The Daily Princetonian: April 12, 2024

U. under federal investigation for antisemitism after complaint by conservative activist

By

The U.S. Department of Education launched an investigation into the University on Wednesday, April 3 regarding antisemitism on campus following a January complaint from Zachary Marschall, the editor-in-chief of the conservative website Campus Reform.

Princeton joins a number of prominent American universities, including Harvard and Yale, facing antisemitism investigations in recent months by the Department’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR) under Title VI of the Civil

Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race or national origin in institutions receiving federal funding.

According to Campus Reform, the complaint cites chants from an Oct. 25 walkout in support of Palestine, including “Brick by brick, wall by wall, apartheid has got to fall” and those referencing the intifadas. Marschall did not respond to a request for comment by publication time. The Department of Education does not immediately make the full complaints public.

Marschall has been responsible for filings initiating at least a dozen Title VI investigations,

including at Brown and Northwestern. Northwestern’s complaint was received by the OCR on the same day as that against Princeton. A recent profile in the Jewish Telegraphic Agency called Marschall “the most prolific filer of antisemitism complaints filed under Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act since Oct. 7.”

“Based on our familiarity with events on our campus and other information available to us, we are confident we are in full compliance with the requirements of Title VI,” University Spokesperson Michael Hotchkiss wrote in a statement to The Daily

The PROSPECT

Sip into spring and try Coffee Club’s spring drinks

By Natalia Diaz | Contributing Prospect Writer

As the days lengthen and flowers bloom around campus, spring is finally upon us.

Magnolia petals line Princeton’s beautiful cobblestone paths and white blossoms flow through the breeze as students prepare for the busy weeks to come as the semester nears its end. Amid the blossoming trees, bustling libraries, and the arrival of warm weather after a series of long, dreary, rainy days, Coffee Club has released their spring menu — offering students a refreshing and flavorful escape from their workload. As a committed enjoyer of caffeine, I decided to embrace the opportunity and sample the new selection.

Ordered from my least favorite to favorite, here are the seasonal drinks Coffee Club is serving this spring:

4. Elderflower Espresso Tonic

There is perhaps a target audience for this drink; however, I cannot say I am part of it. My initial impression of this

beverage was that it tasted like ginger ale and coffee mixed together, which, in my opinion, is not a combination that should ever be made. However, after sipping it a few more times, I could certainly see how someone could enjoy this carbonated drink. The espresso itself had a great flavor as it was strong, but not too bitter, offering an interesting balance to the earthy notes of the drink. After a few sips, delicious hints of elderflower become more apparent, creating a fruity and floral aftertaste. I cannot say I enjoyed the drink’s high acidity from both the espresso and carbonation, but it did provide a distinctive contrast in flavors. As someone who typically opts for a sweet beverage as their go-to form of caffeine, this drink was not for me. But those with an acquired taste for bitter drinks should consider ordering this on their next trip to Coffee Club.

Please send any corrections requests to corrections@dailyprincetonian.com.

Family of Elizabeth Tsurkov lobbies U. for White House action ahead of Iraqi PM state visit

By Bridget O’Neill Head News Editor

As President Joe Biden is set to welcome Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’a Al-Sudani to the White House on April 15, the family of graduate student Elizabeth Tsurkov has called on the Biden administration to designate Iraq as a state sponsor of terror for allegedly failing to work for her release from captivity. Tsurkov was kidnapped in Iraq in March 2023 by Iranbacked Shiite militia Kataib Hezbollah.

In an interview with The Daily Princetonian, Emma Tsurkov detailed her family’s advocacy to bring Elizabeth home.

“We believe countries that sponsor terror organizations are

responsible for the terror acts that are committed by terrorist organizations they support,” she said.

“[The Iraqi prime minister] is going to shake Biden’s hand with one hand and the other one holds the keys to my sister’s shackles.”

Emma Tsurkov said that her frustrations stem from the Iraqi government’s failure to use their ties to her sister’s kidnappers to free her. Kataib Hezbollah is a part of the Popular Mobilization Forces, a group of militias in Iraq originally organized to fight ISIS. The militia has officially been a part of the country’s security apparatus since 2016. Since 2009, it has been classified as a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S. Department of State.

” IN MEMORIAM: THE REV. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. “

APRIL 9, 1968

“My sister’s kidnappers are walking around Baghdad proud and free,” she said. “They know there is no accountability for what they’re doing. If there was accountability, the Iraqi government would just demand that they give her back.”

Emma Tsurkov pointed to several recent attacks by the militia, including a drone attack on a small U.S. outpost in Jordan in February that killed three U.S. Army soldiers, as proof of their terror. She said she hopes that the designation of Iraq as a state sponsor of terror would prompt accountability and motivate the Iraqi government to take action to negotiate Elizabeth Tsurkov’s freedom.

Because of her sister’s continued captivity, Emma Tsurkov shared that she had hoped that

the White House would make Biden’s meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’a AlSudani conditional on her sister’s release, calling the current circumstances of the meeting “mind boggling.”

Short of making the meeting conditional on her sister’s release, Emma Tsurkov said she “would expect [her sister’s release] to be a demand brought up on the agenda” of the meeting between the two leaders.

The White House website shared that the meeting’s purpose is to “coordinate on common priorities and reinforce the strong bilateral partnership between the United States and Iraq.” In July, the Iraqi prime minister’s office announced that it had launched a formal investigation into Elizabeth

Tsurkov’s disappearance, but Emma Tsurkov claimed her family has not received any findings.

The British Society for Middle Eastern Studies (BRISMES) recently published a letter to the prime minister of Iraq regarding Elizabeth Tsurkov’s ongoing detention. In the letter, they call on the prime minister to release the findings of the government’s investigation, any information they have regarding her disappearance, and the steps they have taken in response to her kidnapping. Additionally, BRISMES asked that Iraq “redouble [their] efforts to ensure her immediate release from captivity.”

Emma Tsurkov told the ‘Prince’ that she is hoping the

This Week In History

In memory of the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s passing on April 4, 1968, The Daily Princetonian examines the response of members of the Princeton community to his passing. Robert Goheen GS ’48, University president at the time, suspended classes on April 9, the day of King’s funeral, to allow students to attend memorial events and discussions organized by two student groups: The Association of Black Collegians (ABC) and Informed Citizens Against Apathy (ICAA).

Miriam Waldvogel

Associate News Editor

CALVIN GROVER / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN Nassau Hall.

Steinlauf: “A

climate of hostility has not taken over the campus in the way it has at other universities”

COMPLAINT

Continued from page 1

Princetonian. “Based on the complainant’s published description of the complaint, we know that he is not a member of the University community and that his complaint appears to be premised on chants at protests.”

Multiple Jewish community members, including students and staff, told the ‘Prince’ that while antisemitic and anti-Zionist rhetoric had been present, it was not a campus-wide issue.

“There has been rhetoric on Princeton’s campus, as on many campuses, that has been deeply disturbing to some in the Jewish

LOCAL

community, who feel that such rhetoric could create a hostile environment to Jewish people who support Israel’s right to exist,” Center for Jewish Life (CJL) Executive Director Rabbi Gil Steinlauf ’91 wrote to the ‘Prince.’ “My read on the campus climate at Princeton, however, is that such a climate of hostility has not taken over the campus in the way it has at other universities … A majority of Jewish students have reported to me that they do not feel that Princeton is an antisemitic place.”

Steinlauf told the ‘Prince’ that Marschall did not contact him in relation to the complaint.

Rabbi Eitan Webb, one of the directors of Princeton’s Chabad

House, highlighted the University’s prohibition on amplified sound during protests and changes to policies for no-contact orders as examples of University action to “foster a safe and healthy environment.” But, he said, there was also more work to be done.

“Although administrations can signal with policies, and they must, students also have power to set the tone for a campus,” he wrote, referencing Chabad’s spring break trip to Israel, where students visited sites from Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks and met with Israeli president Isaac Hertzog.

“None of the pro-Palestinian protests that have occurred on campus have threatened the safe-

ty of Jewish students,” Emanuelle Sippy ’25 told the ‘Prince’ on behalf of the Alliance of Jewish Progressives (AJP). “These efforts [by Marschall] are rooted in a misguided and problematic conflation of anti-Zionism and antisemitism, designed to silence students and faculty members for their political beliefs.”

“We have observed that the University has applied its commitment to free speech and academic freedom consistently across the political spectrum and has investigated incidents of bias and harassment against Jewish students judiciously,” Sippy noted.

In a statement to the ‘Prince,’ Stephen Bartell ’25, the president

of the CJL student board, called the University a “valuable partner” in responding to individual antisemitic incidents, as well as antisemitism broadly.

“Even with demonstrations and protests that can be really heated by nature, I would say that the vast majority of Jewish students feel safe and comfortable being loudly and proudly Jewish as they exist in their everyday lives on campus,” he wrote.

Miriam Waldvogel is an associate News editor and the Investigations Editor for the ‘Prince.’ She is from Stockton, Calif. and often covers campus activism and University accountability.

No reported injuries following 4.8 magnitude earthquake on campus

By Christopher Bao

Assistant News Editor

An approximately 4.8 magnitude earthquake struck campus at approximately 10:25 a.m. on Friday, April 5. According to the United States Geological Survey, the epicenter of the earthquake was in Tewksbury, N.J., approximately 25 miles north of Princeton.

A TigerAlert sent at 10:54 a.m. read, “Earthquake occurred at 10:25 a.m. No reports of injuries or damage on campus. You can resume normal activities.”

Some students reported building evacuations in response to the quake. Chloe Long ’26, who was attending class in Frist Campus Center at the time of the earthquake, told the

‘Prince’ that her professor “immediately knew it was an earthquake, and she told us all to follow her outside.”

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, earthquake procedure prescribes staying at one’s original location and moving away from doorways or anything that could fall.

“When we got outside, there were other classes out there. We continued class outside for a minute and then once there weren’t any aftershocks, we went back in and finished class,” she said.  “We were all a little rattled just because we didn’t know what was happening, and we’d never been in an earthquake before, but [my professor] was really calm and knew what to do, so I was a lot less scared. Also, it was over quickly enough that I really just had time to be confused.”

Elisa Gonzalez ’27, who was attending Spanish class in East Pyne Hall, said that she felt “a rumble from below, but it just sounded like construction. I was in an old building, so that added to the fear.”

Gonzalez is a staff Copy editor for the ‘Prince.’

“Most of us had never been in an earthquake, myself included, and we all paused after realizing it wasn’t machinery or construction,” she said. “It was definitely scary after people started mentioning aftershocks. The fact that they could happen later at any time — like we could be walking, and then it just starts up again — was concerning.”

Valeria Zuluaga-Sanchez ’24 was in Grousbeck Hall, her dorm building, when the earthquake struck. “It felt like some heavy cart was being rolled

down the hall. Later on, it felt like the building was pitching forward and back as well,” she told the ‘Prince.’

“I’ve been in an earthquake before, but it was still pretty nerve wracking, especially since I wasn’t expecting one to happen in this area of the country,” she said.

While much of the campus felt the earthquake, some students reported not feeling the tremor. “I was in the Rockefeller College common room bathroom and I didn’t know anything happened until my friend texted and asked if I had felt it,” Sophia Harrison Bregman ’27 said. “I was so sad that I didn’t feel it, because I’m in GEO 103: Natural Disasters this semester, and I’ve been learning all about earthquakes, so it would have been really educational and interesting to have actually felt an earthquake.”

By 11 a.m., construction and normal campus activities had all appeared to resume.

A second, aftershock tremor struck campus at approximately 5:59 p.m. with a 4.0 magnitude.

The University did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.

This story is breaking and will be updated as further information becomes available.

Meghana Veldhuis ’27 is an assistant News editor for the ‘Prince.’ She is from Bergen County, N.J. and typically covers faculty and graduate students.

Christopher Bao is an assistant News editor and the accessibility director for the ‘Prince.’ He is from Princeton, N.J. and typically covers town politics and life.

Baseball, softball fields to be displaced by new quantum building

By Tate Hutchins Associate Sports Editor

Princeton’s baseball and softball teams will soon be relocated to the other side of Lake Carnegie due to campus construction.

The new softball stadium is currently set to be complete this spring and will be located in the Meadows Neighborhood in West Windsor. The softball team will practice alongside new graduate housing, as well as other athletic facilities, including a cross-country course, rugby fields, and the Racquet Center opening in the fall. While the new softball stadium is nearly complete, the University

has not yet released official plans for a new baseball stadium. It is likely that the baseball team will also move to the Meadows Neighborhood area, given the available land and existing athletics presence there.

“We have been told it’s going to be right next to the softball field in the same neighborhood,” pitcher Justin Kim ’26 wrote in a statement to The Daily Princetonian.

Both Clarke Field, home of Princeton baseball, and Strubing Field, home of Tiger softball, will be replaced by the new Quantum Institute for Quantum Science and Engineering. The fields are located next to the east-facing side of Jadwin. The institute will soon begin

construction adjacent to the Environmental Studies and the School of Engineering and Applied Science facilities. The project is another aspect of the University’s plan to expand the campus and increase class sizes.

According to a statement from University Spokesperson Jennifer Morrill, “the Quantum Institute for Quantum Science and Engineering will be a multidisciplinary facility specifically built for the rigorous needs of quantum science.” It will “include ample lab space for new as well as for existing faculty members, as well as spaces to foster collaboration and cross-pollination.”

The new facility comes from an effort to continue making strides in quantum research, according to Morrill. It is “designed to create a focal point for the new research and educational efforts on campus.”

“The timing to be investing in [the quantum physics] field is excellent given the recent advances and the remarkable opportunities that are just ahead in terms of exciting fundamental science and potential applications,” Dr. Ali Yazdani, co-director of the Princeton Quantum Initiative, told the ‘Prince.’

In December 2023, a breakthrough by Princeton physicists successfully entangled molecules for the first time. Princeton has always been

a leader in the field of quantum physics, and the new Quantum Institute looks to help the University become a place where further breakthroughs can occur. The building will not just house the physics department, but it will also serve as the new home for Princeton’s four main areas of quantum research: Quantum Systems Experiment, Quantum Systems Theory, Quantum Materials Science, and Quantum Computer Science.

The new facilities will come at the cost of Princeton’s baseball and softball fields, forcing each team to the opposite side of Lake Carnegie. While the Clarke and Strubing Fields are within walking distance of the main campus, both teams will soon have to find other ways to get to their practices and games.

Clarke Field has witnessed over 500 Tiger baseball wins in 63 years, while Strubing Field has welcomed Princeton softball since 2019. Both teams have had to move due to campus construction in the past and will have to relocate once again.

Clarke Field was built after the previous baseball field, University Field, was designated for removal due to the construction of the EQuad in 1965.

“It’s pretty unfortunate that we have to move our field across campus, leaving us even farther away from the rest of campus,” Kim explained.

While the majority of non-conference baseball games are played away from Princeton, Clarke Field hosts a full slate of Ivy League games and also serves as a practice facility. “Clarke Field is more than just a place for us to play; moving the field takes away much of the sentiment connected with it as well,” Kim wrote.

The softball team is moving for the second time in five years after their previous Class of 1895 Field was removed for the construction of Yeh College and New College West.

Strubing Field opened in the fall of 2019 and is a full-turf field with a newer digital scoreboard. While it was an upgrade from the previous smaller dirt field, Strubing Field wasn’t meant to be a longterm replacement for the Class of 1895 Field.

“I know that our new stadium is currently being built. The field [that we] currently have was always supposed to be a temporary field,” infielder Allison Ha ’25 wrote to the ‘Prince.’ Allison Ha is a staff Sports writer for the ‘Prince.’

Both teams will finish out their 2024 seasons at their current fields and begin preparations to move after the season concludes.

Tate Hutchins is an associate Sports editor and contributing News writer for the ‘Prince.’

