Founded 1876 daily since 1892 online since 1998
Wednesday march 9, 2016 vol. cxl no. 28
{ www.dailyprincetonian.com } U N I V E R S I T Y A F FA I R S
U. limits free speech, says FIRE report By Hannah Waxman staff writer,
Jessica Li News editor
In a recent report published by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, the University was given a red light rating — the lowest in the evaluation scheme — for protecting free speech. Samantha Harris ’99, the director of policy research at FIRE, said the ratings are based solely on the explicitly written policies of the institution. A red light rating denotes that the institution has at least one policy that both clearly and substantially restricts freedom of speech, Harris said. She added that the description implies that institution’s restrictive codes are applied in all situations, regardless of circumstance. In the University’s case, FIRE not-
ed underscored concerns with the Section 1.2.1 in the University Rights, Rules, Responsibilities booklet, which codifies “respect for others.” Particularly, the section enumerates disciplinary actions for demeaning behavior, which can be broadly interpreted, Harris noted. A segment of the current policy reads that “abusive or harassing behavior, verbal or physical, which demeans, intimidates, threatens, or injures another because of personal characteristics or beliefs or their expression, is subject to University disciplinary sanctions.” University Media Relations Specialist Min Pullan did not respond to a request for comment by press time. It is important to note that something subjectively demeaning that may be in fact, be a critical part of the social discussion, Harris said. See FIRE page 3
SPRING COMES TO CAMPUS
SUNNY HE :: STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
On Tuesday, students rejoiced the warm spring weather by sitting on the lawns and enjoying the sunshine as the temperature went up to 73 degrees fahrenheit. The warm weather will continue this week. ACADEMICS
New fellowship to fund chemistry graduate students By Betty Liu staff writer
LOCAL NEWS
IAS, SAVE Princeton argue on battleground
Professor of chemistry emeritus Edward Taylor has established funds to the chemistry department to provide a full fellowship for all third-year graduate students in chemistry. Taylor said that the funds for his donation come from his invention of the anticancer drug Alimta, which is used to treat lung cancer and mesothelioma. Taylor discovered the cancer-fighting compounds while active in a lab at Princeton and worked with the pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly to invent Alimta. “I think it’s only right, and I’m glad that I could work it out this way, to give back to the University and to
the chemistry department, something really truly substantial because that comes from work that which I did in the chemistry program,” Taylor said. Despite the fact that he has been retired for 18 years, Taylor still keeps in touch with the chemistry department. He said that the idea for the fellowship came from Tom Muir, chair of the Department of Chemistry. Muir was not available for comment. Taylor said that he was particularly interested in funding the third year of graduate studies because it was a crucial time for graduate students in chemistry. “The third year is just that time when students are launching themselves total-
ly in research, that’s when they concentrate, those are the critical times in doing, starting, maintaining and embedding themselves into a research program. And you don’t want to break that intensity and make it difficult to do that by fragmenting your time by trying to find outside funding.” According to Daniel Novoa GS, it is usually the responsibility of the chemistry graduate student to find external funding for the last three years of study. Many funding opportunities require a proposal that takes a considerable amount of time and devotion to build. Moreover, some sources of external funding may require additional work durSee FUND page 2
BEYOND THE BUBBLE
By Marcia Brown staff writer
By Jessica Li news editor
Save Princeton, a coalition of nine national advocacy groups, sent a letter to Charles Simonyi, Chairman of the Board of Trustees at the Institute for Advanced Study imploring for a meeting with IAS to explore alternatives to construction on Maxwell’s Field last Wednesday. “Our organizations respectfully and formally request that the Institute for Advanced Study cease its development plans and pursue alternate building locations for the faculty housing project slated for Maxwell’s Field,” the letter reads. According to Jim Campi, communications director for the Civil War Trust, a signatory organization on the letter, the coalition formed this past Friday. Members of the coalition include the American Association for State and Local History, American Revolution Institute of the Society of the Cincinnati and the New Jersey Chapter Sierra Club, he said. The coalition demonstrates
