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Thursday february 27, 2014 vol. cxxxviii no. 20

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Town council sets 2014 goals

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By Jacob Donnelly staff writer

In Opinion Bennett McIntosh makes the argument that Princeton should actively work to admit more low-income students. PAGE 5

In Street Jennifer Shyue and Harrison Blackman talk to Princeton entrepreneurs, Cara Zampino defends crunchy snacks in the library and Annie Tao writes what your footwear says about you. PAGE 4

Today on Campus 8 p.m.: Princeton Hindu Satsangam hosts an open house event called “Chai and Chaat” in the Campus Club Dining Room, where savory indian snacks and chai tea will be served.

The Archives

Feb. 27, 1973 With room draw fast approaching and an anticipated need for 150 new women’s spaces in 1974, administrators plan dorm changes to include more coed living plans.

News & Notes Talk with Google executives canceled due to weather

An event featuring Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt ’76 and Google Ideas founder Jared Cohen was canceled Wednesday due to bad weather, a spokesman associated with the event announced.

The event, titled “The New Digital Age: Transforming Nations, Business and Our Lives” was scheduled to take place at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday in the Frist Campus Center Multipurpose Room.

The spokesman said Schmidt had transportation difficulties coming from New York City in his helicopter.

The event was intended to be a discussion between Schmidt, Cohen and Dean of the Faculty David Dobkin. They were going to discuss Schmidt and Cohen’s new book, “The New Digital Age,” which assesses the ways in which technology has transformed society and international relations. The event was free and open to the public and was supported by Princeton Public Lectures’ Vanuxem Fund.

Schmidt graduated from Princeton with a degree in electrical engineering and served as CEO of Google from 2001 to 2011 before becoming executive chairman. “The New Digital Age,” which was released in 2013 and became a New York Times best seller, will be reissued in paperback with a new afterword on March 4.

The spokesman said they would try to reschedule the event, but did not give any definite details.

REBECCA TERRETT :: PRINCETONIAN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Members of Princeton Glee Club rehearse for their upcoming concert “Souveiners from Europe.”

The Princeton town council recently established a list of priorities to accomplish in 2014.

A number of mandatory commitments confront the council over the next year.

These commitments include hiring a new town administrator to replace outgoing administrator Robert Bruschi, deciding on a new police chief and merging the former township and former borough’s codes, called “ordinance harmonization,” according to Princeton Mayor Liz Lempert.

“This was a process that actually started a year ago, at the beginning of 2013. We solicited ideas about what our priorities should be, what our goals should be from each of the councilmembers, myself, staff and the community, and we had this enormous list of over 200 priorities,” Lempert said. “To start with 2014, we looked at that list and pulled out some of the big ones we still hadn’t gotten to and solicited ideas really from the council this time.”

Councilwoman Jo Butler said she has been encouraged by the progress the town has

made over the past year.

“Everybody has really been working all-out in all divisions,” Butler said. “We’ve had reconstruction of facilities …

We had to rewrite personnel manuals. We’re rewriting the ordinances as we go.”

One ongoing process has been improving “town and gown” relations, Lempert said. At a December town council meeting, the University and the town came to two conclusions.

“One is when we disagree on things to have a mutual respect there and to be able to work through our differences, knowing that we might be able to come to the table with different needs and different expectations, but honestly try to work them out,” Lempert said. “And the other was, we have a large area where we have very complementary interests, and how can we better work together so that it’s a win-win for the both of us?”

One of these projects of “complementary interests” will potentially involve working together to recruit local residents to work for the town and the University.

“One of the conversations that we had when President Eisgruber came was about See TOWN page 4

ACADEMICS

McGraw launches Saturday study halls

By Konadu Amoakuh staff writer

The McGraw Center for Teaching and Learning began holding study halls on Saturdays for the first time last week. McGraw study halls were previously held Sunday through Wednesday from 7:30 p.m. to 10:30 pm.

While McGraw sessions that take place Sunday through Wednesday currently offer aid for 16 classes, the new Saturday sessions, which will be held from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., only offer help for four of these 16 classes, Voge said.These four classes are

ECO 100: Introduction to Microeconomic, ECO 101: Introduction to Macroeconomics, ECO 202: Statistics and Data Analysis for Economics and MOL 214: Intro to Cellular & Molecular Biology.