Emma Tsurkov:

“At this point, my main focus is just doing everything I can to bring her back”

TSURKOV

Continued from page 1

University will take a similar action, especially ahead of the meeting between Biden and the Iraqi prime minister. “I hope that this is just a work in progress,” she said of a potential letter from Princeton.

The University declined to comment on the status of this request.

According to reporting from the Washington Post, Tsurkov was kidnapped in Karrada, an upper-class neighborhood of Baghdad. Emma Tsurkov alleges there are police cameras on every corner. “The Iraqi Government is basically saying that they’re somehow too incompetent to be able to find any information or find my sister in over a year since the kidnapping, but somehow [the United States is] supposed to be sending them military assistance,” she said.

Emma Tsurkov shared that she was able to get in touch with low-level bureaucrats within the Iraqi government, but they told her they knew nothing more than what was being reported in the media.

In the United States, Emma Tsurkov has been working with the State Department and members of Congress to work towards her sister’s freedom. She said she has been informed that the U.S. government has raised the issue of her sister’s case with the Iraqi government, but said this is “clearly not sufficient for motivating the Iraqi government to actually do something about it.”

Tsurkov’s case caught the attention of Congress last fall when Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.)

wrote to Secretary of State Anthony Blinken in September to “urge the Administration to use our close and abiding relationship with Iraq to raise Elizabeth’s abduction and call for her release at every opportunity and level.”

Sens. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Ted Budd (R-N.C.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) and Rick Scott (R-Fla.) and Reps. Jake Ellzey (R-Texas), French Hill (R-Ark.), Mike Turner (R-Ohio) and Mike Waltz (R-Fla.) have also criticized the administration for hosting the Iraqi leader.

News of Elizabeth Tsurkov’s kidnapping became public in July when Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that she was being held by Kataib Hezbollah.

Tsurkov, who specializes in the Middle East, including Iraq, Syria, and Israel-Palestine, was conducting research which the University confirmed in October was “related to her approved Ph.D. dissertation topic.”

A video circulated online and broadcast on Iraqi television networks in November appeared to show Tsurkov for the first time since she was abducted. In the video, Tsurkov spoke Hebrew — likely under duress — for more than four minutes, asking her family and friends to work towards her release. She said that Kataib Hezbollah told her no efforts had been made for her release.

“At this point, my main focus is just doing everything I can to bring her back, because she doesn’t have time,” Emma Tsurkov stated.

Bridget O’Neill is a head News editor for the ‘Prince.’

THE MINI CROSSWORD

By Dana Ayebare Puzzles Contributor

Charter Club changed guest policy after conservative professor’s lunch. After headlines, the policy was reversed.

By Bridget O’Neill Head News Editor

The guest policy changed at Princeton’s sole selective signin eating club. Days later, it changed again.

On March 26, Charter Club’s President announced a new guest policy in a club-wide group chat. Under the new policy, club members were required to inform the Club Manager and a student officer of guests they invite during meal hours who were not friends or family “for review.”

By April 2, the policy was reversed after an intervention from the club’s Graduate Board. In the seven days in between, debate over the policy rose from the club’s private GroupMe to the headlines of national right-wing publications. Club leadership maintains that the reversal was not due to national media scrutiny.

The controversy, and the specific demographic to which the policy applied — visitors other than friends or family — traces back to a lunch in February.

Charter member, and member of Princetonians for Free Speech, Matthew Wilson ‘24 brought his thesis advisor, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence Robert P. George, to lunch at the club on Feb. 14. George was named an honorary member of the Charter Club in 2012 — a status that enables him to dine and bring guests to Charter. In a column published in The Daily Princetonian on April 1 criticizing the ensuing policy change, Wilson described the lunch as “pleasant and uneventful” and says he followed the club’s procedure for bringing guests to meals.

Wilson is a columnist for the ‘Prince.’

More than a month later, Charter Club President Anna Johns ‘25 announced the new policy.

In her message, Johns called the club a “sanctuary” for student membership and their friends and family. She requested that members “limit the use of [the] clubhouse space to this core group” and announced the new review procedure.

Johns did not reply to request for comment by publication time.

Immediately after, speculation stirred about what triggered this policy change. In his column, Wilson said that he heard from friends that the policy was a reaction to his February lunch. In a comment to the ‘Prince’, Chairman

of the Board of Governors of Princeton Charter Club, Rodrigo Menezes ‘13 confirmed that the policy was in response to members’ discomfort at the presence of Professor George, which they expressed to club officers.

“Some members wanted the choice to be absent from the Club around certain guests. The proposed procedure intended to give members that freedom by requiring a short pre-registration,” Menezes wrote.

The announcement immediately caused confusion among members and alumni who were unclear on the reasoning behind the change. After Wilson circulated a petition to the club’s alumni board calling on them to revoke the policy, Johns sent another message in the group chat clarifying that “Charter is an inclusive private club that will never deny a member’s request to bring a guest to our sanctuary,” but maintained that prior review would still be required.

George is a well-known campus figure, partially due to his leadership of the James Madison Program. Vocally pro-life, George was referred to in a New York Magazine article from a decade ago as the “reigning brain of the Christian right.” In his scholarship, George has repeatedly argued against same-sex marriage.

“It was a grave error for Charter’s leadership to bend to the demands of a few students who couldn’t stomach the possibility of being within shouting distance of someone whose views challenge their own,” Wilson argued in his April 1 column.

On April 2, conservative national news organizations caught wind of the story.

A Fox News headline read, “Conservative Princeton professor makes members of exclusive campus social club uncomfortable, student says.”

A National Review piece by Abigail Anthony ‘23 was titled “Princeton’s Nurseries.” She argued that justifying the policy with the virtue of inclusivity is hypocritical given that “they want a carefully constructed community, presumably one insulated from people who hold different views.”

“I seriously doubt the new policy will be neutrally enforced with respect to political ideology; after all, it was precisely because of George’s conservative views that complaints were raised, since he wasn’t engaging in any disturbing conduct,” Anthony wrote.

Solveig Gold ‘17, a former Postdoctoral Research Associate at the James Madison Program and former Princeton undergraduate wrote on X, “One of Princeton’s eating clubs (co-ed frats) has instituted a new visitors policy after a student brought @ McCormickProf to lunch— because his very presence at the club made members feel unsafe!”

Professor George responded to the post, writing “So ... Students have to give notice to bring me as a guest for lunch at a club ... that I myself belong to? And, as a member, am entitled to use whenever I like, and bring guests of my own? (By the way, Solveig, when are you available to be my guest for lunch at Charter Club?).”

He later posted “I’m a member of Charter Club. I was made an honorary member in 2012 pursuant to Art. III, Pt. 3 of the Club’s constitution. I’m entitled to use the Club when I like and bring guests.” George is also an honorary member of Ivy Club.

While a national debate ensued, internal debate about whether to keep the policy continued within the Club. In an unusual step, members asked the Graduate Board to “arbitrate the situation and make a decision for the Club,” according to Menezes.

On April 2, at 11:05 p.m. Menezes wrote in an email to members that the Board “is leery of any process that could reduce the culture of civil discourse and camaraderie at the Club” and decided to reverse the policy.

Menezes clarified in his comment to the ‘Prince’ that the board’s decision was based on “civil discourse within the community, not pressure from national coverage” and “The Board would have reached the exact same conclusion without national coverage.”

“Our members and alumni reached out, telling us that this procedure could discourage members from bringing potentially controversial guests, limiting the club’s capacity to act as a forum for civil discourse on campus,” he added.

Menezes also noted to the ‘Prince’ that he hopes Professor George or Wilson are not discouraged from coming to the club.

“They are still welcome at the Club, and we aspire to be among the most inclusive clubs on the street.”

Bridget O’Neill is a head News editor for the ‘Prince.’

Large crowds eclipse expectations for rare astronomical event

By Hallie Graham News Contributor

The stars aligned at Princeton on April 8 as the Princeton community, along with millions of people across North America, enjoyed the celestial sight as a solar eclipse unfolded overhead.

According to the New York Times, the partial eclipse first made landfall in North America near Mazatlán, Mexico around 12:51 p.m. EST, but the eclipse began in Princeton, N.J. at 2:09 p.m. It reached 90 percent totality at 3:24 p.m. and of-

ficially ended at 4:35 p.m.

This is the first solar eclipse to be visible from New Jersey since 2017. The solar eclipse of 2017 was a total eclipse, but it took place near the solar minimum, so eclipse observers saw little activity around the sun. The solar minimum is the period of least solar activity during the Sun’s 11-year solar cycle. During this period, sunspot and solar flare activity greatly decrease and do not occur for even days at a time. For this solar eclipse, watchers in the path of totality — a trail over which the moon fully obscures the

sun — could easily see the Sun’s corona and plasma tendrils streaming outwards from the dark center of the moon.

Students and faculty gathered all over campus and in town to view the eclipse. On Frist North Lawn, the Princeton Astronomy Club (PAC) held an event complete with 100 pairs of free eclipse viewing glasses, chocolate covered espresso beans, and PAC stickers.

Amrita Sahu ’26, Vice President of the PAC and co-organizer of the event on April 8, told The Daily Princetonian in an interview that

FACULTY

the club “does a lot of different astronomy related events on campus to spread the love for astrophysics, physics, and astronomy in general. There are a lot of stargazing events that [they] do on Forbes lawn.”

Sahu said that this eclipse viewing party was “one of [PAC’s] biggest events. So many people came by. Everyone just wants to see the eclipse today.”

At an event hosted by the Department of Astrophysical Sciences, the Council on Science and Technology, and the Office of Science Outreach in Palmer Square, Charlotte Ward, a postdoctoral astronomy researcher in the Astrophysics Department, explained to students gathered that “here at Princeton, we’re at 90 percent coverage which means that we can’t see the corona, but we can still see the moon cross the sun and give it this coverage … but even with partial coverage it is still really exciting.”

Ward said, “It is a really great chance to just get a sense of the physical distance between us and the sun and the moon in between. It’s a great chance to come up and ask astronomers what’s going on.”

While the opportunity to ask astronomers questions about the eclipse tempted some, most students went from event to event looking for eclipse glasses to better view the celestial event. Nasir Cook ’25 was exiting Cottage Club when he “heard they were giving out glasses at Palmer Square and decided to come down.”

Cook last saw the eclipse of 2017 at his middle and high school back

in Nashville, Tenn., but he told the ‘Prince’ that the Palmer Square event signaled to him that “we can bring people together for almost any event. There are people from all over — not just Princeton students — but people from around the Princeton community, people that are visiting the shops here.”

Like Cook, Ella Bwonya ’26, a student interested in astronomy, also stopped by the Palmer Square event. “Just seeing how many people showed up today is kind of crazy. It says that we are a really close community,” she told the ‘Prince.’

Over in Whitman College’s main courtyard, a big crowd came together with picnic blankets, snacks, and eclipse viewing glasses. Though students expressed to the ‘Prince’ that it did not get as dark as they thought it may, Joyce Yang ’27 said, “I give it an 8.5 out of 10. This was really cool.”

“I think if it wasn’t nearly as total then there would still be a big crowd here,” Danielle Schmitt, an academic staff member in the Department of Geosciences, told the ‘Prince.’

The year 2044 was thrown around frequently at each event around campus: The next eclipse in the contiguous United States will occur in 20 years — though the path of totality will only be visible in North Dakota, Montana, and South Dakota.

“Maybe I’ll travel in 2044,” Schmitt said.

Hallie Graham is a News contributor for the ‘Prince.’

Eliza Griswold ’95 named director of Princeton’s Program in Journalism

By Olivia Sanchez Associate News Editor

On March 28, the Humanities Council’s Program in Journalism named Eliza Griswold ’95 its new director. This is the first change in leadership for the program since current director Joe Stephens founded the program in 2018.

Griswold graduated from Princeton in 1995 with an A.B. in English. She is a contributing writer for The New Yorker, and covers a diverse range of issues, including war, politics, and the environment. Most recently, she wrote about children who have lost their limbs in Gaza, and in 2019, her book “Amity and Prosperity: One Family and the Fracturing of America” won the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction.

In an interview with The Daily Princetonian, Griswold discussed the importance of bridging the divide between different ideologies.

“I strongly believe and know from my experience, both abroad and in America, that journalism really requires crossing lines of difference … which is really going to be at the heart of what I’m bringing to the program,” she said.

As part of this effort, Griswold will be teaching The Media in America: Witnessing History (JRN260) in the fall.

“We’re going to be covering the election as a virtual newsroom,” she explained, adding that the class will be working with a non-

profit news organization “to learn how to cover an election beyond horse race politics. Too often as journalists, we come in in an election year … and ask, ‘Who are you voting for?’”

Griswold also plans to cover the election for The New Yorker as much as she can, “so the students will be seeing me do that firsthand and learning how I myself try to look for stories and people to write about who defy our easy expectations of what, of how, people vote,” she said.

For University Professor of English Esther Schor, who chairs the Humanities Council, “all the stars aligned” for Griswold’s selection.

“She’s the kind of distinguished journalist that we try to hire even for one semester here,” said Schor in an interview with the ‘Prince.’

“She writes incisively and deeply about religion, about war, about underserved communities, about fracking and extraction resources,” Schor said. “She does immersive reporting, and comes out with extraordinary pieces.”

Schor also emphasized that Griswold “has a humanistic background and a devotion to the humanities” beyond journalism. In 2010, Griswold received the Rome Prize for her poetry, and she has translated Pashto poems by female Afghan poets into English.

Stephens also expressed his excitement about Griswold’s leadership in an interview with the ‘Prince.’

“I know she will bring creativity and energy to her new role, and I really expect to learn a lot

from her,” he said.

The director position has a term of six years, meaning it was time for Stephens to step down. However, he plans to continue teaching courses in the program.

“Helping found and direct the formal program in journalism really has been the privilege of a lifetime,” he said. “I’ve learned so much, and had so much fun. And alongside my colleagues and the students, we’ve made real progress in so many areas.”

Stephens also discussed the efforts the program has made to increase diversity and inclusion in terms of faculty, course offerings, and curriculum, saying, “Our

team has organized and hosted scores of high-profile panels and lunch talks, where leading journalists and academics wrestled with vexing issues in the field. Our aim has been to weave journalism into the fabric of traditional academic life.”

“It’s been a heck of a six years and all of that has only been a prologue — there’s more yet to come,” Stephens said.

Griswold also said she hopes to enhance the interdisciplinary nature of the Program in Journalism, noting, “The skills of journalism apply across the board in sociology and religion, in environmental students, in history.”

“I’m really looking forward to collaborating with different departments within the University so that students who might not see themselves as becoming journalists can find a path to the journalism department to gather skills that they want for [any] career,” she added. Most of all, Griswold is excited to teach Princeton students. “If you told me I’d be coming back to do this, I don’t think I would have believed it because it would have felt too good to be true,” she said.

Olivia Sanchez is an associate News editor for the ‘Prince.’

RODOLFO ARZAGA / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN Students and other community members observing the solar eclipse on Cannon Green.

ON

Labyrinth will no longer supply books for Princeton courses

By Annie Rupertus & Christopher Bao

After 17 years, Princeton’s coursebook partnership with local independent bookstore Labyrinth Books is coming to an end.

Starting this summer, coursebooks will be supplied through the online retailer eCampus. According to the University and Labyrinth, the split was a mutual decision. Some students, though, expressed disappointment with the switch, as well as surprise. At publication time, there has not been a formal, publicized announcement issued to the University community.

Many students head to Nassau Street at the start of each semester to purchase coursebooks through Labyrinth at a 30 percent discount, which they can return for a full refund during the two-week add/drop period and sell back to the bookstore at the end of the semester.

“The change was based on our mutual agreement that our long-standing system no longer made sense for the store or for the University,” University Spokesperson Jennifer Morrill wrote in a statement to The Daily Princetonian.

