February 17, 2016

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Founded 1876 daily since 1892 online since 1998

Wednesday february 17, 2016 vol. cxxxix no. 13

{ www.dailyprincetonian.com } BEYOND THE BUBBLE

Cara McCollum ’15 injured in car accident By Myrial Holbrook staff writer

Cara McCollum ’15, Miss New Jersey 2013, is in critical condition at Cooper Health System after a car crash Monday night, according to The Press of Atlantic City. The Cooper Health System declined to comment, per the McCollum family’s wishes. McCollum was traveling north on Route 55 when her car spun off the road and hit

a tree at mile marker 38.4 before hitting two other trees and coming to a stop on the embankment, according to NJ.com. Her airbag deployed in the crash, and she was not wearing a seatbelt, a report from New Jersey State Police report said. McCollum was transported to Cooper Health Systems from the scene of the accident. See MISS NJ page 4

COURTEST OF NYDAILYNEWS

Cara McCollum ‘15 is the first University student to be crowned Miss New Jersey since 1999.

STUDENT LIFE

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

Academics Committee to administer calendar survey

Office of Sustainability hires Reunions interns

By Caroline Lippman staff writer

The Academics Committee of the University Student Government is currently designing a survey to assess opinions on potential changes to the current academic calendar, according to former Academics Committee Chair Ramie Fathy ’16. The survey will be administered in early March to undergraduate and graduate students, as well as University faculty. According to Fathy, the survey will be sent via

email through Qualtrics and administered by the Office of Institutional Research. The Academics Committee will then help to analyze the results. Shannon Osaka ’17, Academics Committee Chair, said that the survey will focus on three aspects of the calendar: the timing of final exams in the winter, the length of Intersession and the length of the semester. “The main question on which a lot of the calendar changes hinge is, do you want finals before winter break?

The second question about Intersession is dependent on that question, and the third question about semester length is not dependent,” she explained. As far as how long will it take to instate the changes, Deputy Dean of the College Elizabeth Colagiuri explained that committee members don’t have an estimate of an exact time, but that there will need to be a fairly long lead time because academic calendars are set years in advance. Colagiuri explained that See CALENDAR page 2

ACADEMICS

By Marcia Brown staff writer

The Office of Sustainability chose three interns for the spring semester to design and implement projects to make Reunions more sustainable, according to Director of the Office of Sustainability Shana Weber. Internship applications were solicited through an email circulated mostly within sustainability groups at the University. Weber said that members of the Office met with all students who expressed interest and then asked the students to return with proposals for ideas brought up in the meeting.

According to Weber, the Office looked for candidates who demonstrated problem-solving abilities, well-organized thinking, clarity around purpose as well as initiative and teamwork. Proposals included both singular and group projects, according to Weber. Weber added that six to seven students applied. Three freshmen were chosen as interns, according to Lisa Nicolaison, program coordinator for the Office of Sustainability. “I’m from a really green liberal town and it’s what I grew up doing,” intern Erin Mooz ’19 said. “I pulled recyclable items out of the trash, and I feel like See SUSTAINABILITY page 5

LECTURE

Panel discusses gender politics in classroom staff writer

COURTESY OF WSJ

Stephen Kotkin, professor of history, is among the longest staying professors at the University.

Stephen Kotkin: Scholar of Soviet history and an encouraging mentor By Andrea Ayala staff writer

Known for his exhaustive and rigorous HIS 362 class on the Soviet Empire, Stephen Kotkin is a history professor who holds a joint appointment at the Wilson School. Kotkin is also one of the University’s longest staying professors, having taught at the University for a total of 27 years. Kotkin said that his en-

thusiasm for Soviet history developed from a “strange, unexpected turn of events.” Kotkin explained that his great interest growing up had always been science and math. He noted that his academic career at the University of Rochester, where he received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees, almost ended with him being a premed student. However, after fainting in the hospital during a molecular biology

fieldwork class, he graduated from the University of Rochester in with a B.A. in English, and went on to earn his M.A in history in 1983 from the same school . Kotkin explained that his love for history was prompted by the array of exceptionally good professors he had in his time at the University of Rochester, and later on, when he was getting his PhD in History at the University See KOTKIN page 3

The classroom is a microcosm of the nation and is a space to rehearse democracy and thus conversations about who participates in the classroom should be encouraged, Dean of the College Jill Dolan noted in a panel discussion on the gender politics of the classrooms on Tuesday. Panelist Marni Morse ’17 noted that both students and professors play key roles in maintaining a respectful environment in the classroom while still promoting lively discussions. She noted an example of a professor who alternated between using ‘he’ and ‘she’ examples in lecture, a small change that she only noticed because every other class she was in used the standard male pronouns. Morse is a columnist for the Daily Princetonian. Other professors, like Panelist Miguel Centeno, a professor in the sociology department, noted similar points about classroom environments often following patterns of traditional norms. Centeno said that often, academic readings assume a straight white male world.

In Opinion

Today on Campus

Columnist Bennet McIntosh argues that a new generation of activism is here to stay, and columnist Sam Parsons advocates for a more equal distribution of campus events at different times of the day. PAGE 6

4:30 p.m.: “Poverty in America: An Anti-Poverty Agenda for the Next President,” will be the topic of a free, public panel discussion sponsored by the Wilson School. Dodds Auditorium, Robertson Hall.

He noted that it is faculty’s responsibility not only to work to diversify the classroom, but also to ensure that classrooms are safe spaces for everyone to express their opinions. “When a student says or does something marginally outrageous, the professor needs to call it out without humiliating anyone in the classroom,” Centano said, speaking to the careful balance that needs to be struck to maintain classrooms as safe spaces for all students. “Professors think ‘Oh no, unpacking that statement will take thirty minutes and I don’t have the time for that’ and shove uncomfortable discussion s to a side,” panelist Angelina Sylvain GS of the Princeton Neuroscience Institute added. Instead, she said, professors should seize these as valuable learning opportunities and prioritize such discussions on issues that minority students face in a classroom. There is a right way to be inclusive, explained Jennifer Rexford ’91, Chair of the Computer Science Department, giving the example of a professor in her departSee LECTURE page 5

WEATHER

By Samvida Venkatesh

HIGH

44˚

LOW

24˚

Mostly sunny skies. chance of rain: none


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