Associate Director Nic Voge said there are many limitations on other days of the week, like overcrowding and not having enough tutors, making an additional study hall beneficial. He added that McGraw had had an unprecedented 3800 visits in the fall.

“We have some limitations with staff and space in Frist [Campus Center], so there’s a limited number of rooms …

that we can get a hold of,” Voge said. He explained McGraw hopes both to diminish its demand during the week and to extend its tutor pool to tutors who might not have been able to come in during the week.

Politics major Chris McConnell ’14, who tutors for economics classes at the McGraw Center, said he thinks the additional session is needed.

“Right now we’re only offering three econ classes and MOL, but for this semester, [the additional sessions] are definitely necessary,” McConnell said, noting that since problem sets for ECO 100 and ECO 202 are due on Monday,

McGraw currently sees a huge influx of students on Sunday.

“The hope is that on Saturdays we’ll see a little bit more try to come and do their problem sets.”

Voge explained McGraw had previously thought about adding additional study halls, and it was input from the students and tutors which ultimately precipitated the development of the Saturday McGraw session.

“We did sort of an experiment last term in which we moved spaces [of study hall sessions], and we also collected input from students and from tutors,” Voge said.

“And both a small set of tutors mentioned [an additional study hall] and a few students did as well.”

Voge noted that the addition of a Saturday session was discussed in questionnaires that some McGraw student patrons filled out as well as focus groups that 90 percent of tutors had attended.

The new Saturday sessions have also gotten support from faculty and professors, Voge noted. Voge said professors of MOL 214, which did not have a study hall session before this semester, thought the Saturday sessions would be helpful See MCGRAW page 2

LECTURE

ACADEMICS

Former SEC chairman calls for transparency

Meck ’00 donates $150K to fund philanthropy seminar

By Chitra Marti staff writer

Transparency and accountability in financial markets are keys to investor confidence, former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary Schapiro argued at a Wilson School lecture Wednesday evening. Schapiro spoke in conversation with Wilson School professor Alan Blinder as part of the Wilson School’s Program in Leadership and Governance.

Schapiro joined the SEC in January 2009, just seven weeks after the initial arrest of Bernie Madoff. She explained that at that time the SEC was facing a reputation crisis, noting that previous administrators had considered eliminating the agency altogether.

“My timing was just awful,” Schapiro said. She joked that she had curled into the fetal position under her desk after accepting the position of chairman. However, Schapiro said, her previous experience at the SEC — she served as one of five SEC commissioners from 1988 to 1994 — led her to accept

the job with the hope that she could help the agency find its way again.

Schapiro said her main goal upon joining the SEC was to increase the transparency and accountability of the financial market in order to form a resilient and reliable market structure. The financial industry is highly complex and is largely a force for good, Schapiro said, but “none of that works if we don’t have investor confidence.”

She explained that by increasing transparency, both of the financial industry and of the SEC itself, the SEC could help regain the confidence of its investors, which would strengthen markets. When asked about the rise of Bitcoin, Schapiro said its lack of transparency made her very nervous.

“That lack of transparency, that lack of accountability, at the end of the day, that’s very worrisome,” Schapiro said.

Speaking of her time at the SEC, Schapiro said the SEC is always doing everything it can to hold individuals accountable See SEC page 3

By Do-Hyeong Myeong staff writer

Terrence Meck ’00, co-founder and president of The Palette Fund, donated $150,000 to FRS 157: Philanthropy to sustain the course for three more years. Last fall was originally supposed to be the last semester that the University would offer the seminar.

FRS 157 is a course designed to give students practical experience in philanthropy. Under the guidance of Wilson School professor Stanley Katz, students learn the basics of philanthropy and make active decisions on how to spend their given budget for philanthropic purposes. The course has a certain amount of money each semester to donate to various charitable organizations.

When asked why the University had to stop offering the course, Katz said that the previous donor, the Once Upon a Time Foundation, no longer wanted to provide funding and added that it would have been impractical for the University to

try and raise the funds by itself.

The University would need to raise $50,000 per year to keep the class going.

“The most obvious thing to do if you want to keep it going indefinitely would be to try to raise an endowment,” Katz explained, referring to the course.

“But you’d have to raise a lot of money. An endowment pays for four to five percent annually on the principal, so to get enough principal to generate $50,000 a year, that’s a big number.”