A press release from Labyrinth sent to the ‘Prince’ noted that the bookstore would shift its focus to expand its “used and antiquarian holdings.” They also hope that the shift will allow the downstairs area to include “more flexibly sized event areas, and smaller meeting spaces, as well as remodeled displays and inviting seating.”

eCampus offers new books, used books, ebooks, and rentals. Students will still be able to sell books back, but the University did not directly respond to a question about how buy-backs will operate through eCampus. The new website states “More information about this program will be available soon” at the time of publication. Students will still be able to sell textbooks from the 2023–24 school year back to Labyrinth until June 15. Books for summer programs will be available online for purchase starting May 1 and Fall semester coursebooks will be available beginning August 1. Students can order books to any shipping address.

Princeton University Mail Services processes roughly 20 percent of the packages they receive annually between late August and September, reflecting the high volume of incoming mail during move-in. The University did not directly respond to a question about whether the new coursebook system could further delay Mail Services processing times in Frist Campus Center at the start of the semester, although Morrill did write, “It should be noted that eCampus stocks and houses its own inventory in a state-of-the-art distribution center, offers free 2-day expedited shipping to Campus and has a vast selection of digital resources, as well as providing a guaranteed book buyback price for students displayed on selected titles at the time of checkout.”

The University also did not directly respond to a question about the environmental impact of switching to a coursebook delivery system.

When asked about the tran-

sition and potential renovation process, Labyrinth co-owners Dorothea von Moltke and Cliff Simms noted that “the timeline is uncertain, will depend on finances, and may necessitate store closures at different moments.”

The partnership between Labyrinth and the University dates back to 2007. Simms was quoted in a University article upon the beginning of this partnership, saying “Princeton University has taken the changing bookselling landscape in town as an opportunity … to help ensure that there will still be an independent, community bookstore on Nassau Street and that it can meet the University’s own bookrelated needs, including course books, as effectively and economically as possible.”

Labyrinth believes that the bookstore will still serve a crucial role in University and town community even after the conclusion of this 17-year-long partnership.

“In continuing to support a post-coursebooks Labyrinth, the University is reiterating the conception it had articulated when they invited Labyrinth to Princeton in 2007: to support a bookstore that serves the needs of both the University and larger community by offering a rich selection of books and program of events,” Labyrinth’s press release continued.

Von Moltke and Simms noted in a separate statement to the ‘Prince’ that the split may have an impact on staff, stating that “approximately a third of our overall revenue has come

from coursebook sales. Without coursebook rushes and the preparations, which include receiving, handling, shelving thousands of books, and the labor of returning books to publishers when they don’t sell, we are now in the process of assessing how many fewer people in different areas of the store we will need.”

Labyrinth Books has made recent headlines due to its workers’ unionization in January, which the store’s ownership ultimately supported. Still, employees have protested ongoing challenges such as “understaffing and intimidation.” Currently, employees and management are engaged in collective bargaining.

In a statement to the ‘Prince,’ Labyrinth Books employee Elise Agnor wrote that “Labyrinth Books claims to be pro-union but they are operating in a way that undermines the Union, and the news about Labyrinth’s contract with Princeton is a prime example.”

She continued, “The Union is focused on trying to negotiate a fair and equitable contract; if management actually wants to be considered a pro-union employer, they should act like it and come to the table to negotiate over any changes to status quo, which they failed to do adequately and accurately here.”

The University indicated that the changes come in part as a result of shifting demand from students.

Morrill noted that surveys of faculty and students conducted in 2023 “indicated increasing demand for digital materials and need for flexibility in as-

signing readings as the semester progresses,” which also factored into the decision.

Indeed, the owners of Labyrinth told the ‘Prince’ that “Post [COVID-19], coursebook sales have dropped by 50 [percent] from 2019. However, the number of books ordered by faculty remained fairly steady-state. COVID-19 accelerated the availability of most course materials in the form of free PDFs. Ordering, receiving, stocking, and returning unsold coursebooks have demanded the [repurposing] of staff and space for [five] months of each year, but with no sustainable returns on investment.”

Dean of the College Jill Dolan notified faculty of the switch to eCampus at the end of March. Morrill noted that students will receive relevant information over the summer.

As the change has not yet been announced to the student body, all the students interviewed by the ‘Prince’ for this piece were not yet aware of the change, although the new coursebook landing page has been live since at least March 29, according to Internet Archive.

“This is a travesty,” was the initial reaction of Maia Weintraub ’25 upon hearing the news. Although she noted eCampus could potentially be a convenient option, she said, “I just kind of like the feel of going to a real life bookstore and picking up books, and it kind of takes the fun out of it” to order books online.

Although Sharon Leonard ’27 does not envision that the switch will have a major impact on her,

she told the ‘Prince’ that she was “surprised because [she] thought that Labyrinth and Princeton had a really strong connection.”

Samuel Kligman ’26 told the ‘Prince’ that he believes the switch in providers should prompt further changes from the University, saying the change is “a major inconvenience and it should already spur the University into subsidizing our books.” The coursebooks website states that professors must submit textbook orders by April 30 for summer programs and by May 31 for Fall semester classes.

“The May deadline for Fall 2024 book adoptions is earlier than usual in an effort to get faculty and staff to start using the new tool before the summer break so we can provide sufficient support and training to all who need it,” Morrill wrote to the ‘Prince.’

“We value Labyrinth’s long service as the University’s textbook provider,” Dolan wrote to the ‘Prince,’ “and we are excited to support our town’s beloved bookstore as it invests in its more targeted scholarly mission.”

Annie Rupertus is a head News editor for the ‘Prince.’

Christopher Bao is an assistant News editor for the ‘Prince’ who typically covers town politics and life.

Head & Assistant News Editor

Fall 2024 courses offering an international travel opportunity

By Kirill Sirik Contributing

Writer

From Ethiopia to France, Princeton students can enroll in courses that offer an opportunity to travel abroad with their classmates over fall break. The courses are offered through multiple departments, each having a unique structure.

In Fall 2024, students will have access to at least five courses that travel internationally: ANT 437, ART 456, HUM 417, FRE 217, and HIS 461. All of these courses have required applications. The classes analyzed were found by searching the words “travel” and “trip” on the Registrar’s course offerings website.

“The practice of dislocating and defamiliarizing one’s view on the question of the global by engaging deeply with another site is invaluable,” Professor Irene Small wrote to The Daily Princetonian. Additionally, Small, whose course ART 456: Contemporary Art: The World Picture travels to Italy, emphasized the importance of expanding one’s global perspective through travel. “Academics are only one part of what makes up a person and their life perspective, and travel often allows for these other elements to come into play within our discussions.”

Beyond the arts, FRE 217: Revisiting Paris includes a mandatory trip to Paris, France. Professor André Benhaïm started teaching this course 15 years ago. He includes an application “to make sure that students are motivated or have the right motivations to take the course, not just for the travel component itself.” This course examines the real lives of contemporary Paris, as an urban space, an object of representation, and part of French cultural identity.

Benhaïm hopes that while in Paris, his students will engage in personal projects, which will be determined and discussed prior to the trip.

“I had a very wide range of personal projects,” Benhaïm said. “One student who was interested in the sciences decided to look at the museums that focus on different sciences.”

ANT 437: Gaming Blackness: The Anthropology of Video Games and Race includes a manda-

tory trip to Tokyo, Japan. The course is taught by Professor Akil Fletcher, and is focused on Black experiences within U.S. and Japanese media, with a particular emphasis on video games.

ANT 437 was previously offered Fall 2023 and received perfect ratings in each category, with reviews urging students to take the course. “Favorite class this semester,” one student wrote in their evaluation.

Several courses offered with travel components have high course ratings. HUM 417: Historical Structures: Ancient Architecture’s Materials, Construction and Engineering includes a trip to Athens, Greece. The course was offered Fall 2022 and received a 4.7 average rating.

“This was one of my favorite courses I have taken at Princeton,” wrote one student in their course review.

Finally, HIS 461: History of Coffee in Africa and the Middle East includes a mandatory trip to Ethiopia. This new course, taught by Professor Lacy Feigh, will be “visiting farmers and a washing station, and talking with people who are at the heart of the coffee production process in southern Ethiopia,” Feigh said.

Feigh’s application to the course ensures the limited spots go to those not just interested in coffee and travel, but also with interests in Ethiopia, African history, and the Middle East.

“My hope is to bring together people who are interested in both to liven the conversations throughout the semester,” Feigh said.

Travel for these courses is free for enrolled students. The ‘Prince’ analyzed the minimum amount the University will spend transporting students.

Applications for some courses are due before course enrollment, which takes place April 16 to 18. Others have applications due after course selection and will be returned before add/drop begins on April 29. Applications for courses may include unofficial transcripts, GPA, names of references, explanatory letter of interest in the course, and relevant coursework.

Kirill Sirik is a contributing Data writer for the ‘Prince.’

What are people posting about on Hoagie Digest? We looked at the numbers.

By Shria Ajay & Ruoming Shen Contributing Data Writers

Lost your AirPods? You’re not alone. Forty-seven students posted about missing headphones to Hoagie Digest this year.

The Hoagie Digest, sent out to all of the residential college listservs typically on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, is a compilation of student posts made to Hoagie Stuff. Hoagie Stuff is an online platform where students can send posts to the entire Princeton student body.

Hoagie Digest allows students to post concert tickets for sale, split an Uber to the airport, request sociology surveys, and much more. “Think of it as a Craigslist … for Princeton students,” Dennis Jacob ’24, vice president of Hoagie Club, told The Daily Princetonian. With the goal of reducing spam in students’ inboxes, Hoagie Digest features three categories of student posts: Marketplace, Bulletins, and Lost & Found. The platform can help with more unique requests too. For example, one bulletin post from October 10 was looking for a person to help clean bugs in a dorm room.

“I started to send out the email, just hoping someone would respond to it and help save me. Get the bugs out of my room.” Alyssa

Traylor ’25 said.

She explained that she got an email response within three minutes of sending the email and that a fellow Scully resident helped clean out her room.

“It was really nice that someone was able to come to my rescue that quickly, you know?”

Traylor said. “And that he was so willing, even after me asking him to come by late.”

Using the LISTSERV archives of the residential colleges, the ‘Prince’ analyzed the number and category of all emails sent through Hoagie Digest from September 2, 2023, to April 6, 2024.

At the end of each email, Hoagie Digest includes a metric of how many emails are saved by the compilation of student posts. In the 2023–2024 school year, Hoagie Digest has saved a total of 436 emails, grouping the postings in each Digest instead of each being sent individually. Each Hoagie Digest email saves Princetonians an average of 4.31 emails.

Some of the most common postings sent through Hoagie Mail were related to concerts, rideshares, roommate inquiries, and surveys. Of the 20 emails sent through Hoagie Digest requesting survey responses, eight of the emails, 40 percent, were for the class SOC 101: Introduction to Sociology. Only one re-

quest was for a senior thesis.

The largest group of postings sent, however, related to listening devices. Forty-seven emails about missing or found AirPods and their cases, Beats earbuds, Studio buds, and Sony headphones were sent this year. Airpod losses peaked in the second week of November, with four Hoagie Digest emails sent.

Hoagie Club President Liam Esparraguera ’24 noted that the idea for creating Hoagie Digest “spawned naturally out of the user needs” among Princeton

students. When Hoagie Mail was first launched in Fall 2021, “some of the residential college listservs were a bit hesitant to let [Hoagie Mail] send on there for worry of spam…Given these concerns over the potential for spam, I think that’s what inspired the digest.”

“We are working on transitioning Hoagie from a closedoff team of students working on and developing student applications to an open community of students who are working on creative or technical projects of

their own,” Esparraguera said. To send an email to Hoagie Digest, go to this HoagieMail website, click “Send a New Email,” then select “Student Sales,” “Lost and Found Items,” or “Everything Else.” Through Hoagie Digest, you can ask, and there’s a good chance that a Princetonian will respond.

Shria Ajay is a contributing Data writer for the ‘Prince.’

Ruoming Shen is a contributing Data writer for the ‘Prince.’

This Week in Photos

This Week in Photos: Rain or shine

By Jean Shin, Ryland Graham, Ammaar Alam, Mary Christian McCoy, Tiffany Tsai &Veena Krishnaraj Head, Assistant, Staff & Contributing Photographers

Hum r

Why didn’t the Easter Bunny visit me this year?

By Sawyer Dilks Staff Humor Writer

The following content is purely satirical and entirely fictional.

When I awoke on Sunday, the sun was peeking through the window, and the birds were singing ever so gently — both sure signs of a peaceful Easter morning. As I threw open the blinds and peered into the courtyard, my perfect day was shattered by a starting revelation: there were no Easter Eggs to be seen. Ok, no reason to panic, right? They are Easter Eggs after all, so they’re probably just well-hidden. Except, when I raced outside with my basket, I found that the colorful eggs were still nowhere to be seen. I asked around, thinking maybe someone had beaten me to the punch and taken all the eggs before I could get to them. But after a series of strangely disgruntled responses to my knocking on everyone’s door — and I would like to note that no one was even close to prepared for their own Easter Egg Hunt yet, even though it was already 5:30 a.m. — I concluded that no one could have possibly gone out already. And so I waited. I waited all day. I

waited all week. But the Easter Bunny never came. For the longest time, I didn’t understand it. I know I’ve been a good boy, because over winter break Santa came to deliver me presents, and during spring break a leprechaun left me behind some gold — though he once again managed to escape the trap I made. It was then I realized, I was home for both of those events, but here on campus for Easter. The only thing that was

different is that this time around, I am here with the rest of you, fellow Princetonians. Indeed, the only conceivable reason the Easter Bunny never came is that too many naughty students reside on campus. He knew he couldn’t leave me eggs without the risk of these dastardly wrong-doers finding them, too. What can I say other than “I’m disappointed in all of you?” I thought at least for my sake that you would

all do better. Instead, I was left eggless and joyless. However, because this is a season to celebrate forgiveness, I very humbly accept all your apologies, provided you resolve to do better for next year.

Sawyer Dilks is a staff Humor writer from the Class of 2027. He is very excited for all the joy and cheer he will spread to the world at his Lockheed Martin internship this summer!

Heated political protest postponed due to poor weather conditions

By Mya Koffie Associate Humor Editor

The following content is purely satirical and entirely fictional.

At 7:45 a.m. this morning, the Princeton Students Against Major Unacceptable Political Issues (PSAMUPI) released via social media that their protest scheduled for 4:30 p.m. today outside Robertson Hall was postponed due to poor weather conditions.

Their Instagram post read, “On account of low-speed winds and 40 percent chance of rain forecasted for this afternoon, we will no longer be congregating around the SPIA fountain. We hope for better protesting weather later in the month. Please stay tuned for new dates.”

This news upset some students who were passionate about the protest.

Avid environmentalist and environmental and evolutionary biology (EEB) concentrator Sarah Debrine ’26 expresses frustration about the postponement, saying it “reflects not only the failure to embrace the elements but also the poor prioritization of political issues that runs rife on Princeton’s campus.”

She continued, “The average Princeton student can take a chemistry test or finish a politics paper during an earthquake, but they

can’t be bothered to stand outside with their cardboard signs in some rain to advocate for human rights?”

After the interview, Debrine asked the Daily PrintsAnything reporter if we thought she could put “protest” on her resume. We answered it would be worse if she didn’t.

Other students expressed their relief and gratefulness for the extra time in their days to catch up on their problem sets and reading assignments after the protest’s rescheduling.

PSAMUPI’s vice president and

self-confessed procrastinator Walter Kaizett ’25 defended the organization’s decision to reschedule the event. “These issues will still need us in a week. We can do it later. And, instead, do the studying we should have started two weeks ago now.”

PSAMUPI President and psychology major Lauren Szan ’25 chalks the protest’s deferral up to an exercise of collective self-care. “The truth is, no one likes soggy socks. And even activists have to set boundaries.”

