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Wednesday april 29, 2015 vol. cxxxix no. 57
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In Opinion Guest columnists Laura Conour and Stuart Leland defend University animal research, and Imani Thornton speaks about political correctness these days. PAGE 6
Today on Campus 11:00 a.m.:The Princeton Farmers’ Market will be open to sell produce and other goods from farmers and businesses in the area. The Farmers’ Market will also be open on May 6 and May 13. Firestone Library/Chapel Plaza.
The Archives
April 29, 1939 The Dial Lodge Club announces suspension of day-to-day undergraduate operations. The club president said the decision was made partly for economic reasons and partly because there was no undergraduate club life.
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PRINCETON By the Numbers
52
The percentage of undergraduate students who responded to the University’s sexual misconduct climate survey.
News & Notes New Jersey First Lady leaves job on Wall Street
New Jersey First Lady Mary Christie, wife of governor Chris Christie, said that her decision to leave her job as managing director at the Wall Street investment firm Angelo, Gordon & Co. is not an indication that her husband has committed to a 2016 presidential campaign, NJ.com reported. A statement released by a spokesperson for the governor’s office said that Mary Christie had decided to take a hiatus from her work to spend more time with her family and young children. She said in an April 16 interview with NBC that she was not sure if she would take a leave of absence from her job if her husband were to seek the presidency. She also noted that the governor has not made up his mind on whether to run for president in 2016. Mary Christie has accompanied her husband on recent ostensible campaign trips, including a trip to New Hampshire as well as fundraisers for his leadership political action committee.
LOCAL NEWS
DPS arrest man after pursuit in Friend
ACTIVITIES FAIR
By Ruby Shao associate news editor
The Department of Public Safety charged a 30-year-old man with aggravated assault and resisting arrest on Tuesday afternoon. Reginald Murph, of Teaneck, N.J., was arrested after a pursuit that began in the Friend Center at approximately 1:30 p.m., Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office spokesperson Casey DeBlasio said. Public Safety detective Michele Aversa first saw Murph on the third f loor of the Engineering Library, and recognized him because she had previously charged him for theft and unauthorized use of credit cards stolen from the Engineering Library, according to DeBlasio. DeBlasio added that Aversa knew of active warrants for Murph from South Plainfield and New Brunswick municipal courts. The Department of Public Safety deferred comment to the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office. After noticing Aversa, Murph exited the Friend Center and confronted a University patrolman waiting outside. The officer identified himself and told Murph to stop, DeBlasio said. The patrolman attempted to physically take Murph into custody, but he injured the officer’s leg and scratched his arms and hands before escaping the scene, DeBlasio said, adding that the patrolman was treated at and released from See ARREST page 5
NATALIA CHEN :: ASSOCIATE PHOTO EDITOR
Students prepare to welcome prospective members of the Class of 2019 on Tuesday at the Princeton Preview Activities Fair in Dillon Gym. U N I V E R S I T Y A F FA I R S
U. sexual misconduct climate survey sees over 50 percent response rate By Christina Vosbikian staff writer
Fifty-two percent of undergraduate students and 53 percent of graduate students responded to the University’s sexual misconduct climate survey, according to Vice Provost for Institutional Diversity and Equity Michele Minter. The University’s goal was a 50 percent response rate, Minter added. “This is a very high response
rate for a survey of its type, so we are very pleased,” Minter said. “It should allow us to draw some very good conclusions about the campus experience.” Surveys of this type conducted at peer institutions end up with response rates of about 30 percent, Minter said. When asked about when the survey’s findings will be published, Minter said they would likely be released early this coming fall.
“There’s a lot of work to do to analyze the data which is in a really raw form right now,” Minter said. “We don’t want to release this at a time when students and faculty are preoccupied, and the campus doesn’t have time to take [the results] in.” There needs to be a lot of work to contextualize the results to find out what they really mean, Minter explained. The findings of the Association of American Universities survey, which the University chose
not to participate in after some students raised concerns about its applicability to campus life, will also be released sometime in the fall, Minter said. Minter said she understood that the student response rate to the survey was demographically representative of the student body as a whole. Strong student-led efforts to boost participation, including video testimonials about why See SURVEY page 4
U N I V E R S I T Y A F FA I R S
STUDENT LIFE
Office of Sustainability, student groups discuss plastic water bottle use
GSG forum debates divestment referendum
By Melissa Curtis staff writer
The Office of Sustainability sent a survey to students last week about the use of reusable and plastic water bottles on campus and asked if the University should continue to sell plastic water bottles. The survey, which also asked if anything prevents students
from using refillable bottles, was intended to improve the Office of Sustainability’s “Drink Local” campaign, according to Shana Weber, the director of the Office of Sustainability. The “Drink Local” campaign provides tall spouts attached to water fountains around campus to fill water bottles. Weber declined to say
whether there was a possibility of eliminating the sale of plastic bottles on campus, although she said that the Office of Sustainability is trying to change the University’s approach to water distribution. “The Office of Sustainability is working in partnership with students, [Campus] Dining and the psychology See BOTTLES page 3
SPRING
SUNNY HE :: STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Flowers bloomed outside Blair Arch on Tuesday. See page 2 for a Spring on Campus photo spread.
By Katherine Oh staff writer
The Graduate Student Government held a forum on Tuesday to discuss the divestment referendum that the graduate student body will vote on from Wednesday through Friday. Similar to the referendum that the undergraduate study body voted on last week, the graduate students’ referendum calls upon the trustees of the University and the Princeton University Investment Company to “divest from multinational corporations that maintain the infrastructure of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, facilitate Israel’s and Egypt’s collective punishment of Palestinian civilians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, or facilitate state repression against Palestinians by Israeli, Egyptian, and Palestinian Authority security forces, until these corporations cease such activities.” The University should not benefit from the conflict in Israel, Kelly Roache GS said on behalf of Princeton Divests. “The University’s current investment practices are inimical to Palestinian human rights, and it is incumbent upon us to end our complicity in that action and stand up,” Roache said. While multinational corporations might participate in the Israeli conflict because of foreseeable profit, their involvement causes the average Palestinian to suffer, Alexander Berg GS, another represen-
tative of Princeton Divests, said. Though students cannot know exactly which companies the University’s endowment is invested in, there are several known “economic ties” to companies like Caterpillar and Motorola, Roache said. She added that Caterpillar’s bulldozers have been involved in the destruction of Palestinian homes, while Motorola has also contributed to maintaining Israeli occupation. On behalf of No Divest, Avital Ludomirsky GS said that since fear and violence are very real on both sides of the IsraeliPalestinian conflict, an open dialogue — rather than divestment — is necessary. “It’s exciting that there’s so much political activism on campus now, more than when I was here [as an undergrad],” Ludomirsky said. “I think we should keep considering that dialogue is conducive to moving forward in peace processes.” Divestment might change political morale but would not have a significant impact on corporations, Ludomirsky said. Nevertheless, Roache pointed to the diversity of the coalition in favor of divestment, noting that groups like Students for Prison Education and Reform, the DREAM Team and various Christian fellowships have expressed their support for divestment. Berg said that University students are not alone in See GSG page 5