Meck, who had visited the seminar as a guest speaker in December, said that he was deeply impressed by the class and enjoyed speaking to students about his experience in philanthropy. The course was “something I wished that I had the opportunity to do when I was going to school,” he said, citing this as a motivating factor to fund the class.

Katz explained that he kept in contact with Meck after he visited the class and noted that when Meck heard that the course was no longer going to be offered, he suggested to Katz that The

Palette Fund, where he serves as president of the board, could fund the seminar for several more years. Among other philanthropic efforts, the Palette Fund provides grant-making for education.

“I think it is a wonderful step for what we do,” Meck said, adding, “I feel very confident that this money is in great hands.”

Meck also noted that with the world changing rapidly, he feels like more and more young people should be represented in the world of philanthropy.

“In the next coming decade or so, the younger generation, I think, would have the opportunity to bring philanthropy to a new level,” Meck said. “At 35, I still am the youngest person usually at the table [in board of directors meetings], and I think that needs to change. I think the younger generation should be a bigger voice in the world of philanthropy and in the world of creating change in our country and internationally as well.”

Students who have taken the philanthropy seminar said they See DONATION page 2

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believe that the course is significant because it provides students with the opportunity to consciously give back to society and added that they are glad that this opportunity will be open to more students in the future.

“Philanthropy is such a growing sector in our lives,” Jennifer Lee ’17, said, explaining that she found what she learned in the course to be very relevant in real life and an eye-opening experience.

Katz and Lee both noted that despite the University’s interest and support for civic engagement and social entrepreneurship, students do not have many

“I think the younger generation should be a bigger voice in the world of philanthropy.”

Terrence Meck ’00

chances on campus to learn and experience pure philanthropy.

Katz explained that this lack of opportunity could be explained partly by funding problems and partly because it is hard to figure out which department philanthropy courses should be in.

“One problem in most universities is that philanthropy isn’t a subject matter that fits easily into the academic structure of the university,” Katz said. “It’s

not an academic discipline, it’s not a separate field,” Katz said.

He noted that he finds student-led philanthropic initiatives on campus to be more significant than regular courses.

Avaneesh Narla ’17, who was a student in the class, said he believes that bringing in lecturers engaged in philanthropic fields would help foster students’ interest in philanthropy on campus. He explained he believes students would be more interested in philanthropy if they could hear people engaged in the field talk about direct consequences of philanthropic actions.

“For example, people who signed The Giving Pledge, if you could bring in those people, it would definitely attract a lot of people,” Narla said.

Lee added that although she does not expect the University to provide funding for studentled philanthropic projects, she would appreciate it if the University provided some opportunities for students to engage with actual philanthropic organizations through internship programs like the Princeternship Program or mentoring programs.

Thirteen institutions of higher learning, including Stanford, Harvard, Yale and Penn, currently offer philanthropy courses in partnership with The Philanthropy Lab. FRS 157 is one of these courses.

Jaime Porter, assistant vice president for development operations, said the University is grateful to Meck for his support of The Program of Freshman Seminars and that Meck’s generosity will help introduce the newest Princetonians to the rigors and rewards of intellectual exploration.

CORRECTION Due to a reporting error, an earlier version of the Feb. 26 article “Young Alumni Trustee candidates announced” misstated the name of Yooni Ahn ‘14. The ‘Prince’ regrets the error.

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for students in their classes since the study hall would be later in the week.

Voge said, in addition to collaborating with faculty, McGraw worked with other University offices to make Saturday afternoon study halls a reality.

“McGraw doesn’t make these decisions unilaterally,” Voge said. “We always have to make sure the faculty is on board, and then McGraw works with the Office of the Dean of the College, and we collaborate really closely with the residential colleges.”

McConnell noted that the tutors were asked beforehand whether they would be available if Saturday sessions were to be implemented, and he found that the afternoon hours worked well for him.

Voge said that finding space in Frist, financing, advertising and tutor staffing were some of the challenges McGraw faced in implementing the Saturday sessions. He noted that staffing tutors for Saturdays was especially difficult because of the continuously changing schedules of students who may want to tutor.

“Because there are fewer courses and fewer tutors on Saturdays, that also means there are fewer backups,” Voge said.

Voge said when the plan for the Saturday session was first announced, there was a question raised by the tutors over whether students would come on Saturdays. However,

Voge said, the administrators at McGraw all agreed the new study halls were worth trying out.