“Besides,” Szan added, “we used washable markers on most of our

posters. It would be a pastel disaster. We would send the wrong message.”

The ‘Prints’ also sat down with women’s rights advocate and varsity rower Tabitha Joan ’24 after her daily two-hour Women’s Lightweight Rowing practice on Lake Carnegie, who shared Debrine’s sentiments.

“They postponed the protest for rain?” Joan shivered, shifting her body weight from foot to foot. Water could be heard sloshing around in her sneakers. “We were out there today on a freaking lake. In rowboats.”

“If your social justice mobilization can be stopped by subpar weather,” she continued, wringing water out of her bright orange DriFIT t-shirt, “I think you’ve gotta seriously reexamine your relationship with pain and your ability to live through it based on what is on the line.”

‘Prints’ reporters confirm that Joan appeared to be both soaking wet and super jealous.

Mya Koffie is an associate Humor editor and rower on the Princeton women’s lightweight crew team. She is getting way too used to wet socks and waiting patiently for May to bring flowers, already.

SAWYER DILKS / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN

“N ame D rop ”

By Wade Bednar Associate Editor

1 Certain filler words

4 "For real for real"

9 Fess up (to)

14 Follower of fa 15 Legendary figures

16 R&B artist with the 2004 hit "One, Two Step" 17 Notable period

18 *Prim and proper

20 Lays down the law 22 Luau dance

23 *"Simmer down!"

26 Taylor Swift's record-setting ___ Tour

29 Give the boot

30 The "T" in ATP

31 "Hello" singer

32 One pull-up, maybe

35 "Here's a quick summary," in internet lingo

37 D.C. slugger

38 *Two-time heavyweight boxing champion, or a hint to 18-, 23-, 54-, and 60-Across

42 Campaign finance org.

43 Big bash

44 Word before drum or trumpet

45 Arctic abode

47 Princeton Locomotive cheer following "Rah" and "Tiger"

49 Gusto

53 Profit

54 *French Caribbean isle home to Mount Pelée

57 ___ the Frog (meme and resistance symbol in 2019 Hong Kong protests)

59 Sink in a thirty-footer, say

60 *Type of guerilla fighter common during the American Civil War

64 Sighs of relief

65 Ordered from Uber Eats, say

66 Sneaked

67 Part of Lincoln's cabin

68 Princeton students' worries

69 Some skin bumps

70 No more seats, in brief

DOWN

1 Familiar with

2 Symbolist painter Gustave

3 Casual wear

4 American-born Japanese

5 Valence electrons of a noble gas, perhaps

6 Tight-fitting women's garment

7 Actress de Armas

8 Greek letter shaped like a trident

9 Rights grp. 10 Rang up

11 Dance craze of the ’90s 12 Indignation

13 Smidgen

19 "Hallowed be ___ name" 21 Old-school

24 Exhibition that might feature works by 2-Down

25 Missile housing

27 Princeton professor and former Fed Vice Chaiman Blinder

28 Solidify, as mousse

31 Length x width, for a rectangle

33 Post hoc, ___ propter hoc (common logical fallacy)

34 Tour grp. featured in the docuseries "Full Swing"

36 Dr. ___

38 Lady ___

39 Solar obscurations, like the one on April 8

Oinker

Kind of wonder?

Pumps up

Is, in math

Orwell or Wells

"That's hype!"

[Yawn]

Klutzy 56 "Phooey!"

58 Destroys, in gamer-speak 60 ___-Signal

61 Great Basin tribe 62 Duke's N.C.A.A div. 63 Weep

"Frozen" queen 41 USPS mascot, once

The Minis

By Dana Ayebare Puzzles Contributor

www.

Make FGLI resources available to all FGLI students

Liz Reyes contributing columnist

Princeton defines firstgeneration students as students who are the first in their families to attend college. Such students are a growing minority on campus. As their presence increases, so does their contribution to the campus community. Princeton’s Class of 2027 is 17 percent first-gen. We should celebrate this expansion as well as the increase in resources offered to these students. But these resources are not offered to all first-gen students.

Princeton has not clearly defined who is considered FGLI (first-generation low-income), nor who is offered the specific resources that come with that group affiliation. The University has established programs designed to support first-generation students, such as the Scholars Institute Fellows Program (SIFP) and the Freshman Scholars Institute (FSI). When I asked who was eligible for FGLI-focused programs like SIFP and FSI, the Emma Bloomberg Center’s Coordination and Communications Associate Madison Stewart ’22 wrote that “all students who self-identify as either first-generation or lower-income (or both) are welcome to participate in SIFP. In addition, we have had students who are allies to the FLI community engage in SIFP.”

But, according to the University, students have to be selected to enter

the programs — as they are invitation-only — and the selection process excludes some students who are not low-income. Additionally, these metrics come exclusively from what they indicate on their college applications months prior to their acceptances. This is inconsistent: the programs are not open to all, but to only some within the broad bucket of first-gen, low-income, or both.

This limitation is unnecessary. First-generation resources should not just be limited to low-income students. Princeton must be clear about to whom they are offering these resources, actively expand the ways in which first-generation resources are advertised to students, and embrace all students from first-generation backgrounds, regardless of their socioeconomic status.

The University knows that first-gen students often have a harder time adjusting to the social environment and academic rigor of Princeton because many of them lack mentors and other resources that may ease their transition to college. For example, many FGLI students may not be able to get comprehensive advice from family and community members on deciding their majors, grad school, internships, career opportunities, and other academic and professional concerns.

Often these students are represented together as first-generation and low-income, which creates an exclusionary environment for first-generation students of diverse socioeconomic backgrounds and invalidates

the challenges that students who fall into only one of these categories experience. It is inequitable to fail to provide mentorship and resources to first gen-students who aren’t low income, as these students still lack the support systems that their peers from highly educated backgrounds have.

These programs have been successful at helping FGLI students. To extend this success, the University should make sure that these programs are accessible to all first-generation students regardless of income. In order to do so, the advertisement and selection process of these programs should be more transparent.

When emails were sent to students in the Class of 2027 to join SIFP in the fall, they were not sent through the residential college listservs, which is one of the primary channels for students to receive information about campus programs and events. Rather, this email was sent to preselected students through an invitation stating that SIFP is “primarily dedicated to students who are the first in their families to attend college and those who come from lower-income backgrounds.” However, it is unclear whether this email was sent to all students who are either first generation or low income, or just students who are both first generation and low income. For instance, I, a first-generation student, was not included on this email list. To be truly inclusive, these programs need to be better marketed towards students in order to increase accessibility.

Of course, it would be impossible to ignore the role that a high income plays in privileging certain Princeton students over their low-income peers. Students of higher socioeconomic status are more likely to gain entry into elite universities such as Princeton. Students with family incomes in the top 1 percent, making $611,000/year, have a 2.2 percent higher chance of gaining admission into Ivy League colleges than students with family incomes in the bottom 99 percent who have the same test scores. Students whose parents have attained higher levels of education are also more likely to be employed and earn higher salaries. These differences should not be diminished and are extremely important to recognize when discussing college admissions, matriculation and first-generation students.

However, the impacts of being the first person in your family to attend college extends beyond the mere markers of income. When equalizing income, first-generation students are still less likely to graduate college, less likely to continue onto graduate and professional programs, and more likely to lack cultural capital helpful to college success. Although Princeton’s graduation rates are higher than that of other institutions, the first-generation demographic and its unique needs should not be ignored. It is important that mentoring and resources for FGLI students are still equally offered, even to first-gen students who are not low-income.

With recent goals to improve socio-

economic diversity on campus, Princeton must be able to offer resources to students who identify as either first generation, low-income, or both, and fully in a way that is accessible to them, not only to students who are invited to FSI. Better advertisement is just the beginning of increasing accessibility of student resources. The University must recognize that not being aware of the resources that a college offers is one of the obstacles first generation students face. Princeton needs to be upfront and proactive about the resources that are available to us. First generation student resources can be extremely helpful to students who need them, but the University must make sure it is able to meet such students’ needs, which may vary based on income, first-generation status, and background.

Financial privilege should never diminish the need for support that comes with a first-generation identity across all incomes. Princeton University’s President Christopher Eisgruber ’83 has said, “I am proud of what we have done to increase socioeconomic diversity at Princeton, but I also believe that we need to do more — and we will do more.” To do more, resources for first-generation students should be accessible not to some but to all students who identify as such, and the University must do better in living up to that commitment.

Liz Reyes is a first-year contributing columnist planning to major in SPIA. She is from Cherry Hill, N.J.

Hitch yourself to service, not just a man

Abigail Rabieh Public Editor

Despite the fact that my high breasts and I do not have a man with an MBA to take care of us, we have yet to be crushed by the unbearable weight of the human experience. This may sound like preposterous brag coming from a 20-year-old Ivy-League student: how could I have lived long enough to be convinced of life’s tragedies, hardships, and the benefit of having a partner who went to business school? According to 27-year-old Grazia Sophia Christie, however, I’m already behind on feeling these burdens.

At my age, Christie declared in her recent viral essay “The Case for Marrying an Older Man” that she already understood the problems she was to face. She also realized that the best way to avoid them — for her and for those around her — would be to wed a man who was her senior. While this personal essay can be read as just another silly example of a writer unintentionally revealing their delirious worldview, her message to female Ivy League readers reflects an unconscionable acceptance of status-quo sexism and a serious lack of accountability for our duty to use our educational privilege productively and selflessly.

In The Cut, Christie details her realization, as a junior at Harvard, that being a young and beautiful woman was the highest place in society to which she would ever rise. Thus, she set out on a quest to marry an older man, a quest she hap-

pily fulfilled. And now, she proudly displays her success as an example of what (straight) young women should aspire for: a partnership in which she has had the freedom to explore herself and slip into adulthood before she takes on the daunting role of being a mother. “There is no brand of feminism which achieved female rest,” she writes. “By opting out of partnership” Christie declares, she achieved a “compartmentalized, liberating selfishness.”

This selfishness cannot be legitimized by claiming that it is the only way for women to live happily in an intractably unequal world. Telling Ivy League women similar to her to simply accept that achieving true success on our own is impossible enables us to justify maximizing our own luxury at the expense of other women who don’t have access to such luxuries. But those of us who have been given the immense power of accessing the endless resources of schools like Princeton and Harvard must strive to do better. When we, as women, consider how to achieve contentment, we must consider strategies that improve equal access to fulfilling lives for all, not just those able to attract a rich man.

With her article, Christie is joining a long lineage of privileged and educated women who, noticing that life is not fair and life as a woman also is even more unfair, encourage others like them to work the system for the best possible personal outcome. Princeton women got their own version of this stunted feminism in 2013, when Susan Patton ’77 told us to find a husband

while we were around our intellectual equals, as post graduation, we’d only be around men who were intimidated of our intelligence or around whom we would be bored.

In these essays, we are told that, unlike our male counterparts, our degrees and the aspirations which may accompany them are not enough to fulfill us. Indeed, Christie argues that climbing the corporate ladder as a woman can only lead to misery as the attempt to fit everything in — success, marriage, motherhood — inevitably fails. Thus, we must be pragmatic about how we live and maximize our potential for individual happiness.

But what about the happiness of womankind? Christie and Patton would tell us to stop worrying about these larger issues, as it will only detract from our ability to experience lasting joy and puts us in a battle against nature, one that we can never win. Their vision of joy, however, is so selfish that it loses all merit.  While an individual woman may find happiness by following these directions, suggesting that this way of life should be a universal ideal only serves to preserve expectations and standards that promote female unhappiness.

Although she acknowledges that “women really do have a tragically short window of power,” Christie tells us to take advantage of our youth and “plausible deniability when it [comes] to purity” while it lasts, not to fight for a world in which women are appreciated, desired, and valued beyond their youth. She bemoans the fact that “when we decided to be equal to men, we got on men’s time.” But

she does not tell smart and educated young men and women to use the vast resources available to them to rethink this system and figure out ways in which women can have “pregnancy, children, [and] menopause,” without fitting them “impossibly in the margins.” Instead, she tells us to leave the men where they are and remove ourselves from the professional game, allowing them to care for us while we only focus on our personal happiness.

Christie argues that young men require young women to teach them how to be people — “to call their mothers, match colors,” and more — and as such, smart women should find older men who have already completed training. Thus, her ideal rests on using unjust systems in which women — crucially, other women — are faced with unfair burdens so you can increase your personal gain. But we should expect more from our Ivy League sisters and cannot stand by when those like Christie justify closing off this elite circle by telling ourselves that, as women, it’s the only way in which we can be content. For that is what Christie wants: not for us to take the spoils of our expensive education and share them with the world, through labor and lived experiences, but to guard them jealously, using our existence in elite circles to satisfy our desires.

After all, what is pursuing higher education all about? Achieving your personal ideal of a life? Or living one that is meaningful and contributes to the larger world? If those two do not align for some, it’s certainly not wrong to want the former: it is a perfectly reasonable goal

to provide comfort and luxury for oneself, achieving a lifestyle that is enviable and as untroubled as possible. But these institutions exist not as a marriage market for smart women to take advantage of, but to give students the chance to pursue the heights of human intellectual excellence and learn how to live in a way which can benefit others. Far be it from me to suggest that homemaking and childrearing are not crucial contributions to society, nor to proclaim that in obtaining an Ivy League degree, a woman gives up the right to choose such a life. But the suggestion that we, as privileged Ivy League women, should choose these paths because they will lead to greater happiness than the alternative — i.e. using our education to aspire to gendernonconforming achievements — demonstrates a willingness to quit the feminist project which we, collectively, have a duty to dispense. If you want to “consider a thing called ease,” as Christie does, fine. But don’t pretend that you have unlocked a secret door through which all women can find ease. Christie’s privilege is what allows her to remove herself from “discussions of fair and unfair, equal or unequal,” in ways that are both material and ideological, and her piece tells the lie that all women have the capability to do the same.

