and then move it from Moffett Labora-

tory. He added that it would take the same amount of time to get everything together in the new lab.

“We don’t have our lab set up yet, so at this point, it is just a space,” London said.

As a result of the move, London and others unable to perform experiments find themselves with extra time on their hands.

“I’m using that as motivation to start writing my thesis.

It makes me write, but hopefully the down time won’t be too long,” London said. “I would like to get [the experiments] started as soon as possible to put it in my thesis.”

The location of the new building on campus has also led to mixed reactions.

“I know some people were complaining about it being too far from their other classes,” Wang said. “For me it’s not too bad, but it can be a little out of the way.”

Davidoff said that the location of the building seemed fine because it places it in the “science neighborhood” near buildings like the Frick Chemistry Laboratory, Jadwin Hall and the Carl Icahn Laboratory.

“I haven’t heard anyone complaining about [the location], but then I’m a Forbes engineer, so I’m pretty used to things being far,” Davidoff said.

Megan Soun ’17, who was in PSY 101: Introduction to Psychology, said she thought the building was very nice as well, but she ultimately decided to drop the class. Distance, however, was not much of a problem for her.

“My walk from East Pyne to the new building in 10 minutes probably played a small factor in my decision to drop the course,” Soun said.

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ALICE TAO :: PRINCETONIAN CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

The Princeton Neuroscience Institute and Peretsman-Scully Hall opened at the beginning of the Spring semester.

The building has received mostly positive reviews, although some students said it was far away from main campus.

The Daily Princetonian

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O’Shea credits love of trivia to early exposure JEOPARDY Continued from page 1

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“The producers were fantastic, and there were a lot of people from different schools who were just as interested in trivia as I am.

It was terrifying, of course, especially when I was playing and in the time leading up to the game, but I was surrounded by the most really intelligent, nice and wonderful people,” O’Shea said. “It was definitely a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Just being back here at Princeton, it’s hard to believe that it even happened.”

O’Shea noted that she prepared for the show using the J! Archive, an online archive of all the questions and answers asked on Jeopardy, as

well as Wikipedia.

“I know you’re not supposed to cram, but I didn’t really have a choice. I also tried to learn about subjects that I was very unfamiliar with, like opera,” O’Shea said. “I knew I wasn’t going to get very far with sports, so I just gave that up as a lost cause and didn’t study sports.”

Rafey said she’s always noticed that O’Shea was talented during Mathey Trivia Nights.

“I think last year she memorized all of the winners of the best movies from the Oscars just for Trivia Night,” Rafey said. “She is definitely an anomaly.”

O’Shea credits her love for trivia to her exposure from a young age.

“I’ve always loved trivia.

My family loves to watch trivia together. We all try to yell out the answers before everyone else,” O’Shea said.

“It’s kind of competitive but also extremely fun. So basically since I was born, ever since I was conceived, ever since I existed, I’ve loved trivia.”

O’Shea, who applied to compete on the show during the spring of her freshman year, said that she has some experience competing in formal trivia competitions because she competed for her high school’s academic Quiz Bowl team. Though O’Shea is not allowed to tell anyone how far she gets in the show, Rafey noted that her fellow Trivia Night participants intended to watch the premiere together in her honor.

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Thursday february 13, 2014

News & Notes

Central N.J. expecting largest snowstorm of the winter season STORM

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and continue throughout the rest of the day, and is expected to disturb traffic during rush hours. Numerous schools, including those in Princeton, have already canceled classes. NJ Transit will be offering systemwide cross-honoring,

allowing passengers to use their tickets for other modes of transportation.

With the temperature expected to range between 30 and 37 degrees, forecasts no longer included the prospect of ice forming. There will be sustained winds at 20-25 miles per hour and gusts up to 40 miles per hour. The storm is expected to continue until Friday morning.

Historical Society of Princeton to move to new location SOCIETY Continued from page 1

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According to the HSP website, Bainbridge House was the birthplace of William Bainbridge, a hero of the War of 1812.

The house also provided accommodations for the Continental Congress and has served as a

boarding house for University students as well as the former home of the Princeton Public Library.

The house has also served as a museum, and it houses temporary and permanent exhibition rooms as well as a photographic archive. All of these functions will be moved to Updike Farmstead at the end of next year.