Voge noted that the first and only McGraw Saturday session was lightly attended but added that he hopes more students will attend as awareness of the new development increases.

Like Voge, McConnell said there were not many people in attendance at this past Saturday session at McGraw.

However, he also noted he was able to spend more time with students who needed help and many of them seemed happy that there was not a crowd.

Destiny Crockett ’17, who is taking ECO 100 and attended the study hall last Saturday, said she would like the new sessions to continue.

“I think it was really helpful. It was better than the normal Sunday to Wednesday McGraw sessions, only because there were a lot less people and more tutors, so there were more tutors per person.”

Crockett said. “I wasn’t just sitting there waiting.”

Voge said as of now the McGraw Saturday sessions are experimental, and there are no commitments to continue them past this semester. He added that the turnout of students on Saturdays is not the only factor McGraw will consider when making the decision, noting space and rooms are another consideration.

“One of the things we’re trying to do is give students more options,” he said. “If we have more tutors and more spaces on Sunday through Wednesday, then we’ll probably just go with that, but we don’t know that yet.”

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News & Notes

Schapiro defends regulatory agencies SEC

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for their actions, particularly following the bad press it had gotten for failing to catch Bernie Madoff earlier. She noted that during her tenure the SEC brought forth 150-160 cases directly related to the financial crisis, adding that about 60 CEOs were penalized either through fines, injunctions or bans from serving as executives of public companies.

“We always try to hold individuals accountable if we can,” Schapiro said, noting that while it isn’t always possible to put people in jail, the SEC does the best it can to return money to

investors.

Schapiro also addressed the often criticized redundancy of having six different regulatory agencies in Washington. Of the six, Schapiro has worked at three: the SEC, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

Schapiro noted that politics is often involved in keeping the six agencies alive, as different congressional committees have jurisdiction over each. Although they can cause great inefficiency, since all six agencies must collaborate to pass rules such as the Volcker Rule and often have different priorities, Schapiro said the creation of the Financial Stability Oversight

Council has helped to reduce this inefficiency and also noted that having six agencies allows for a checks-and-balances system of financial regulation.

Schapiro was chairman of the SEC from 2009 to 2012 and was its first female chairman.

During her tenure, Schapiro sought to repair the damage done by what she claimed was underregulation during the 2008 crisis, bringing a record number of enforcement actions and returning over $6 billion to investors. In 2009, she was ranked as the 56th most powerful woman in the world by Forbes Magazine.

Schapiro spoke at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday in Dodds Auditorium.

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Former SEC chairman Mary Schapiro discusses transparency and accountability in financial markets.

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Local claim against AvalonBay dismissed Superior Court Judge Mary Jacobson dismissed a claim against real estate developer AvalonBay on Tuesday, the Trenton Times reported. A citizens’ group called Association for Planning at Hospital Site had gone before Judge Jacobson with the claim that AvalonBay, which hopes to convert the former Princ-

eton hospital on Witherspoon Street into housing, had not properly addressed issues of dust levels, asbestos and medical waste disposal.

The Association for Planning at Hospital Site argued against AvalonBay on the grounds that new development in the area needs to be more responsible. AvalonBay’s plan would replace the hospital site with 56 new housing units, some

aparments and some town houses.

After Princeton’s residents pushed for the town to hire an independent specialist to determine the contamination level of the site’s soil, the council unanimously passed a resolution to hire Ira Whitman, an independent consultant.

“We want to make sure we get a full analysis from him,” Mayor Liz Lempert said.

CORRECTION Due to an editing error, the Feb. 24 article “Jackson ‘15 requests Ivy Policy Conference funds, motion fails in Senate” misstated the name of the author. Her name is Durva Trivedi. The ‘Prince’ regrets the error.

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Lempert seeks to improve relations with U. TOWN

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how the University advertises the jobs that it has and just having internal conversations here. It’s something that we could do a better job with as well,” Lempert said.

“To have some sort of system or protocol, that that gets advertised locally, and people know where to go to see what it is, and we might combine that with some sort of ‘how to put together your resume’ or ‘how to interview,’ some sort of training programs too, to help diversify our staff, to help diversify the University.”

Lempert added she would like the council to have a similar meeting with Eisgruber at least once a year.