In Opinion
that this campaign is a national issue, Campi added. In the letter addressed to IAS, coalition members noted that “the property has been identified by the National Park Service, countless historians and numerous archaeologists as the site where Washington’s famous counterattack first struck the British lines.” The coalition is also offering $4.5 million dollars, more than $1 million above the appraised property value, to acquire Maxwell’s Field, according to the letter. “The more the public learns about the project, the more upset they are about disruption of the battlefield,” Campi noted. Alexandra Altman, communications associate for the Institute for Advanced Study, said in a statement that the letter “misstates facts [and] implies that the Institute is acting irresponsibly, paying no heed to preservationist concerns.” According to Altman, IAS has been a long-time See IAS page 3
Senior columnist Will Rivitz argues that intelligent advocacy for a group entails understanding the role identity plays for its members, and columnist Beni Snow argues that Trump can no longer be considered a joke. PAGE 4
Dickinson College Professor of philosophy Cripsin Sartwell recently accused University professor Alexander Nehamas GS ’71 of plagiarism and libel. Dickenson College has placed Sartwell on temporary leave shortly after the allegation. Sartwell did not respond to requests for comment. Nehamas deferred comment to a statement. In a statement sent to the ‘Prince’, Nehamas denied Sartwell’s allegations of intellectual dishonesty. “True, Sartwell’s ‘Six Names of Beauty’ came out in 2004 but most of the material in my book had already been published by then,” Nehamas wrote. “So, I believe Sartwell’s accusation is perfectly groundless — and, just for the record, I never read his book.” In late February, Sartwell noted on his blog similarities in ideas and writing style between his book “Six Names of Beauty” and various works by Nehamas over multiple
decades, including “An Essay on Beauty and Judgment” and “Only a Promise of Happiness”. “[I] say the (alleged) fact that […] Nehamas [was] inf luenced by my work, and systematically attempted not to notice that they were, or pretended that they weren’t, shows something terrible at their heart,” Sartwell wrote. Nehamas stated that the germ of his ideas for the essay appeared when he gave the Stanford Presidential lecture on beauty in 1999, which predates Sartwell’s publication. He added that he published an essay similar to that lecture in Threepenny Review in 2000. In 2000, Nehemas gave two lectures at Berkeley at Yale. The lectures were published in 2002, and contained “most of the main ideas” of his 2007 book “Only a Promise of Happiness”, he wrote. Sartwell noted that he believes it’s impossible that Nehamas hadn’t seen his book. “Anyone who was talking […] about beauty, or doing a rudimentary search on the topic he was writing a scholarly book about, could
Today on Campus 12 p.m.: Professors Ruha Benjamin and Harvey Rosen nvites students for a lunchtime conversation about improving the course evaluation system. RVSP required. Whitman College octagonal private dinning room.
not have failed to notice my book,” Sartwell wrote. Dickinson College Director of Media Relations Christine Baksi wrote in an email statement that Sartwell is currently on leave, however, he remains in good standing with Dickinson. “Good standing” indicates that Sartwell remains a tenured faculty member at Dickinson, Baksi wrote in an email, adding that she cannot comment further on personnel matters. The Dickinsonian reported that while Sartwell wrote on his blog he was fired over a free speech issue, philosophy department members say that he has not been fired. Sartwell wrote on his blog last Sunday that Dickinson had also removed him from the employee health insurance plan. However, Baksi wrote in an email that Sartwell “remains employed by Dickinson with all employee benefits, including healthcare.” Sartwell also made similar allegations about University of Oklahoma philosophy professor Linda Zagzebski, postSee SARTWELL page 3
WEATHER
COURTESY OF THEVERGE.COM
The IAS and SAVE Princeton have debates about the Maxwell Field.
Philosopher accuses U. professor of plagiarism, has been placed on leave
HIGH
78˚
LOW
53˚
Mostly sunny chance of rain:
0 percent