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Opinion

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The role that The social effects of recruitment rivalries play Rebecca Kreutter columnist

Jason Choe columnist

M

y brother recently sent me a photo of a bathroom stall at his school, the University of California at Berkeley, and over the toilet seat dispenser, someone had attached a sign that read “Stanford diplomas, take one.” Naturally, I was tempted to replicate the idea at Princeton, replacing the school name of Stanford with the name Harvard, of course.

Yet at the same time, I questioned the ultimate role that rivalries play in academia. Some of the more famous ones, of course, include the intra-Ivy League triumvirate of Harvard, Princeton and Yale, but there is also the UC Berkeley — Stanford face-off (next time you have the chance, visit stanfordrejects.com), University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill – Duke University, University of California at Los Angeles — University of Southern California, Boston College – University of Notre Dame, University of Arizona – Arizona State University and countless others. The rivalries, understandably, most often hinge on sports, and as long as they stay confined to the field, they can be good fun between neighboring or distant universities. However, when taken too far, rivalries can have demoralizing effects on the overall student population and in extreme cases can incite violence or else intense animosity.

At USC and UCLA for instance, students will organize squads to camp out in front of their two statues — Tommy Trojan and the UCLA bear, respectively — in order to ensure that no one from the opposite school has the opportunity to vandalize the mascots, particularly around game days. And at Princeton, the cannon buried in Cannon Green was the prize in a veritable game of tug-of-war between Princeton and Rutgers during the mid-1800s — it was finally implanted indelibly in the center of campus within a block of concrete to prevent any further thefts and counter thefts in 1875. Of course, those students have the right to spend their time as they wish, but it does come across as a waste — students choose to spend their time acting as vigilantes working to prevent vandalism. This vandalism, besides being illegal, is just downright disrespectful and costly to the damaged school.

Even worse than expending huge amounts of energy and inciting unnecessary tension, though, are cases in which students physically seek to injure students of opposite schools, whether athletes or fans. As far back as Roman times, riots would often erupt over the results of chariot races. More recently, in 1972 at a basketball game between Ohio State University and the University of Minnesota, an Ohio State player was violently assaulted on the field when an opposing player punched him in the face and kicked him.

Then, another player stepped on his head.

What’s more, rivalries, when taken too far, only harm the schools’ own images, portraying the schools’ students as people who are aggressive, sore losers and perhaps even a tad unstable — after all, who in their right mind would beat up an opposing player because of the urge to win a rivalry? As college students at reputable higher education institutions, it is our responsibility, and indeed our obligation, to hold ourselves to higher standards — the standards of our school.

The question then becomes: To what ends do such rivalries serve? After all, at their base, rivalries stem innately from a sense of competition or a need to compare ourselves with others.

Hence, the school that we compare ourselves to effectively becomes a metric against which we measure ourselves.

In this way, such comparisons affirm our prowess relative to others and thus elevates others to the standing that we have or higher — since a comparison is tantamount to saying that we can be “as good” as someone else.

Rivalries have the potential to help bind together different institutions by introducing a common point of interest. Yet when taken too far, rivalries become sources of hatred and resentment and can even precipitate malevolent behavior or conflict. School pride is admirable, but rivalries should only be a source of camaraderie between peers — not a source of contention that breeds hate or fosters the need to feel better about ourselves at the expense of others nor a source of constant comparison in which competitors are reduced to perpetually one-upping each other.

Jason Choe is a freshman from Ranchos Palos Verdes, Calif. He can be reached at jasonjc@ princeton.edu.

I

f I told you I’m on a varsity team, you could probably guess that I spend almost equal amounts of time in class and in practice or that I stress more over big races than big exams. You might assume that my closest friends are on my team, that we attack the dining hall as a herd, that I meet up with them to study, go out with them on the weekends, maybe, even, that I room with them. If I added I rowed, you might assume I am in Cloister Inn, that I spend far too much time in spandex and that when my special rower beacon hones in on another of my kind I quickly devolve into minutiae about boats, ergs and technique.

You would be right.

I am, in many ways, a stereotypical athlete. I didn’t plan to be.

I didn’t even expect to be. Before I arrived, I had never picked up an oar, let alone considered the most efficient way to propel eight other people through the water with one. Not that I regret joining the team, far from it. Being a non-recruited athlete has, however, given me the opportunity to observe what it means to be an athlete at Princeton from a middle ground, with one eye towards the non-athletic life I might have led and one to the recruited life of so many of my closest friends.