Another transition the town has had to confront is that of its police chief. Bruschi recommended to the council that interim police chief and Captain Nicholas Sutter assume the post of police chief, but the council has yet to submit written questions to Sutter and interview him. Bruschi would also have to review Sutter’s personnel file, and Sutter would have to give a public presentation.

Nonetheless, Bruschi said he believed the council should make a decision soon for purposes of finality. A study commissioned by the town showed that “stability within the department” should be the foremost criterion in determining a police chief, and he noted Sutter is well-liked by the town’s police officers.

The town needs “to keep the momentum going with all of the positive things that have gone on down there and not be indecisive as to what the leadership of the [police] department is going to be,” Bruschi said.

Former police chief David Dudeck retired in September after allegations of sexual harassment and discrimination

emerged.

The town administration will also hire a public works director and a public health director, and will come to a collective bargaining agreement with public works employees and public safety dispatchers in 2014, Lempert said. She added that the administration would also be working with the fire department to examine the sufficiency of the Witherspoon Street station and to determine what would be necessary to expand it. The town council is also in the first stages of talking to the Princeton First Aid and Rescue Squad about a location for and design and financing of a possible new facility for that group, Lempert and Butler said.

Butler added that preemptively creating a zoning plan for the downtown hospital site should be a priority of the council. The former hospital building is scheduled to be destroyed in the spring.

There are “about 15” priorities from its priorities list the council will immediately work on, Lempert said.

“Just because something’s not on the list doesn’t mean it won’t rise to the top,” she explained. “Just as with life, there’s stuff that happens, and often it’s of a nature that needs to be dealt with immediately. But it’s also important to plan.”

One such priority item was recommending a plan for advisory planning districts, which are established under New Jersey law in cases of municipal consolidation and comprise residents of both former jurisdictions to “provide advice to the planning board and the zoning board,” according to a town resolution. Other items include proposing a plan for bike parking and studying the need for zoning and design standards on Witherspoon Street.

Lempert also noted that the downsizing and reorganization of municipal government had created its own issues. One item that needs addressing is the town’s vehicle fleet, she said. The fact that the town employs fewer people than the former township and borough both necessitates adjustments to the fleet, Lempert explained, adding that the town’s vehicle

fleet is also aging. She said it is feasible to repaint and repurpose vehicles for use by a different department.

The downsizing of the town’s vehicle fleet would also increase its number of Sustainable Jersey points, she said.

Some of the town’s staff has also been repurposed in response to consolidation. The town is undertaking a project called “See-Click-Fix,” in which citizens can report any non-emergency concern via a telephone hotline or a mobile application, and it will be sorted by a staff member. The project will be staffed by some of the town employees whose original jobs have been redefined or eliminated because of consolidation, Lempert said.

While now residents must go online and look through the town’s directory and make a judgment call as to whom to seek help, “See-Click-Fix” should make the process easier by having a staff member

“Just because something’s not on the list doesn’t mean it won’t rise to the top” Liz Lempert Princeton Mayor make that judgment, Lempert explained.

The town will likely continue to redefine job descriptions in response to retirements. These retirements will contribute to additional cost savings, Lempert said. She said that although the town is largely on track with the savings it had projected, a lot of the savings come from personnel who may retire soon and assumptions made about when these people might be retiring may not meet the schedule for the town’s projected savings.

“We want to be somewhat flexible,” Lempert said.

“There might be people who leave that we hadn’t anticipated and instead of automatically replacing them, we look at the organizational chart and see if makes sense to replace

them, if it makes sense to redefine the job description.”

The town is also interested in seeing an organic waste recycling facility come to fruition in Mercer County, Lempert said. Lempert explained that the town currently ships organic waste to Delaware, which she said adds significantly to the cost of the program, though she said she hopes the county steps up to help.

However, Lempert also said that, despite its challenges, it is important to keep recycling organic waste.

“New Jersey has a real problem with space to throw stuff out. The landfill that we use is getting near its capacity,” Lempert said. “It’s waste but it’s also something that can be used for a useful purpose.

If you throw it out, you’ve destroyed its value. It can be turned into compost, and it’s certainly more environmental to do it that way.”

The council and administration have also been making progress on some of the priorities currently listed. For instance, the town’s police officers underwent training last week regarding the town’s policy on police interaction with immigrants.