Abigail Rabieh is a junior in the history department from Cambridge, Mass. She is the public editor at the ‘Prince’.

vol. cxlviii

editor-in-chief

Eden Teshome ’25

president

business manager Aidan Phillips ’25

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Thomas E. Weber ’89

vice president David Baumgarten ’06

secretary Chanakya A. Sethi ’07

treasurer Douglas Widmann ’90

assistant treasurer

Kavita Saini ’09

trustees Francesca Barber

Kathleen Crown

Suzanne Dance ’96

Gabriel Debenedetti ’12

Stephen Fuzesi ’00

Zachary A. Goldfarb ’05

Michael Grabell ’03

Danielle Ivory ’05

Rick Klein ’98

James T. MacGregor ’66

Julianne Escobedo Shepherd

Abigail Williams ’14

Tyler Woulfe ’07

trustees ex officio

Eden Teshome ’25 Aidan Phillips ’25

148TH MANAGING BOARD

Ryan Konarska ’25

upper management

Naisha Sylvestre ’25

director of outreach

Lia Opperman ’25

Accessibility Christopher Bao ’27

Tess Weinreich ’25

Lucia Wetherill ’25

creative director Mary Ma ’26

strategic initiative directors

Financial Stipend Elaine Huang ’25

Education Charlie Roth ’25

Sections listed in alphabetical order.

public editor Abigail Rabieh ’25

head archives editor

Raphaela Gold ’26

Kaylee Kasper ’26

Associate Archives editor

Elizabeth Clarke ’27

head audience editor Paige Walworth ’26

associate audience editors

Zach Lee ’26

Amparo Sanchez ’27

head copy editors

Nathan Beck ’25

Bryan Zhang ’26

associate head copy editors

Lindsay Padaguan ’26

Elizabeth Polubinski ’25

head data editors Andrew Bosworth ’26

Suthi Navaratnam-Tomayko ’26

head features editors

Sejal Goud ’25

Molly Taylor ’25

associate features editor

Raphaela Gold ’26

head graphics editors

Luiza Chevres ’26

Noreen Hosny ’25

head humor editors

Spencer Bauman ’25

Sophia Varughese ’26

associate humor editors

Sam McComb ’25

Mya Koffie ’27

head news editors

Bridget O’Neill ’26

Annie Rupertus ’25

associate news editors

Julian Hartman-Sigall ’26

Olivia Sanchez ’26

Miriam Waldvogel ’26 (Investigations)

head newsletter editor

Kia Ghods ’27

assistant business manager

associate newsletter editors Victoria Davies ’27 Sunney Gao ’27

head opinion editor Eleanor Clemans-Cope ’26

community opinion editor Christofer Robles ’25

associate opinion editors Thomas Buckley ’26

Wynne Conger ’27

head photo editors Louisa Gheorghita ’26 Jean Shin ’26

associate photo editor Calvin Grover ’27

head podcast editor Vitus Larrieu ’26

associate podcast editors Senna Aldoubosh ’25

Theo Wells-Spackman ’25

head print design editors Avi Chesler ’25

Malia Gaviola ’26

head prospect editor Isabella Dail ’26

associate prospect editors Russell Fan ’26

Regina Roberts ’26

head puzzles editors Sabrina Effron ’26

Joah Macosko ’25

associate puzzles editors Wade Bednar ’26

Lindsay McBride ’27

head sports editors Cole Keller ’26

Diego Uribe ’26

associate sports editors Tate Hutchins ’27

Hayk Yengibaryan ’26

head web design and development

editors

Yacoub Kahkajian ’26

Vasila Mirshamsova ’26

148TH BUSINESS BOARD

Jessica Funk ’26

business directors

Gabriel Gullett ’25

Andrew He ’26

Tejas Iyer ’26

Jordan Manela ’26

chief technology officer

Make civil service plan A

Eleanor Clemans-Cope

Head Opinion Editor

In Montgomery County, Maryland, where I grew up, the federal government was the backbone of the local economy. Over 10,000 people work at each of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Naval Hospital, with another nearly 10,000 employed by the Food and Drug Administration. Over one in five jobs in the county are in the government at some level — federal, state, or local. Civil service is woven into the fabric of the community.

My dad works at the NIH, and years ago my uncle worked on the first sequencing of the human genome there, so the idea of a career in public service always felt like a good option, and even a prestigious one. But when I got to Princeton, I was struck by how many of my classmates saw limited options beyond consulting and private sector work. Among students of all majors — people who are told that their degrees have “no applications,” like English majors, and those who have clear private pathways as well, like economics and math majors — there is a lack of vision about how to translate their skills into meaningful work for the public good.

Our potential is limited by our imagination, and our imagination is limited by what we have seen around us. Many of us have grown up not seeing the world of civil service jobs. It is an entire universe that goes practically unnoticed on Princeton’s campus. Princeton should do more to raise them up — to make them available, accessible, and attractive to students.

Studying climate science? The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has a place for you. English major? Every government agency needs your incredible writing and communication skills (my English major friend who loves rural America wrote speeches for the Agriculture Secretary for a decade and loved it).

Studying medicine? The FDA, the NIH, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Medicare, Medicaid, and many other agencies offer you a way to use your skills to improve public health and save lives outside the profit-obsessed, vulture-like private health system. Studying economics? The Federal Reserve, the Treasury, and the Council of Economic Advisors want

your skills in shaping policy that affects hundreds of millions of people, and other agencies employ hundreds of economists as well, not to mention Congress and the White House. Studying history? The Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. does amazing research and exhibits, and the National Archives needs people to document and preserve the nation’s history.

Although most government jobs won’t pay you the six-figure salary directly out of undergrad that many consulting companies will, government jobs, especially federal jobs, pay well over time. Right out of college, Princeton alumni would probably start at a federal grade of “GS-7” (entry-level jobs for people with BAs and “Superior Academic Achievement”), and our salaries would likely range from about $56,000 to almost $73,000 (if we lived in the D.C. area — there’s a regional adjustment for cost of living). Get a Master’s degree first, and you’ll start around $68,000 to $89,000. With a doctorate, you’d probably get $82,000 to $107,000 to start off.

Some make even more than what’s offered by the standard GS (General Schedule) levels: If you qualify for “critical position pay” — which some Princeton graduates with certain indemand technical skills almost certainly will later in their careers — you could qualify for the up to $221,000 salaries on the table “to recruit or retain … exceptionally well qualified” individuals. If you’re a medical doctor, they make an exception to the normal caps, allowing you to be paid up through $300,000.  Even if you start at a regular rate, if you stay in the government and get standard promotions, you can eventually rise to making almost $200,000. That’s not to mention benefits including healthcare, retirement and childcare subsidies.

Yet at Princeton’s career fairs and in the coursework, civil service opportunities are marginalized. At the last career fair, only seven of the 99 employers fell into the government category and most of these were from state agencies in New Jersey. The only federal government agencies that did show up were security and defense: the FBI, the State Department, the US Navy, and the Marine Officer Program. Where are the federal scientific agencies? The economic policymakers? The communicators of our shared history? There are a few more available through Princeton’s PICS internship, as three federal agencies are listed: the Department of Agricul-

ture, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and the Department of Justice. But this is still far from the full range of government jobs. And this problem of the absence of civil service goes further than just the careers we are offered. It is evident in what Princeton is teaching as well. Take my department, economics: we have not offered an undergraduate class mainly on government policy (taxes, spending, regulation, or monetary policy) since Spring 2020 (Economic Inequality and the Role of Government). Just one class currently offered focuses on market failure. There’s not much public-sector-oriented in macroeconomics currently offered at the undergraduate level, although there are some topic-area microeconomics classes (economics and law, the environment, disease, health, and agriculture). Instead, Princeton students learn about finance — we have offered Portfolio Theory and Asset Management all but one year since 2015.

This needs to change. Princeton should be helping students with the specific training and vision to thrive and succeed in civil service. The University should promote these careers as a prestigious calling worth devoting ourselves to. At career fairs and recruiting events, federal agencies across the full breadth of the federal government should have a visible presence on campus. Let’s get Jerome Powell ’75 to rep the Fed to Princetonians. Students shouldn’t have to chase these opportunities — the norm should be that civil service jobs are beating down our seniors’ doors with competitive offers.

For the next generation of Princeton grads, public service should not be an obscure Plan B. It should be an honored and hyped Plan A — a path burnished with our own prestigious graduates, with a sense of purpose and a devotion to the common good. Princeton is missing an opportunity to cultivate that ethos of excellence in civic responsibility. It’s time for the University to shine a light on these noble careers — and it’s time for Princetonians to take them.

Eleanor Clemans-Cope (she/her) is a sophomore from Rockville, Md. studying economics. She spends her time making music with Princeton University Orchestra and the Triangle Club and good trouble with Sunrise Princeton.

Robert Mohan ’26

Kok Wei Pua ’25 My Ky Tran ’26

project managers Jason Ding ’25 Kaustuv Mukherjee ’26

148TH TECHNOLOGY BOARD

Roma Bhattacharjee ’25

lead software engineer Sanh Nguyen ’26

software engineers

Anika Agarwal ’25

Vanessa Auth ’26 Haruka Nabeshima ’27 AND COPIED BY Bryan Zhang ’26

THOMAS BUCKLEY / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN The Center for Career Development.

Reimagining writing seminar for all writers

Anna Ferris Columnist

Few Princeton students can forget their writing seminars. From the stress and confusion over the D1 to the feeling of accomplishment unique to finally submitting the R3, the mandatory first-year course provides a shared introduction to all the mixed emotions that will define every Princeton student’s future academic pursuits. However, while writing seminars teach helpful research and argumentation tactics, they often ultimately fall short of helping students with their titular skill: writing. Currently, writing seminar utilizes a one-size-fits-all approach to writing, neglecting the teaching of how different forms, types of sources, and modes of analysis vary in different disciplines. It also does not teach its students how to make the best possible use of language, especially in regards to form and style. In other words, writing seminar fails at its most fundamental task: it does not teach its students how to write, nor how to do so well.

While the time limits of Princeton’s short semester — significantly briefer than that of other schools like Harvard — could limit the ability of instructors to teach broader concepts, there still exists a structural issue with writing seminar that makes its programming fundamentally ineffective. Namely, none of the three major assignments in the writing program are especially dedicated to form or style. The first paper is dedicated to learning how to analyze a single work in detail, while the second essay teaches students how to effectively compare arguments and build their own. The third paper is completely focused on fostering independent research

techniques and strong engagement with a variety of primary, secondary, and tertiary sources. While these assignments are invaluable for teaching students how to form strong research papers guided with sufficient evidence, none provide the essential skills of form & style required of a good writer.

Rarely does the writing seminar curriculum explicitly teach students how a purposeful, wellthought-out structure can effectively communicate ideas. After all, without structure, arguments simply don’t make sense. Future professors will evaluate lab scientific evaluations, close readings, and other varying assignments with their discipline-individual structures in mind because, in academic writing, coherency to a certain audience is key. The writing seminar program should set students up for success at Princeton — and in the wider world of publishing — by placing a greater emphasis on the many different kinds of idea organization in analytical writing.

Form — which goes beyond the organization of ideas, and encompasses the text type and media used to convey an argument — also does serious work to get an author’s point across clearly. Teaching only one form of the “academic paper” neglects how helpful it can be to expose freshmen to the many forms analysis can take across fields. A lab report, a poetic analysis, and a policy memo are all forms of academic writing whose form will diverge far from the source-critique-conclusion style of essay taught in writing seminars.

The present design of writing seminar also prevents students from expanding their idea of what sources from different disciplines may look like. It focuses mainly on engaging with scholarly second-

ary and tertiary sources and how a thesis can be formed on external research. Although the D1/R1 does focus on primary source analysis, students spend the majority of their time simply figuring out how to write an essay instead of engaging deeply with their primary sources of choice. Additionally, because many writing seminars focus on sociological or anthropological scholarship without incorporating the works favored in other disciplines, which call for different sourcing and analytical techniques.

Humanities disciplines that involve rigorous analysis of various texts may require skills that call for a different type of analysis beyond what is offered in the writing seminar curriculum. When you analyze a novel strictly through the skills taught in writing seminar  you tend to miss out on the creative and cultural nuances of  authors’ intents and perspectives. While some seminars certainly incorporate these creative works, it’s often done at a limited, marginal level.

Furthermore, in fictional works, when one only engages with the arguments made about a character in a novel can exclude the literary context in which the character lives, and the fact that their written existence in relation to a larger cultural moment influences the author’s purpose in creating such a character at all. Analyzing other writers’ style and purpose — especially in literary works — becomes much more difficult when you haven’t learned that those are viable elements for academic investigation. Journalistic scholarly pieces are not the only argumentative works. To focus almost exclusively on published academic sources is to ignore entire fields of work ripe for analysis and leads to the exclusion or minimization of other forms of writing, and ac-

cordingly subjective, creative analysis of one body of work.

Lastly, writing seminar also ignores the importance of style — a part of writing can greatly enhance the ability of a piece to read fluidly and engagingly. Except for passing warnings about personal style, style is excluded from the curriculum. But style is important: clarity and concision make pieces easy to read, and personal voice can make it interesting. If you don’t understand how to effectively develop and adapt your own style to different disciplines, your work will be far less engaging. This might mean professional consequences down the line, like low readership and decreased citability.

A significant part of understanding the proper use of style comes from the ability to write and convey meaning — especially through subtle manners. The focus on directly stated arguments during writing seminars neglects the various ways that an author might further more subtle points through tone, syntax, and figurative language. Developing these skills in your own writing makes it far easier to critically examine them in other people’s work.

The very specific style of academic writing favored in writing seminars makes abundant use of the passive voice, and favors long, clause-heavy sentences with complex grammatical structures. I call this “dissertation-ese”: a language which exists to remind the reader that the author is smart. But consequently, it can be difficult to read, and the clarity of the argument can get easily lost in excessive vocabulary. This is not to imply that complex ideas don’t require idiosyncratic constructions and polysyllabic words, but rather that first-years ought to focus more on clarity as they learn the basics of argumentative writing. By holding up wordy papers as paragons

of great style encourages students to mimic that same wordiness in their own work, but often at the expense of clarity. If a student is struggling to understand the fundamental points an article is making, the addition of a functional language barrier via forced loquacity does not help the situation. A simply-written paper that can be clearly understood will be much more comprehensive than one that “sounds impressive.”

Writing seminar doesn’t need to be completely overhauled, and we don’t need to compromise the high curriculum standards of the writing program. However, there are certainly key modifications that could fix these problems and make our writing and research education more well balanced.

First, there should be a stronger focus on forming independent arguments that are informed by, but not wholly reliant on, existing scholarly discourse around a topic. In particular, an enthusiastic promotion of literary analysis can help expand students’ horizons and ideas of what analytical writing can look like. Second, there must be a greater emphasis on structural analysis as opposed to purely argument critiques. A curriculum that is designed to teach students about writing structures in different academic fields will benefit students in every discipline. Lastly, style should be emphasized in the curriculum: how to develop and hone both the subtle, creative aspects of academic writing, and the power of simplicity in service of a more interesting, widely accessible paper. Any of the above will help the writing seminar program best prepare students for larger and more complex assignments — both now, and in future academic endeavors.

Anna Ferris is a sophomore in the English department.

Room draw for students with housing accommodations is actually unaccommodating

Reed Marthers Guest Contributor

Housing accommodations made my Princeton experience possible. While other students might have preferred a single, I and many others needed one. I am so grateful to Undergraduate Student Housing for allowing us to be prioritized in the room draw process to receive a room type that fits our needs. Having a single made my freshman year feasible. Unfortunately, I have recently learned just how terribly unaccommodating the housing and the room draw process can be.

The University’s current treatment of students with housing accommodations is unacceptable. For these students, room draw can deepen feelings of isolation and exclusion from the rest of the student population. A program that was supposed to emphasize equity has turned into something that does the opposite since students with accommodations are expected to accept any room offer or else lose their necessary accommodations.

On Feb. 16, I, along with others with accommodations, received our draw assignments. While non-accommodated room draw involves forming groups and being assigned a time to frantically select a room of the group members’ choice, accommodated housing simply works by submitting a request for accommodations, getting approved, and then being assigned a room each draw cycle. As a freshman, it did not originally dawn on me that I would have no say at all in my placement for the next year. Thus, when I checked the housing portal, I was rather disappointed with my assignment.

Many students tend to argue that students who get accommodations are put at an advantage for room draw. When I tell people that I don’t need to draw because I have a guaranteed single, the first response is usually a comment on how lucky I am.

Yet, while I am grateful that my accommodations provide me a single, I also recognize that is frankly the bare minimum Princeton can do for me — I need an accommodated room. Anyone with accommodations needs an

accommodated room. Because of my need for rooms that fit my accommodations, I am already severely limited in the rooms that I can comfortably live in. However, my accommodations do not limit me to the extent that only one room in my entire college can accommodate me. In fact, rooms that match both my location preferences and accommodations still appear on the available rooms list, even after all students with accommodations have been placed into a room. There are other options, options that I would have happily chosen to live in, if given the opportunity. It is inherently a disadvantage that students without accommodations are allowed privileges not afforded to those with accommodations. Such students can pick both their room’s size and location, to a certain extent depending on draw time. Yet, I was informed in a phone call with a Housing Engagement Specialist who said the only way to change my rooming situation was to reject my accommodated room, and enter the regular room draw where I would not be guaranteed my accommodations. Through this pro-

cess, Princeton is creating a situation in which some students get to choose their room and others are assigned one, choosing between housing and life at Princeton being comfortable or intolerable. I, or any student, should not have to choose between accepting what room I have been offered or losing my accommodations.

This problem is not unique to me.