A lot has already been said about the relative merits and detriments of recruiting athletes, in particular the potential effects on academics for non-athlete Princetonians. What interests me, instead, is the social effect

that recruitment has on the athletes who become Tigers. Before walking on to the crew team, I had never considered that the opportunity of being recruited would be anything more than a relief in the crapshoot that is the admission process. I never considered how much it limits.

When a non-athlete decides which college to go to, the choice comes down to some mix of academics, extracurriculars, location, size and the ever-vague “campus feel.” When athletes are recruited, they buy into not only a college but also a community.

They arrive on campus with a set of built-in friends and a place to go everyday to get away from the daily grind of schoolwork. It sounds great and, more often than not, teams do become close from spending so much time together.

I’m left wondering what happens when someone feels like they don’t fit into the team culture. While non-athletes can naturally self-select into friend groups over the course of freshman year, athletes run the risk of committing to four years spent with non-compatible personalities. It is not that athletes can’t, or don’t, make friends outside of their sport, but an athlete’s schedule makes it all too easy to restrict one’s circle to one’s team.

I’ve seen teammates end up in tears when it becomes too taxing to spend hours every day with the same few people, particularly if they may all be competing for the same spots on the top squad. I’ve seen teams turn on one particular member and heard athletes who spend most of their time bickering about each other.

I don’t pretend to know the

dynamics of every or any team on campus, and I don’t deny that non-athlete groups of friends have their moments too.

What I do know is that I’ve always told myself if I didn’t like the environment on my team, I would walk away. Many recruited athletes don’t feel they are free to make that decision.

I’ve had several athletes tell me, almost guiltily, that they wouldn’t have been accepted to Princeton if not for playing crew. Others confess they don’t enjoy the sport anymore but feel as if they owe four years to the team. Being recruited comes with the understanding that although college is a time to try new things, practice comes first. Rare is it to find an athlete who does more than two or three extracurriculars.

What happens if athletes decide to quit? There is no parttime varsity athlete, no way to cut back hours or lighten the load. With the sport goes the community. It is rarely a function of meanness so much as fixed schedules. Out of sight, out of mind. Those who remain too easily forget that our team used to have more people.

I hope that I am wrong, that I am reading too much into a situation with which I am not personally familiar. For many recruited athletes, the built-in social group of a team creates some amazing friendships. I fear that some end up doubting, instead, their place on the team that once actively recruited them to join their community.

Rebecca Kreutter is a Wilson School major from Singapore, Singapore. She can be reached at rhkreutt@princeton.edu.

flow chart

vol. cxxxviii

Marcelo Rochabrun ’15 editor-in-chief

Nicholas Hu ’15

business manager

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

138TH BUSINESS BOARD business manager Nicholas Hu ’15 head of advertising Zoe Zhang ’16 director of national advertising Kevin Tang ’16 director of recruitment advertising Justine Mauro ’17 director of local advertising Mark Zhang ’17 director of online advertising Matteo Kruijssen ’16

jack moore ’15 ..................................................

head of operations Daniel Kim ’16 head of finance Charles Zhou ’16 comptroller Denise Chan ’17 accounts receivable manager Eugene Cho ’17

NIGHT STAFF 2.12.14 news Lorenzo Quiogue ’17 Charles Min ’17 copy Elizabeth Dolan ’16 Lily Lesser ‘17 Angela Kim ‘17 design Austin Chi ’16 Sean Pan ’16 Julia Johnstone ’16

Katherine Zhao

contributing columnist

O

ver intersession, I spent three days in the living room of a cozy barn house on a retreat with the the Princeton’s Women’s Mentorship Program. Sixteen Princeton women got on a bus to Chauncey Conference Center ten minutes away from the University, with the purpose of going outside the Orange Bubble and discussing and reflecting on issues important to us.

The leadership team of the Women’s Mentorship Program noted that the goal of the intercession retreat “was to create a safe space for women to reflect upon their time at Princeton thus far and development as women leaders.” Tara Woodard-Lehman, the Presbyterian chaplain, facilitated the discussions and activities, creating a feeling of camaraderie among the women, sitting in a circle on the floor.