“I think Princeton has been at the forefront of this, being really clear both for our own officers and for the community. The bottom line is that our police are there to keep everybody in the community safe,” Lempert said. “Especially when [federal and local directives] come into conflict. If someone’s a victim of a crime, it’s really important that they feel like they can report that to the police, because if they don’t, not only is that bad for the victim, but it endangers everybody.”

This has not been an abstract problem for the town, Lempert said, noting that the town has had a couple instances when U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement came to town but did not notify the police department.

“It was really dangerous,” she explained. “There was protocol that they didn’t follow, and it was reported to our police as a possible kidnapping, and it would be horrible if our police responded and got into [a firefight] with ICE.”

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Opinion

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In the service of the nation’s students

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

KAI SONG-NICHOLS : : CARTOONIST

Bennett McIntosh

Senior Columnist

This column is the first in a series about socioeconomic diversity and low-income students at the University.

While we were holed up in dorms and libraries studying for finals, University President Christopher Eisgruber ’83 was out and about, visiting the home of Princeton alumna, one Michelle Obama ’85. I can’t feel too bitter about him running around in Washington, D.C., though, since he was acting in the educational interests of students at Princeton and elsewhere. Eisgruber was attending a summit on college opportunities for low-income students, where he floated important initiatives to improve access to Princeton education for lower-income students. Such initiatives are key to national economic mobility, but do not go far enough in ensuring that excellent education is available to all students, regardless of income.

Incremental initiatives The summit was capped by the First Lady speaking about the opportunities her time at Princeton had afforded her. As Mrs. Obama said, education at a school like Princeton has a powerful effect on low-income students, due not only to the quality of education at such a school but also to the connections with other thinkers, movers and shakers that students make during our time here.

The Ivy League schools, and their admissions offices especially, are thus gatekeepers to economic and professional success. Princeton especially, with the largest perstudent endowment of the Ivies, has the resources to make a marked difference in the lives of students.

The policies the University and its peers take toward recruiting, preparing and educating lowincome students, then, have the potential to shape the socioeconomic realities of American life as much as any government policy.

University policy can be more farsighted than government policy too. In contrast to the simplest and largest government measures to reduce inequality — progressive taxation and entitlements targeting basic necessities, such as food and medical care — access to elite education ensures that all students are given the opportunity to educate themselves.

On the individual level, a student who obtains an elite education is less likely to need these entitlement programs, but the benefits go beyond the student; a Princeton-educated student is a citizen who can contribute more — economically and intellectually — to society than otherwise.

At the White House summit, President Eisgruber released a statement outlining new commitments to expanding opportunity for low-income students.

This included three laudable

initiatives — developing a STEM module to the Freshman Scholars Institute, expanding Leadership Enterprise for a Diverse America and continuing efforts to recruit low-income students.

FSI is a valuable resource, preparing dozens of students for Princeton’s classes during the summer before freshman year, and adding an option for students interested in STEM careers will benefit these students — and, by extension, their future innovations, colleagues and fields. LEDA’s goal to bring students to Princeton to draw them to a selective education is creditable and dovetails with current efforts to encourage these students to apply by working with their counselors and waiving their application fees.

But these incremental initiatives are not enough.

Failing the litmus test The lowest income used by Princeton admissions and financial aid offices — a bracket which includes as low as 15.8 percent of Princeton students — is a household income of less than $60,000 annually. As a measure for information on the University’s generous financial aid program, this is sensible — most students below this cutoff are granted full tuition, room and board, while fewer students above it are. But this is not a sensible definition of low-income in measuring economic diversity. In 2012, the annual median income for U.S. families was $51,371. This means the lowest-earning half of American families contributes as little as 15.8 percent of Princeton students. Meanwhile, in 2012 around one third of Princeton students responding to the Committee on Background and Opportunity III report reported their household incomes to be $200,000 or greater, representing a mere 3.8 percent of American households in the 2010 Census.

Lower and middle-income students are woefully underrepresented at elite institutions, particularly Princeton.

U.S. News and World Report measures economic diversity of a campus by the proportion of students who are Pell Grant recipients, and Princeton measures at 12 percent – the third lowest among top-25ranked colleges. Though Princeton has become more diverse since the 1950s, when Jewish and Asian students were rarities and all students were male, it is still severely lacking in meaningful economic diversity. In the face of these disparities, the University’s incremental efforts to improve economic diversity are nearly trivial. What we need is another paradigm shift the size of our groundbreaking no-loan financial aid program, which began for the Class of 2002. Since 2003, in the wake of this program, the University has increased its enrollment of Pell Grant students by 50 percent.