My current suitemate was placed in a jack-and-jill in a very noisy area for next year, and while her accommodations technically do not list anything about noise, it is understandable that she would not want to live there. Another student with accommodations was given a room on the first floor in an entirely different building from her “pre-draw, pull in” roommate — a roommate that can join a pre-draw housing contract with or near a student with accommodations — and was consequently forced to choose a room that did not fit her accommodations.

There are easy solutions for this problem. The easiest way to solve this would be by allowing students to see all of the rooms that match their ac-

commodations. Students would be allowed to to rank their preferences among their options, similar to how non-accommodation room draw allows students to pick their most preferred available room. University Housing could then divide rooms by acknowledging individual student preferences and comparing them with those of other students. Housing would then attempt to give students a room that ranks high on their list, especially if students have diverse location preferences.

While I will most likely be stuck in a room I do not want to live in, at the very least the process should be amended for future students. Students with accommodations are forced to take the room they have been offered, even when it presents them with serious disadvantages, or otherwise lose a key aspect of their safety at Princeton.

Guest contributor Reed Marthers is a first-year intending to major in SPIA from Atlanta, Ga.

‘We’re your

alumni group’: A4P on supporting younger generations

By Coco Gong Staff Features Writer

There was a time when Princeton’s undergraduate student body consisted of only two students of Asian descent. Though ethnic Asian enrollment at the University remained low throughout the 1950s and 1960s, students would come together to form the politically-minded Asian American Students Association (AASA) in 1971.

Then, as Asian and Asian American students began to graduate from the University, the idea for an Asian alumni affinity group was conceived in 1977, nearly a century after the first Asian students enrolled in 1871–1872.

At the time, the newly founded organization was known as Asian Alumni of Princeton (AAP). In 2003, AAP was renamed to the Asian American Alumni Association of Princeton (A4P), and established its charter and Board of Governors. Since then, the nonprofit has formalized its mission to support alumni and students from every angle, “advancing Asian-American and Asian issues in student life, university affairs, personal and professional development and community service.”

Now, according to A4P Co-Chair Benny Mah ’82, A4P is the largest alumni affinity group of the University, with regional organizations in major locations from California and Chicago to Taipei and Tokyo. With its expansive network, the latest focus of A4P reaches beyond alumni, channeling efforts to support current students.

“My vision for the students is for them to know that there is an alumni body that is happy to interact, happy to share stories and experiences,” said A4P Co-Chair Nancy Lin ’77. “It’s good for the students to start getting used to the idea of ‘Oh, I have this older group that I can depend on, that I can ask questions that I’m not comfortable asking somebody else.’”

According to Lin, the goal of A4P is to connect students with a family of alumni who can offer them guidance, break negative cultural paradigms, and advocate for the Asian community as a whole. From navigating life as an Asian immigrant to asking for professional advice in the form of mock interviews or industry overviews, Lin seeks to provide all students access to the wealth of alumni experiences that make up A4P.

In the spirit of student-alumni engagement, A4P has been pushing to make alumni interactions more accessible by having on-campus events and hosting a Zoom series where alumni and students alike can easily tune in. Shortly after the COVID pandemic hit, A4P organized a monthly series of virtual events with both panels and individual speakers, including Director of the Program in Asian American Studies (ASA) Beth Lew-Williams talking about her book, “John Doe Chinaman: Race and Law in the American West.”

Mah noted that since July 2023, A4P has held 65 in-person events across 17 cities, with New York City representing the hub of activity. Many of these events have also involved current undergraduate students.

Additionally, A4P has strengthened outreach to student organizations, primarily AASA due to its large membership, but also smaller communities such as the Japanese Students Association (JSA) and South Asian Students Association (SASA).

Past partnerships between A4P and AASA have included hosting Alumni Day gatherings, Asian art exhibitions, lecture series, mentorship/pairing programs, and food events in NYC restaurants.

“It was really cool to see all of the alumni who were Asian or Asian-American,”

shared Monica Sing ’27, a participant of the A4P Alumni Day Reception. “I also liked how the event was run.”

Sing also noted that the event also allowed to connect with fellow Asians within the current undergraduate body. “I was able to meet someone who spoke the same dialect of Chinese as me since we were from similar regions in Southeast Asia,” she explained.

According to Mah, some values common to Asian culture may lead some students to hesitate when it comes to engaging with alumni.

“We’re taught to study, right? Parents want us to study — keep your nose down, do your work,” Mah said. “Some way or another, we have to break through that.”

However, through the supportive network at A4P, students can strive to ask questions and gain new perspectives.

“Everyone welcomes you, and wants to hear your story, and is happy to exchange stories,” Lin said. “I think it’s really neat learning how similar certain aspects of our backgrounds are, and it gives you an opportunity to reflect. You’re a part of a certain cohort of very different stories, which just makes you appreciate how diverse the group is.”

Last year, Mah started an initiative to pair students and alumni to tour the campus together during Alumni Day or Reunions, so that the current students could introduce the new buildings and culture on campus to the older generations. This connection, Mah emphasized, was more than a walk or a sit-down meal — it was an opportunity to make a connection and continue the discussion into the future.

“You’ll have to find a way to break the ice. And once you break the ice, you need to maintain that dialogue,” Mah said. “It’s a relationship that develops over time. Two people have to work at it to make it work — and it’s two people, not just one person.”

A4P has been working with AASA’s executive board to share news about their events and attendance tracking, sending opportunities on AASA’s listserv and newsletters. A4P also encourages the sharing contact information with all participants after every event in the spirit of maintaining connections.

“The best way to meet with alums is just to go to these events,” AASA 2022–2023 Alumni Engagement Chair David Chau ’26 said. “And you can reach out to them at any time.”

One of the most recent efforts was the AASA x A4P Legal Panel, moderated by Frances Han ’95, a Vanguard Senior Compliance Director with a corporate law background. Other panelists included Jean Lee ’15, Olympia Ingriselli-Moy ’05, and Fiona Ong ’89, with backgrounds in corporate law, public interest, and labor and employment, respectively.

“It’s the benefits of having that Princeton family. I know you’re so focused on your day-to-day because we were all there, and it’s all-consuming,” Han said. “So, gather information, talk to people. Don’t be shy because we [alumni] love to talk. That’s the value of A4P. They have lots of different communities and offer programming, and if you’re interested in something, you can run with it.”

The panel started with guiding questions for the panelists before opening up to a Q&A with students and ending in small group dinners at a private dining room in Yeh College.

Ultimately, A4P remains a strong supporter of students and alumni alike in service, career development, and advancing Asian and Asian-American life in the University. New leaders are focusing their

effort on breaking cultural barriers and forging lasting connections between students and alumni.

A4P has also developed many initiatives in support of culture and representation. In 2013, A4P alumni and students created and funded the University’s Asian American Studies Endowment, which culminated in the formal establishment of the ASA — now Minor — Certificate Program later in 2018.

Another major initiative within A4P’s own Board of Governors is to diversify representation for alumni identifying with

all Asian ethnicities. At present, the Board has grown to consist of one-third South Asian alumni and is also looking to expand its graduate alumni representation, which stands at approximately one-fourth of A4P leadership.

“We’re your alumni group,” Lin said. “Come and join us! We’ll do our best to help, or just have a good time with you.”

Coco Gong is a staff Features writer at the ‘Prince.’

COURTESY OF BENNY MAH ‘82.

Members of A4P gather for Alumni Day 2024.

the PROSPECT. ARTS & CULTURE

Trenton Arts at Princeton ‘taps’ into local creative community

By Isabella Dail | Head Prospect Editor

While Saturday mornings may be a quiet time around most of Princeton’s campus, the Lewis Center of the Arts is bustling with activity — and performers’ instruments. Every Saturday, buses congregate in front of the arts complex, dropping off Trenton middle and high school students for a morning of performances.

The weekly program, Saturday Morning Arts (SMArts), is a part of a larger organization called Trenton Arts at Princeton (TAP), a collaboration between the Department of Music, Lewis Center for the Arts, and Pace Center for Civic Engagement. SMArts, one of TAP’s most notable programs, brings together Princetonians and Trenton students through a shared love of the arts.

On rehearsal days, the middle and high school students arrive in the morning, where they are provided with a quick breakfast to fuel hours of rehearsals.

From then until the early afternoon, the students divide into one of four categories: dance, orchestra, choir, or theater. Princeton students involved in TAP assist in teaching the students and guiding their rehearsals.

Each week, a Princeton performance group also provides a demonstration. Previous performers have included the a cappella group the Nassoons, the chamber music group Opus, and the dance group eXpressions.

“I especially enjoy seeing the Trenton students interact because really special

relationships are being built with the private teachers. Sometimes, I’ll have students there for four more years, and it becomes really special,” Princeton alum Lou Chen ’19, the current coordinator of TAP and director of the group’s orchestra, told the ‘Prince.’

As a sophomore, Chen founded the Trenton Youth Orchestra with Joseph Pucciatti, who directed the Trenton Central High School orchestra and bridged a connection between the high school and Princeton. The program began as a fledgling organization stationed in a small house in Trenton for at-risk youth.

As it grew into Trenton Arts at Princeton, funding from the Department of Music, Lewis Center for the Arts, Pace Center for Civic Engagement, and Office of the Provost provided the opportunity to bus the highschoolers to campus and increase the staff. Chen acts in an administrative role in organizing TAP’s programs, both fostering connections across campus and Trenton and training Princeton students. For Chen, these relationships are an essential part of his work.

“Seeing people interact, who otherwise maybe wouldn’t be interacting, because of the barriers that exist to getting people to Trenton or to Princeton, is very rewarding,” he said.

Princeton students have several opportunities to become involved in TAP. For students seeking a slightly less demanding commitment, there are options to meaningfully assist with SMArts that require less time. Students

can volunteer to teach a group of students or, for a more personalized experience, students can lead individual workshops, where they work weekly with one student and build a personal rapport between musicians.

Students interested in taking a larger role within the organization can apply for a Trenton Arts fellowship, a paid student position within the organization. Fellows lead one of the four arts groups and participate in weekly meetings with their cohort. However, TAP is also flexible in engaging Princeton students who do not see a current role that suits their interests.

“If there is a need that you think you can fill, join our team. That’s how we’ve gotten some of our best students engaged. It’s because they were nontraditional fits for the program but found someplace where they could give help. And we’re always open to innovation,” Chen noted.

TAP is an opt-in program for both the college and high school participants, so all students involved have a passion for the arts and a commitment to the program. For Trenton Central High School students, TAP exists as a way to expand the skills that students already learn in school. Trenton Central High School students join Small Learning Communities that provide a focus to their studies. One of these communities is the Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) community. For students in the VPA, TAP acts both as a supplement and an expansion of their primary education.

Andy Seabert, a teacher leader of the Visual and Performing Arts program, has seen the increased opportunities that his students have found through TAP.

“There’s room for multiple arts. TAP allows students who are maybe focused on one art a chance to experiment with another art outside of their high school schedule. When they’ve got core classes, and sports and other things going on, they don’t always have the room for that second experience. I think it helps them become more well-rounded as artists and creators,” Seabert said.

While support from student lead ers is a way for Trenton students to hone their performance skills, TAP is also a creative outlet for Princetonians themselves. Fellow Charlotte Defriez ’26 became involved when she wanted to continue practicing the violin while engaging with a new community. Since then, SMArts has become a highlight of her work, interacting with both Princeton and Trenton high school students.

“I just love the community. I want to be doing this on my weekends. It’s just amazing,” said Defriez.

TAP’s upcoming 5th anniversary showcase will be held in Richardson Auditorium on Apr. 6. Tickets can be found on the Princeton Ticketing website.

Isabella Dail is a member of the Class of 2026 and head editor for The Prospect at the ‘Prince.’

“Coffee

Club’s spring drinks are the highlight of a tiresome week.”

COFFEE

Continued from page 1

3. Lavender Latte

I had a difficult time deciding on my ranking for the remaining three drinks, especially between the two coffees. Although this might change later on in time with maturing taste buds, the lavender latte takes third place for now. While I’ve met many lavender latte drinkers that swear by the drink, I’ve never been a die-hard fan of

joyed this drink and would highly recommend it. I opted for an iced version, and I’d say it’s the perfect afternoon pick-me-up on a busy sunny day. If one were to choose the hot version, I can imagine it’d provide a sweet sense of comfort and warmth on a rainy spring evening.

2. Mango Matcha Lemonade

It was tough deciding which drink would take the top spot, but it really just came down to the nuances of personal preference. I appreciate a good matcha, especially in the spring, but at the end of the

fruitiness. The matcha provides a strong green tea flavor that somewhat overpowers the taste of mango, while still allowing it to shine through without making the drink overly sweet. The hints of lemon add an extra tang to the refreshment. Picture this drink in your hand on those occasional, beautiful sunny days that cheer up the dreary early spring weeks, as you walk around a suddenly now-lively campus and wind down after a long day of classes with some friends

1. Irish Cream Cold Foam Cold Brew

the smooth velvety texture. This beverage is the ideal go-to drink, whether it is for a delightful start to a busy day of studying or a sweet treat to reward you for a long week of hard work. Coffee Club’s spring drinks are the highlight of a tiresome week and the embodiment of the sun’s rays peeking through the clouds after a rainy day. Whether you need a dependable cup of caffeine or want to try something new, I highly recommend visiting one of Coffee Club’s two locations for an afternoon pick-me-up on a busy day of studying, or for a refreshment on a sunny

Alternatives to the Street

By Meredith Sneed | Contributing Prospect Writer

After late-night studying during the week, I proudly become a homebody on weekends. While I occasionally hit Prospect Street, on most Fridays and Saturdays, I typically relax by watching whatever show is my current obsession — right now, it’s the new Shogūn series. I watch a few episodes in my usually quiet dorm and fall asleep before midnight. However, some nights, I want to venture outside my comfort zone. When I want to try something a little more adventurous and not too tiring, I’ll explore the events, places, and other offerings found on campus and around town. If you’re looking for a weekend night alternative, here are some ideas.

Start a new art project

As a student who enjoys the arts, I always enjoy exploring my creative passions at Princeton. One outlet for expressing creativity is the NCW Ceramics Studio. Throughout the week and weekend, there are many opportunities to visit the studio. In addition to the Ceramics Studio, there are other artistic spaces offered to students, such as the Crochet Club, which sometimes meets on Friday nights. While I’m not a particularly talented ceramicist or crochet artist, these options are lowstakes creative environments on campus that give you the freedom to lose yourself in the creative process and find a new social community.

Visit the Garden Theater USG Movies is known for screening films at the Garden Theater each weekend. The selection typically consists of a recently released favorite or an

anticipated upcoming release. While I love to watch movies in my room, there is also nothing quite like experiencing a film in a movie theater. The weekly showings are also a chance to explore something new. Whether you go with friends or attend solo, you might just leave with a stomach full of popcorn and a new favorite movie. The movie for the week can be found on the USG Movies Instagram account.

Attend a performance

There is never a lack of dance shows, comedy shows, and art exhibitions to experience on the weekend. As someone who regularly attends dance shows, I’m always amazed by the consistent quality of the work. Each show is a complete production, with many having a video component shown in between acts and appearances from other performing groups around campus. As the semester ends, many groups will showcase their last performances of the year. Some groups that I have immensely enjoyed watching are Black Arts Company, Princeton University Ballet, and Quipfire!. Find some groups that sound interesting to you, and make a plan to check at least one of them out.

Pick up a book

Although I spend a fair amount of time on my phone before bed, on many Friday and Saturday nights, I reach for a book before I fall asleep. On Thursdays or Fridays, I often visit Labyrinth Books on Nassau Street to pick up new books for the weekend. However, I have severely underestimated how much storage space I would have in my small double for stacks of books. For students with space constrictions, I suggest the Princeton University Library’s Dixon eBooks catalog through the Libby app

or online. You can borrow an ebook from the catalog’s wide variety of new releases by emerging authors to classic books with cult followings across every genre. If you have not browsed through the catalog already, I highly recommend seeing what it has to offer.