But the retreat was not limited to a closed discussion: outside speakers came in and spoke to us about issues such as mindful eating, and the dangers of “effortless perfec-

The basic necessities tion.” We were made to understand the basic necessities that we had begun to neglect due to the stresses of school and other activities. Dr. Robin Boudette from the University Health Center spoke to us about mindful eating, beginning by asking us survey questions such as “Do you eat out of habit or choice?” and “Do you eat for reasons other than nutrition?” My own answers to the survey surprised me; I realized that I had been pushing aside the basic necessities that my body required, attending instead to the pressing matters of the day. Many of us reported eating food mindlessly, whether it was forcing down a granola bar or yogurt on the way to class. We hurriedly finish lunch while completing our class readings. And when we focus so much on getting through the grind of everyday life, we sacrifice the little things that are important to our health, like mindful eating. We fail to acknowledge the fact that meeting the needs of our bodies and keeping ourselves healthy is just as important as maintaining our grades or extracurricular responsibilities. These little things

are something I feel everyone on campus should keep in mind.

Students at Princeton seem to put on an air of being effortlessly perfect, in looks, grades, and social activities. Dr. Alexis Andres, another retreat presenter and the Butler College Director of Student Life, told us about a student who went so far as to hide in the library to study, so his roommate wouldn’t see him studying. The danger comes when everyone pretends to be perfect, that the act becomes too real, and students begin to believe that they are inferior, when they themselves are each contributors to the problem. At the retreat, we sat in a circle, shared our stories and vulnerabilities, and healed the bruises to our self-esteem that the creeping pestilence of effortless perfection had caused. My takeaway from the retreat — and what I want to share with the rest of the Princeton community — is to realize that nobody’s life is as perfect as it may seem. When we sat in a circle and shared our stories, we learned that everyone experienced difficulties and, that behind the perfectly constructed

façade of a polished Princeton student, there is a fellow human being struggling with all the struggles that come with growing up.

The first time we introduced ourselves on this trip we also told the group why we chose to attend.

The reason that consistently came up was reflection. This experience was an opportunity to take a break from the rushed life at Princeton during the semester, and to think about each other not as competitors, but as friends and mentors. As Carolyn Yang, copresident of the Women’s Mentorship Program said, “There is something extraordinarily powerful about women coming together and bonding over self-discovery and shared experiences outside of their immediate friend circles and campus affiliations.” And I agree. It was an experience that allowed me to empathize and share stories with a circle of women, and reminded me of basic necessities that many Princeton students, too caught up in getting ahead, forget.

Katherine Zhao is a freshman from East Brunswick, N.J. She can be reached at kz2@princeton.edu.

Sports

Thursday february 13, 2014

page 6

{ www.dailyprincetonian.com }

Men’s Squash

(5-7 overall, 3-4 Ivy League) College Squash Association Tournament 9th Seed (#1 in B Division)

#1 junior

Sam Kang

6 wins, 5 losses

Average 3.36 games/match 51.4 game win percentage

#2 junior

Tyler Osborn 9 wins, 2 losses

senior

Average 3.64 games/match 77.5 game win percentage

2012-13 All-American and All-Ivy

#3

2012-13 All-American and All-Ivy

2013: Played in ‘A’ draw of the CSA Individual National Championships

THE

2-7

3-6

0-9

2-7 at Dartmouth

3-6

BY

54.1%

Win

v. Cornell

v. Yale

7-2

Loss

Loss

4-5

3-6 at Columbia

at Harvard

Loss Loss

at Drexel

Loss v. Williams

Loss

v. Brown

Win

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Win

7-2

at Trinity

Win

at Penn

Win

NUMBERS

9-0

at Rochester

at Franklin & Marshall

9-0

9 wins, 3 losses

Average 3.75 games/match 68.9 game win percentage

Season Match Records 9-0

Dylan Ward

Percentage of individual matches won this season

4-5

Defining Moment:

Home loss against #3 Yale, marked by three five game matches

0-9

Worst Result: Away loss against then-#2 Harvard, with the team only winning seven games.

Tweet of the Day

‘Really digging the #WinterOlympics. I don’t understand a lot of the sports but the atmosphere is intoxicating! #usa’ Jonathan Yergler ’13, formerly of the Fencing team, on Twitter (@yerglerj)

Trivia How many consecutive years did the Trinity men’s squash team win the CSA National Championship before Princeton beat them in 2012?

Answer will be tweeted at noon tomorrow!

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