Unfortunately, since then, the University’s priorities have not been on increasing access to a wide range of low-income students. In its report last Septem-

The Ivy League schools ... are thus gatekeepers to economic and professional success.

ber, the Trustee Ad Hoc Committee on Diversity failed to include any discussion of Princeton’s current, historical or desired economic diversity in its report, focusing instead on race and gender. This despite recognizing that “Princeton and its peers do not come close to looking like America today” and maintaining that “[i]f equality of opportunity is the bedrock on which the United States was built, diversity is the litmus test of whether this equality is being truly achieved.” The University’s ultimate goal, then, should be to have student income distribution mirror that of our nation as a whole. Of course, Princeton cannot achieve this goal alone; by the time students even begin applying for college, there is already a dismaying achievement gap along economic lines. Because of this, until we as a nation realize groundbreaking changes in primary and secondary education, Princeton will likely only be able to approach an equitable and representative income distribution.

But this does not mean we cannot make significant strides. The higher proportion of students receiving Pell grants at our peer institutions such as Columbia (30 percent), Harvard (20 percent) and MIT (20 percent) indicates that there is no lack of talented and deserving students among this demographic. In order to reach this demographic makeup, though, the Office of Admission must be proactive throughout the admissions process, not only encouraging these students to apply but also making it more likely that they get in.

Affirmative Action Yes, I’m advocating for affirmative action. The Office of Admission should set and actively work towards a target proportion of low-income admits. Like the

unapologetic — with good reason. On campus, Sotomayor struggled to adapt to Princeton’s rigors but soon became a campus leader in Latino issues, often consulted directly by then-President Bowen GS ’58. As a result of her efforts, the University expanded not only its Latino student population, but also committed to hiring Puerto Rican and Latino professors and administrators, and started running a seminar on Puerto Rican political history. Princeton benefited from Sotomayor’s presence at the same time that she benefited from its educational offerings.

Princeton, thanks to the efforts of Sotomayor and those like her, is now more diverse and more welcoming to diversity — and the University understands the importance of race-based affirmative action in this diversity. When “Fisher v. University of Texas” reached the Supreme Court last year, Princeton joined many of its peer institutions in filing an amicus brief, arguing that race-based affirmative action was still a useful tool in building diversity in the student body.

But race-based affirmative action is no longer on its own sufficient for ensuring holistic diversity within the student body.

Although unfortunately race and income are still correlated in this country, many racial minorities have a significant number of successful members. As a result, strictly racial affirmative action does not target all the students it should, and some who have no need for the leg up it provides. Taken as a part of a holistic admissions policy, though, it still has a place, especially if the admissions office uses it and information gleaned from students’ personal stories to

should not be too much to aim for a third of all those enrolled coming from this income bracket. We may fall short, but we can make great strides nonetheless.

Paying it forward Here, a fair question arises: How can Princeton expect to double the enrollment of students in the bracket which gets a full grant? In light of this year’s gross tuition increase, it would be unfair to place the burden squarely on the shoulders of those who can afford to pay every cent of their way through. Some of the money could, perhaps, be made up of alumni donations galvanized by Princeton’s newfound commitment to education for Americans from all classes. Fortunately, a model for expansive free education is already being advanced in the Oregon public university system. Under the Oregon “Pay it Forward” plan, whose planning the state legislature approved last summer, students would pay no tuition whatsoever, instead dedicating a small percentage of all future income to the state university system. If the University were to give students who could not otherwise afford it the option to enter a program similar to this one, full tuition and fees need not be covered by grants — they can be covered in the future by the students themselves. Thus Princeton would literally make an investment by educating its students, and allow more lower-income students admission while staying on the forefront of financial aid. Such a program would clearly be more complicated than I can put forward right

When more talented students apply, the expanded room for such students fills itself.