Visit the Princeton Public Library

I have found that a less stressful alternative to studying in Firestone is studying in the three-story window haven that is Princeton Public Library. Although the Library closes at 6 pm on Fridays and Saturdays, there is usually an art workshop, film screening, or author’s talk offered in the Library just before closing. Notably, April 5-14 is the Princeton Environmental Film Festival, and the Princeton Public Library will host screenings of documentary features and documentary shorts this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, with a few showings taking place at night. If you are interested, check out the upcoming Princeton Public Library events here with the screening times.

Try a new restaurant Weekend nights are the perfect time to try a new restaurant or return to a reliable favorite. The town of Princeton has many offerings to choose from. Sitting at a table and ordering a meal will truly make you feel like you have entered the real world again, successfully escaping the “Orange Bubble.” However, if you decide you really do want to have a night in, then order takeout and get cozy. I personally love to grab a burrito from Tacoria on Friday nights and eat while I read. Grabbing some scoops of ice cream from The Bent Spoon and going for a night stroll is the perfect way to embrace the upcoming hotter weeks. If you are still in the mood for

some warm food, Lan Ramen has excellent ramen and a cozy atmosphere to help you unwind after a stressful week.

Visit the Princeton Record Exchange

If you like collecting physical editions of your favorite songs or exploring new music, browse Princeton Record Exchange’s collection of new and used vinyls, CDs, and DVDs. In the last few years, I have started buying more vinyls, adding to a growing collection. However, I often do not buy vinyls strictly for listening to music. Instead, I like decorating my walls with the vinyl jackets of my favorite albums. Whether you want to buy for decoration or listening enjoyment, check out the store. Princeton Record Exchange, located on Tulane St, closes at 8 pm on Fridays and Saturdays.

Surprise yourself! There is nothing wrong with falling into the same comfortable rhythm every weekend and having a trustworthy Friday or Saturday night routine. I am most definitely a person loyal to my routines. Now that I know the easiest way to relax is to hit play on my show and have a quiet night, I might not want to change my routine. However, there is pure enjoyment in finding a new thing to love. We can find activities that bring comfort and enjoyment, which cause our shoulders to loosen and our lips to lift into a grin. If you feel even the slightest desire to try something new, trust that instinct and go explore. You’ll be glad you did.

Meredith Sneed is a first-year contributor for The Prospect from Savannah, GA.

NATALIA DIAZ / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN Coffee Club’s new spring drinks

Black Arts Company throws Princeton’s biggest block party

By Brianna Melanie Suliguin | Staff Prospect Writer

Last semester, I attended and reviewed the Black Arts Company (BAC) fall show, “Verified.” At the time, I was blown away by the quality of the performances and walked away excited to see more from the group. Keeping my promise, I returned ready for the company to bring the same energy to new choreographies with their spring show: “Block Party.”

BAC’s “Block Party” was performed in Frist Theater on April 5 and 6. But well before opening night, and even before buying my ticket, I was drawn in by the group’s promotional photos. The shoot portrayed friend groups intersecting with other groups in a neighborhood. The outfits perfectly reflected BAC’s proud members’ coolness. The teasers for the show were reminiscent of the 2000s, using camcorder video quality to give the audience a sneak peek — I was instantly intrigued.

The show opens with “Danger on ‘BAC Block.’” The white tee-distressed jeans and sports jersey combos donned by the dancers established the neighborhood party theme. The team grooved their way across the stage to “m.A.A.d city” by Kendrick Lamar, which was contrasted by individual shoutouts that spotlighted each member. The fan engagement made this a standout piece: The team knew how to excite the crowd for

what was yet to come.

The tone then slowed down for “R//EVOLUTION,” one of my favorite dances of the night, which contrasts many of the other performances due to a focus on popping over groove. In this piece, the dancers presented clean lines and shapes, utilizing tutting and popping. The crew’s precision and power shined through their minimal yet impactful performance.

However, my favorite part was the storytelling: The front-facing baseball caps, signifying loyalty to the leader Jeremy Dapaah ’24, were gradually turned around, showing them “turning” their backs and calling for revolt. The solo moments showing the dancers siding with rebellion were effective and dramatic.

Would I have expected a Drake and Phineas and Ferb crossover? No. Did I thoroughly enjoy it? Absolutely.

“Meap!” uses Drake’s “IDGAF” and “Another Late Night” alongside the dancers’ sparkly fire design tracksuits. The best way to describe this piece is “hip-hop dance crew coming to devour.” A very show-stopping performance, the selling factors were the contrast between groove and pops, the textures shining through. And the sass: Every single dancer delivered on facials and body language. I just knew they were having fun up there. With full confidence, they made the choreography look effortless, despite the powerful and sharp foot and arm work. The crowd reciprocated their energy, a perfect closer

to the first act.

“Kid(s) ‘n Play” was next, another one of my favorite pieces of the night. The cast entered with bright pink and orange shirts with carefree and playful attitudes. Here, the cast had fun with childish motifs such as patty cake and skipping, making the dance their playground. Suddenly, a Troy Bolton moment from “High School Musical” appeared with the dancers dribbling under the spotlight. The middle section introduced hard-hitting images and body language, specifically using krumping to break it down. “Blow the Whistle” by Too $hort played, with the referee motif solidified by the music and costumes. The piece finished with some double dutch: The callback to Corbin Bleu’s “Jump In” was absolute perfection.

Next up was “Sidetalk BAC.” This piece brought back carefree, airy vibes. The piece mainly focused on litefeet techniques, a style I’ve seen incorporated before into pieces but didn’t know explicitly. Here, I got an introduction to the dance style: Focusing on feathery footwork and a strong posture, the performers made each eight-count unique. Utilizing the train travel motif, the dancers moved fast across the stage due to their agility, conquering the energy of the audience and investing it into energetic and bouncy choreography.

After BAC’s traditional dance competition followed “Spin the Block,” one of the most intoxicating cho -

reographies of the night. The piece was led by Artistic Director Jessica Ugwoke ’27 and Assistant Artistic Director Eva-Labelle Kenmoe ’27. You could tell they meant business: their musicality was put on center stage, and my eyes were darting across the stage to gather all the details. A notable moment in this piece was the outfit-changing into the white puffers and shades. The group showed up to the function to claim their grounds, and they solidified their position once again as the best in the block.

The Block Party came to a close with the Senior (Citizen) Piece “Zone 24” and the closer “We.” In “Zone 24” dancers were throwing their wigs and canes offstage to get down. The closing piece was bursting with energy as well, implementing line dances like the wobble to get the crowd on their feet. Both of these pieces celebrate the community that is BAC, extending the familial energy to the crowd as well. Their active engagement of the crowd through filler videos and stage presence kept me engaged and on the edge of my seat. I can confidently say that BAC succeeded in throwing the best block party in Princeton.

Brianna Melanie Suliguin is a staff writer for The Prospect. She is a part of the Great Class of 2027 and is from Toms River, N.J.

BRIANNA MELANIE SULIGUIN / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN BAC dancers strike a final pose in “Kid(s) ‘n Play.”

BRIANNA MELANIE SULIGUIN / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN

The Prospect 11 Weekly Event Roundup

By Olivia Pettit, Prospect Contributor

1

Princeton French Film Festival

April 12–26

The second-annual Princeton French Film Festival will feature film screenings, masterclasses, Q&A’s, and a book discussion, all of which are free with registration through their website. The festival kicks off on Friday, April 12 at 7 p.m. with a discussion of the book “The Braid” by Laetitia Colombani followed by a film screening of an adaptation in McCosh 10 at 7:30 p.m. The event is free but requires a ticket.

2

3

4

The Annual Milbank Memorial Concert: Music of Maurice Duruflé

“A Basement in Cleveland, Ohio”: An Exhibition by Princeton Juniors

April 8–19, Gallery open weekdays 9 a.m.–6 p.m.

Lucas Galley, 185 Nassau St.

The gallery will host the works of Princeton Juniors pursuing a minor in the Program in Visual Arts (VIS) and practice of Art majors in the Department of Art and Archeology. The event is free and open to the public.

“Broadway on Ice” from Princeton University Figure Skating Club

April 12 at 8 p.m. & April 13 at 4 p.m. Baker Rink

This spring’s Figure Skating Club performance will have student performers dance on ice to the best of Broadway. Tickets can be purchased at University Ticketing.

Más Flow’s “Leyendas”

April 12 at 8 p.m. & April 13 at 6:30 p.m. and 9 p.m.

Frist Theater

Princeton University’s Latin dance group Más Flow will have their annual performance this weekend at Frist Theater, featuring high-energy dances and a variety of musical styles. Tickets can be purchased at University Ticketing.

5 6

April 13 8–9:30 p.m.

Princeton University Chapel

The Princeton University Chapel Choir, directed by Nicole Aldrich, presents this unique sonic showcase of Maurice Duruflé’s Requiem with the chamber orchestra. University Organist Eric Plutz opens the show with Duruflé’s masterful Suite for Organ, Op. 5. The event is free and open to the public, and no tickets are required.

8

Jazz Festival 2024

April 13 1–10 p.m.

Richardson Auditorium

This free, unticketed event will feature performances by acclaimed jazz performers Darryl Harper, Josh Lawrence, and Yuhan Su, as well as a performance from the Princeton University Faculty Quintet. The event is free and unticketed until 6 p.m. and ticketed after 8 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at University Ticketing.

“Still We Rise” Documentary Screening & Panel Discussion

April 15, 5:30 p.m.

James Stewart Film Theater

Sponsored by a variety of organizations and departments, including the Department of African American Studies and the Department of Art & Archaeology, this film screening focuses on the 1970s Aboriginal activists in Australia. After the film, director John Harvey will participate in a panel moderated by associate professor Dr. Anna Arabindan-Kesson. The event is unticketed.

10

Screening of “Ex-Shaman”

April 18, 7 p.m.

Princeton Garden Theater

In conjunction with the Princeton University Art Museum and the PU Luso-Afro-Brazilian Studies, the Garden will have a free screening of the 2018 Brazilian film “Ex-Shaman.” The film is being presented alongside the exhibition “Denilson Baniwa: Under the Skin of History,” which is being displayed at Art@Bainbridge and is open until 7 p.m.

9

7

PU Wind Ensemble

April 14, 2 p.m.

Lee Music Room

In their inaugural Spring Concert, the Princeton University Wind Ensemble (PUWE) will showcase performances both from the full group and from their chamber brass ensemble in a wide range of music styles. The PUWE, founded in 1977 and reestablished in 2023, includes undergraduates, graduate students, and alumni musi- cians. The event is free and unticketed.

Creative Writing Spring 2024

Student Reading

April 16, 5 p.m.

Chancellor Green Rotunda

Each semester, select students in the PU Program in Creative Writ- ing share readings from courses and independent work. Join Creative Writing students and professors for a night of celebration of the semester’s work. The event is free and unticketed.

11

“Apertures: New Dance Works” by Mei Geller and Jasmine Rivers

April 18–20 8:30 p.m.

Hearst Dance Theater, Lewis Arts Complex

This dance performance features the work of two Princeton seniors, Mei Geller and Jasmine Rivers. It focuses on the intersectionality of identity and the eternal process of transformation. The dance styles explore the tensions between organization and constraint and freedom and creation seen in daily interactions. Thursday will be its opening night and world debut. Tickets are required, though they can be obtained for free through University Ticketing.

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Sophomore standout Xaivian Lee declares for NBA draft, maintaining college eligibility

By Hayk Yengibaryan associate Sports editor

In the weeks following the opening of the transfer portal, the Ivy League has seen star after star depart the conference, including Yale’s Danny Wolf, Harvard’s Malik Mack, and Brown’s Nana Owusu-Anane.

But Princeton’s star players, sophomore guard Xaivian Lee and sophomore forward Caden Pierce, stayed firm inside the Orange Bubble — until Friday evening, when Lee did not enter the transfer portal, but rather jumped to declaring for the NBA draft.

ESPN reporter Adrian Wojnarowski was the first to report that Tiger standout Xaivian Lee will be declaring for the 2024 NBA draft while maintaining college eligibility.

“I think it was the smart thing to do,” Lee told The Daily Princetonian in an interview.

“Not necessarily leaving for the NBA, but testing the waters and seeing where I’m at against that level of competition … That is ultimately how I can get better and set myself up for the future.”

Declaring for the draft requires Lee to decide his future by May 29. Should he choose to stay in the draft past May 29, Lee will lose his college eligibility.

“That was the important part of it [maintaining my eligibility],” Lee added. “I’m entering this process … open-minded and I have intentions of coming back to school for sure.”

Lee will try to do something that has only happened once since 1996 — be drafted to the NBA from the Ivy League. That one player was Yale’s Miye Oni, who was picked 58th in the 2019

draft after declaring early after his junior year, though he struggled to adjust to the NBA and is now playing in the GLeague.

“I think everyone has a goal of making the NBA, but this is just the first step in that process,” Lee told the ‘Prince.’

Lee will be represented by Greg Langgerg, founder and CEO of GSL Sports Group, the same agency that represents former Tiger star and current Detroit Pistons forward Tosan Evbuomwan ‘23. Evbuomwan is the NBA’s only Ivy League player and has recently been starting for a severely depleted Detroit roster.

“Going through the process and talking with different people, George [Langberg] seemed like a really good guy, really easy to talk to, and I think he believes in me and has a good understanding of who I am as a person and as a player,” Lee added.

While Evbuomwan and Lee are in different situations — Evbuomwan was graduating from Princeton at the time of declaring, while Lee is only a rising junior — Lee has still looked to Evbuomwan for guidance.

“I definitely spoke to Tosan [Evbuomwan] going through this process,” Lee noted. “We spoke for a couple of hours over the phone here and there. He’s helped guide me through the process … not really on making the decision, but on the mental side of it and he’s been through that process already.”

Lee became a core part of the Tigers’ squad after seeing limited playing time during his rookie season at Old Nassau. After a summer that saw Lee shine at the 2023 FIBA U19 Basketball

World Cup for Team Canada, Lee had a stellar sophomore campaign that saw him average 17.1 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 3.7 assists per game on the season. When the season ended, Lee finished first in points during in-conference play within the Ivy League, tied with teammate Caden Pierce. He was named on the All-Ivy first team as one of four unanimous selections. He was also a finalist for the Lou Henson National Player of the Year Award, an award given to the best mid-major player in college basketball.

It is difficult to say how Lee’s game will translate to the NBA. On offense, he has scored over 60 percent of all his field goals unassisted and has a unique

playing style that can be a headache for opposing defenses. His biggest concern for scouts will likely be on the defensive end of the ball. While Lee undoubtedly has the lateral quickness that is needed on the defensive end, his lean frame is an overall concern due to the larger size and physicality in the NBA.

The next eight weeks will be crucial for Lee. While handling four courses at Princeton, Lee will likely attend the NBA draft combine scheduled for May 12–19 and schedule different predraft workouts with interested organizations.

“I think it’ll probably take a lot to persuade me to stay in [the NBA draft],” Lee noted. “I’m just really excited to see what

happens and I’m open-minded to the process. I think it’ll be a lot of fun. That’s what basketball is about.”

While whether he suits up for the Tigers in November remains a question mark, Lee remains grateful for the support the Tigers received this season from the community and the school.

“We’re all super thankful for the great support this year,” Lee said. “It just made it so fun and a privilege to play for you guys [fans] … I’m excited for the future.”

Hayk Yengibaryan is an associate Sports editor for the ‘Prince.’

AMMAAR ALAM / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN

Lee was a unanimous All-Ivy first-team selection this past season for the Tigers, averaging 17 points per game.

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Jersey through and through: Senior forward Zach Martini announces transfer to Rutgers

By Hayk

Rutgers head coach Steve Pikiell got his guy.

Senior forward Zach Martini will be spending his final year of college eligibility remaining in the Garden State playing for the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. Martini made the announcement on social media Wednesday evening. Since the Ivy League does not allow graduate student transfers, Martini joins a list of Tigers who have pursued a graduate year elsewhere using their fifth-year of eligibility due to the canceled 2020-21 season. This list will soon include current senior guard and captain Matt Allocco, who is yet to announce his decision but has entered the transfer portal. It also includes Tiger standouts Ryan Langborg ’23 and Jaelin Llewellyn ’22.

The former Knight at Gill St. Bernard’s School in New Jersey will be a Scarlet Knight in the fall, joining one of the most exciting teams in the nation. Pikiell has the fourth-best incoming recruiting class in the nation — it includes five-star recruits Airious “Ace” Bailey and Dylan Harper.

“It’s a wild place”: Welcome to the portal Changing transfer portal rules have profoundly affected college basketball over the past few years. A recent ruling has allowed college athletes to transfer schools as many times as they wish without a grace period. Furthermore, the rise of NIL has further complicated the portal, adding financial incentives to the list of factors athletes must weigh when choosing a school. Within 48 hours of the portal opening this year, over 10 percent of college bas -

ketball athletes entered the portal.

“It’s a wild place,” Martini told The Daily Princetonian. “It’s just constant calls. It’s hard to get a sense of who [Division I coaches] knows you.”

Martini felt that coach Pikiell and the Rutgers program knew him past the box score, influencing his decision to join the Scarlet Knights.

“With coach Pikiell, it was very evident he knew who I was beyond the stats and as a person and a player and what I bring that doesn’t shown up in the stat sheet,” Martini added.

Pikiell was also the first head coach to reach out to Martini, giving him a call within an hour of Martini officially entering his name in the portal. Pikiell had seen Martini play in person earlier this season during the 2023 Jersey Jam when Princeton defeated Rutgers in their season opener.

There were multiple schools interested in Martini, including Stanford, St Mary’s, Richmond, Maryland, George Washington, and St Joe’s, among other schools. But for Martini, his choice to head north to New Brunswick was clear.

“He [Pikiell] was the one I felt most comfortable with and felt like I was wanted and needed there,” Martini told the ‘Prince.’

By staying within New Jersey, Martini stayed close to his roots. Originally from Warren, New Jersey, Martini grew up just ten miles away from Rutgers’ New Brunswick campus. As a child, Martini attended multiple Rutgers football games and has signed Rutgers football memorabilia adorning the walls in his room at home.

“Being a New Jersey kid, both these schools are in my backyard,” Martini added. “To be able to call both of these schools my home in the future is a truly unique opportunity.”

Life in the Big Ten

Next season, the Scarlet Knights will be one of the most exciting teams to watch in college basketball. With Bailey and Harper headlining a star-studded class, Rutgers will be must-see TV wherever they travel next season. Coach Pikiell will look to Martini to help be a vocal leader on this team and embrace a similar role he had at Princeton this season.

“It’s perfect timing,” Martini noted. “To be able to be recruited by this team and play with this caliber of players is nuts. It’s a really exciting opportunity.”

He added, “I’m really excited to take on a leadership role for these guys and that’s something that Coach Pikiell has echoed. He wants me to be a leader on the court.”

For Rutgers, Martini will fill a major need. This past season, the Scarlet Knights ranked 342nd in the nation in three-point percentage, shooting a disappointing 28.7 percent from beyond the arc. These statistics are simply not a recipe for success in the current climate of college basketball.

The good news for Rutgers fans is that Zach Martini is not afraid to let it fly. The senior made 60 triples across the season on 38.5 percent shooting. Moreover, Martini is ranked 93rd in the nation in the KenPom offensive rating, higher than many Power Five stars.

“My shooting is what [Piki-

ell] is most excited about,” Martini noted. “To be in a pick and roll and pick and pop with [Bailey] is gonna be really fun.”

Martini will not be the only recent Princeton star to go to the Big Ten conference. Last season, Langborg transferred to Northwestern where he had an incredible run with the Wildcats. Notably, in the first round of the NCAA tournament, Langborg put up a career-high 28 points to lead Northwestern to an upset win over the No. 8 seeded Florida Atlantic University Owls.

“He [Langborg] had a lot of success playing in a different league at this level, so it’s really encouraging to see,” Martini added.

“I knew we could win the game”: Reflecting on his time at Old Nassau

After a standout high school career, Martini committed to Princeton and has improved every season under coach Mitch Henderson, despite the setbacks he faced.

His first year in Old Nassau began with news that the Ivy League was canceling the entire 2020–21 season for athletes due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While most of the nation played that season, Martini and other Ivy athletes were forced to sit out and watch the rest of the nation compete.

“That was the worst year of my life,” Martini reflected. “To see everyone at different schools practicing ... it was really sad. It was tough, it was a rough year“

For Martini, the opportunity to play a fifth year at Rutgers offers him an experience that the pandemic took from him.

”I’m glad to have the opportunity to play one more year,” Martini said.

During his sophomore year at Princeton — his first year playing college basketball — Martini appeared in just 16 games. Playing on an upperclassmen-heavy team, Martini failed to crack the rotation.

While Martini hoped to change that at the start of his junior year, a potential careerending injury gave Martini the biggest scare of his life.

On October 8th, 2022, Martini’s lung collapsed after taking a charge in practice. After five nights in the hospital, he was sent home and returned to basketball activity after six weeks of recovery.

“I didn’t really know if I’d be able to play basketball again,” Martini noted. “The most important thing was taking a charge again ... Once I did, that gave me confidence and assured me that I’m ready to go.”

That charge happened in early December in a non-con -

ference game against Drexel. After that, his collegiate career took off.

He had a strong end to his junior year, averaging 14.3 points a game and playing in the final 24 games of the season. He knocked down four triples in the Ivy League tournament semifinal against Penn, while in the team’s historic upset against Arizona, Martini had seven points and seven rebounds. This game marked his favorite memory with the Tigers.

“It was the first half of the game… Tosan [Evbuomwan ’23] and I just ran to the corner and my guy came out to me and the rim was wide open and [Evbuomwan] went coast to coast and dunked it,” Martini told the ‘Prince.’ “The whole arena was cheering for us. From that moment on, I knew we could win the game.”

This past season was Martini’s career high. As a captain and leader alongside Allocco, Martini started in all 29 games for Princeton. In his last-ever regular season game, Martini scored 23 points — including seven triples — at the iconic Palestra, the Penn Quakers’ home gym. While the Tigers ultimately fell short of expectations at the end of the season, they sold out Jadwin Gymnasium twice and put the nation on notice on several occasions.

Martini will be enrolled in the one-year master’s program at the Rutgers Business School this fall.

Tiger fans may not need to wait too long to see Martini sharing the court with the Tigers once more. If the Jersey Jam is renewed for another year, Martini may need to suit up against Henderson and the Tigers.

“I really hope we don’t play each other,” Martini said jokingly. “It’d be a really odd game for me. I’m obviously gonna play my hardest for Rutgers, but that sounds really weird to say against Princeton. If that happens, it’ll be a sight.”

Martini will go down as a Tiger great during one of the best stretches in Princeton’s history. His advice to the current underclassmen in the program was simple and straightforward.

“We had a great year, but we came up short,” Martini noted. “They know what it takes, and they’ve been there. When you fall short, the focus is really amped up another level. I’m really excited to see what they do next year.”

Hayk Yengibaryan is an associate Sports editor for the ‘Prince.’

Yengibaryan associate Sports editor

‘It’s

’bout time’: Princeton fencing shines in the NCAA and beyond

By Ava Seigel Assistant Sports Editor

With an NCAA Champion, an NCAA Semifinalist, six All-Americans, and two Olympic qualifiers, Princeton fencing has proven why it is a top-ten fencing program in the country this year.

With the conclusion of their collegiate season at the NCAA Championships in Columbus, Ohio, at the end of March, the Princeton men’s and women’s fencing programs closed the books on one of their best performances in recent history.

NCAA Regional Dominance

Success for the Tigers built throughout the season, beginning with a commanding performance at NCAA regionals earlier in the year.

Collegiate fencing is distinct in that the athletes — who are split by weapons (épée, foil, saber) and gender — compete individually as well as towards overall team performance scores. Each ‘bout’ fenced accrues points that contribute to that individual fencer’s percentage victory, which is also pooled towards the combined team standings.

Princeton took home three of the six possible NCAA Mid-Atlantic/South Regional titles, with Junior épée Jessica Lin and Senior saber Ryan Jenkins topping the podium along with Senior épée Tristan Szapary.

“We had a pretty strong performance as a team [at regionals] heading into NCAAs, so it was a huge boost for our confidence as a whole knowing we were feeling ready to go and put up a fight,” Jenkins

noted to the ‘Prince.’

Beyond team confidence, regionals are a key factor in NCAA Championship qualifications, as regional scores count for 60 percent of a fencer’s resume with the selection committee, with their regular season performance accounts for the other 40 percent.

NCAA Championship Triumphs

With the weight of their regional success, Princeton Fencing had 11 of 12 maximum possible fencers selected for bids by the NCAA Men’s and Women’s Fencing Committee for Championship competition. This means the Tigers had a large cheering force on the strip and 11 fencers contributing towards the team’s overall points.

“The support is huge... in the finals each team has all of their qualifiers supporting and you can hear them on the strip, Szapary remarked.

Szapary said that strong support from the Tiger sideline translated to results, running the table to win Princeton’s only NCAA individual championship of the season.

Last year, in his first Championship appearance, Szapary finished in 10th place at the tournament. Now, he closes out his Tiger career as only the ninth Princeton men’s fencer to win an NCAA individual championship. Szapary is the first to achieve this feat since Jonathan Yergler ‘13 in 2012.

The winning run began in the round-robin portion of the competition, where each qualifier fences short 5-touch bouts against 23 competitors hoping to clinch a spot in the final four, fencing off in longer 15-touch bouts for the

title.

“This is my second NCAAs, the first one was last year and that’s what I learned that it’s a mental battle since it’s so different from other competitions,” Szapary told the ‘Prince.’

After narrowly securing his spot in the top four, Szapary went on to defeat top-seeded Henry Lawson of Harvard 15–9 in the semifinal, who had won 17 of 23 bouts prior to the weekend’s contests.

“I was actually down after the first period by 3 touches,” Szapary noted. “But I wasn’t thinking about it, I was just focused on the fencing so I was able to come back and beat him pretty handedly” he continued.

In the finals, Szapary secured his title in a close 15–14 bout victory over Notre Dame’s Jonathan HamiltonMeikle.

Szapary trailed only at the very start of the championship bout. After that, he built up his lead throughout the match, eventually reaching a 7–0 margin. Following a double touch at 14–13, Szapary secured his 15 points — and with it, the national championship berth.

“This was the best way to go as a senior,” Szapary remarked. “It reflected three plus years of hard work and trying to build a team culture that could win.”

Ryan Jenkins, Szapary’s fellow regional champ, also had the best run of her Tiger career at the NCAA championships making it into the semifinals.

Heading into the final four competition against St. John’s Julia Cieslar, Jenkins had won 18 of her 23 pool bouts. Un -

fortunately, Cieslar advanced to the finals over Jenkins 15–9, but this still marked the best finish of her three NCAA Championship appearances.

“I could not have imagined a better outcome,” Jenkins expressed. “I was hoping for a top four finish, but didn’t know if it was in the cards because everyone there is so strong.”

The performances of Szapary and Jenkins, along with the nine other Tiger qualifiers, culminated in Princeton’s fourth-place team finish with 131 total wins. Despite being one spot off the trophy stage, the Tigers walked away from the weekend with six AllAmerican honors and exciting momentum heading into next season.

Olympic qualifiers

Beyond NCAA dominance, first-year saber Tatiana Nazlymov and sophomore épée Hadley Husisian both have qualified for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris in both the individual and women’s team events, proving the squad’s weight beyond the NCAA to represent the United States on the global stage.

“They are the most hardworking people and incredible athletes, it’s so well deserved,” Jenkins remarked on Nazlymov and Husisian’s qualifications.

Following months of qualification competitions and acquiring points, both Nazlymov and Husisian managed to gain enough points to secure their places.

“We try to build a culture of excellence, a culture of almost near professionalism, and that gets validated when we have multiple of our com -

petitors qualify for the Olympics and not just do well on the collegiate circuit,” Szapary explained.

Husisian is currently on a gap-year from Princeton, fully dedicating her time to preparing for Paris this summer.

Olympic competition is structured differently from NCAAs, where individually the first fencer to reach 15 points or have the highest number of points after three three-minute rounds wins the match. For the team section, the first team to score 45 points or lead the score when the allotted time ends wins the match.

Though success on the international stage is nothing new for Nazlymov and Husisian, the former No. 11 world junior women’s saber and No. 1 world junior women’s épée fencers respectively, their biggest challenges yet will undoubtedly come in Paris this summer.

“I think it really is a testament to not only the resiliency of the team but also the individual strengths of our team members,” Junior épée Ryan Lee said on the pair’s upcoming Olympic debuts.

“It’s great to show everyone [that] Princeton Fencing remains one of the best in the nation.”

Ava Seigel is an assistant Sports editor for the ‘Prince.’

A day of “justice and understanding”: Princeton responds to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s assassination

By Ifeoluwa Aigbiniode Contributing Archivist

Almost 56 years ago, on April 4, 1968, civil rights leader Martin Luther King (MLK) Jr. was shot and killed at the age of 39. His sudden death generated shockwaves across the nation. The Princeton community was no exception.

In an “In Memoriam” special issue of The Daily Princetonian, a statement from Robert Goheen GS ’48, University President at the time, noted that MLK Jr. “was one of the most important men of the century.”

As a tribute to King’s passing, the University suspended all classes and non-essential activities previously scheduled for Tuesday, April 9, which was the day of Dr. King’s funeral. All departments also issued a one-day extension on thesis deadlines. Additionally, room draws and

sports games were canceled for the day to allow community members to pay their respects. According to Goheen, this was done in hopes that all members of the University community would dedicate the day to reflect on how they could advance “the goals of justice and understanding to which Dr. King dedicated his life.”

At the time, Princeton’s Association of Black Collegians (ABC), in conjunction with another association called Informed Citizens Against Apathy (ICAA), organized a memorial service and a program of seminars in light of Dr. King’s passing. President Goheen also encouraged students to attend these events. The ICAA, only a few days old, was formed by four undergraduate students concerned with the “apathy of the ‘good white’ citizen in America” towards issues such as racial injustice.

To emphasize the importance of attending these events, the two organizations stated, “It is our hope that each student’s university experience be completed by coming into confrontation with the issues ABC raises.” The ICAA and ABC also stated that community members who did not attend these events “have sold out one of their major responsibilities to themselves, their fellow men, and to their nation.”

According to a later ‘Prince’ issue, it was evident that their appeals did not go unnoticed, as the events of the day drew approximately 1,200 people ranging from undergraduate students to faculty members and Princeton townspeople. The events focused on topics such as Black power, education in a white society, and poverty in Black communities. The ICAA also grew in membership to approximately 350 members after

these discussions.

The ABC and ICAA hoped that the seminars would result in sustained dialogue as well as positive and continued action. Indeed, after the day’s events, it was observed that attendees were motivated to offer concrete suggestions to combat issues related to racial injustice, such as “personal canvassing in both Black and white neighborhoods, legal work on housing bills, and publishing of local newsletters.” These results aligned with the earlier appeals of ICAA and ABC to the Princeton community, which stated, “The time is now for serious thought, enlightened decision and relevant action. We offer you with an imperative: ATTEND.”

Ifeoluwa Aigbiniode is a contributing Archivist for the ‘Prince.’