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

NIGHT STAFF 02.26.14 news Durva Trivedi ’17 copy Caroline Congdon ’17 Elizabeth Dolan ’16 Natalie Gasparowicz ’16 Lily Lesser ’17 Joan Thompson ’16 Jennifer Shyue ’17 Sunny Zhang ’16 Tyler Starr ’16 design Anne Lovett ’16 Helen Yao ’15 Gerry Lerena ’16 Zi Xiang Pan ‘16

JESSIE LIU, ASSOCIATE DESIGN EDITOR & HELEN YAO, DESIGN EDITOR

35 percent which defines grade deflation, this need not be a strict quota, but should weigh heavily in admissions decisions, individually and as a group.

Last year’s affirmative action case “Fisher v. University of Texas” illustrates in a number of ways the need for this sort of affirmative action. Consider first, rather than the arguments in the case or the plaintiff and defendant, one of the arbiters, one of three Princeton alumni on the Supreme Court. Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor ’76 has made it well known that affirmative action likely played a part in her admission to Princeton and is

reach other underrepresented demographics — namely, the bottom half, by income, of Americans.

Yes, the University currently has a holistic admissions process, and yes, lower-income students who have overcome long odds or have compelling perspectives are already considered stronger applicants. But in light of lackluster lower-income enrollment, Princeton must make public its target enrollment numbers, and take good faith measures in making admissions decisions to reach those numbers. If currently, a little over 15 percent of Princeton students come from the lower half of American income, it

now, but it is important to understand that money should not be a problem to a creative financial aid office.

Leading the way from here The best part of publicly aiming to admit more lower-income students? Princeton will be seen as an accessible option for the highest achievers who might not otherwise have given the Ivy League — bastion of wealth that it is — a second thought. When more talented students apply, the expanded room for such students fills itself. And if one school succeeds, other schools will follow.

With enough effort, elite intuitions need no longer be elitist institutions, and can instead be ladders by which the Sonia Sotomayor’s and Michelle Obama’s of the future — driven students of all colors, genders, and identities – can enter the ranks of our leaders. Thus, Princeton acting in the service of students allows the University to act in the service of this nation and all nations, while individual students are each given the opportunity they deserve to succeed.

Bennett McIntosh is a sophomore from Littleton, Colo. He can be reached at bam2@princeton.edu.

Sports

Thursday february 27, 2014

page 6

{ www.dailyprincetonian.com }

Track & Field

This weekend: 2014 Ivy League Heptagonal Indoor Track & Field Championships, March 1st and 2nd

MEN

WOMEN

The men’s team has won three of the last four Indoor Heps, including second by one point in 2013.

The women’s team has won two of the last four Indoor Heps, though the last two years they’ve finished fourth and sixth.

P R O J EC T ED 163

CORNELL

145

PRINCETON

82

HARVARD

56

COLUMBIA

50

BROWN

36

PENN

32

DARTMOUTH

25

YALE

RE S U L T S HARVARD

130

COLUMBIA

100

CORNELL

91

DARTMOUTH

90

PRINCETON

54

BROWN

30

YALE

19

PENN

13

NOTE: Projected results are based on the season performance lists.

PROJECTED PRINCETON SCORE BREAKDOWN MEN: 145

FIELD

63

DISTANCE

50

SPRINTS

32

WOMEN: 54

SPRINTS

SPRINTS

FIELD

40

DISTANCE

13

SPRINTS

1

DISTANCE

FIELD FIELD

DISTANCE

Events per group: Field: 7, Distance: 7, Sprints: 5

Chris Bendtsen

Imani Oliver

Senior, Triple Jump PR: 42’ 2.75” (12.87m)

All-America Honorable Mention Ivy League outdoor champion Ivy League indoor scorer

Senior, 3000m, 5000m PR: 7:57.44 (3000m) 13:57.46 (5000m)

Tyler Udland

Ivy League individual XC champion 2-time Ivy League runner-up in indoor 5000m

Senior, 5000m

PR: 14:01.93

3-time 1st team All-Ivy for XC 2-time scorer in outdoor 5000m 3-time NCAA XC participant

HANNAH MILLER :: SENIOR DESIGNER

Tweet of the Day

‘Track is like life. Everything comes full circle-Unless it’s the 5000, in which case you’ve made it somewhere.’

Joe Stilin ’12, formerly of the track and cross country teams, on Twitter (@StilinIt)

Trivia

Who was the last male athlete to win multiple individual track events at the same Indoor Heps, and in what year did he accomplish this?

First person to tweet at us with the answer gets his or her name in tomorrow’s paper!

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