Founded 1876 daily since 1892 online since 1998
Friday april 29, 2016 vol. cxl no. 57
{ www.dailyprincetonian.com } U N I V E R S I T Y A F FA I R S
U N I V E R S I T Y A F FA I R S
Three seniors Survey finds students wish to move fall finals before break finalists for Young Alumni Trustee By Caroline Lippman staff writer
By Andie Ayala staff writer
Kiara Rodriguez Gallego staff writer
Azza Cohen ’16, Ella Cheng ’16 and Justin Ziegler ’16 were selected as the finalists for this year’s Young Alumni Trustee. Each year, one member of the graduating senior class is elected to represent their year on the University Board of Trustees for four years. The position was created in 1969 in order to ensure that recent undergraduates are represented when determining the future of the University. Associate Director for Alumni Relations Katherine Stellato, who coordinates the selection process of Young Alumni Trustee, declined to comment. Cohen said that Stellato initially informed members of the Class of 2016 about the position in February. Interested candidates were approved to run if they had more than 50 senior students sign petitions for them, she added. Cohen is a columnist for The Daily Princetonian. Cohen said that after initial entries, seniors ranked the top 20 candidates who had run for the position in March, which were then shortlisted to three finalists. Cohen explained that since the Young Alumni Trustees would spend a total of four years on the Board, the two most recently graduated classes, their own class and the class below them vote between the three candidates. Cohen participated in the Bridge Year Program in India before attending the university, and helped make a documentary about human trafficking in India entitled “Specks of Dust.” She served as the director of the Vagina Monologues in 2016 and has been heavily involved with the Pace Center for Civic Engagement and the Breakout trip program. Cohen will be studying culture and colonialism at the National University of Ireland Galway with the George Mitchell Scholarship after graduation. “I have the [University Board of Trustees] to thank for a lot of things, such as Bridge Year, financial aid, thesis funding, studying abroad, the PACE Center — everything important to
me has been created with a grant from the trustees, so for me to be able to ensure that those programs continue or to help them expand is exactly what I would want to do to stay connected to Princeton after I graduate,” Cohen added. Cohen added that she believes she has been able to bring people together and have discussions about really difficult topics, such as sexual assault on this campus and human trafficking in India and New Jersey. “What I hope to bring to the Board of Trustees is the ability to navigate difficult discussions with grace and respect for other people,” she added. Cheng said she first heard about the opportunity to be a Young Alumni Trustee through her residential college adviser in freshman year, Kanwal Matharu ’13, who is currently a Young Alumni Trustee. Cheng is a former president of Undergraduate Student Government. She served on the International Relations Council, Undergraduate Law Review Editorial Board and participated in a variety of other extracurricular activities. Cheng is a former staff writer for the Daily Princetonian. She said that she decided to run for the position because she knows that she could leverage a lot from the institutional knowledge she’s gained being on the USG. She noted that during her last four years in USG, she’s spent a lot of time fighting for issues such as the campus pub and student financial aid and learning about how the university operates. “I’ve been frustrated by how hard it’s been to act with the trustees,” Cheng commented. She added that being on the board would give her access to communication with the structure that she had felt limited by, especially in terms of the student budget. “I figured it would be another opportunity way for me to serve this school, given how much I have worked for issues that are directly related to the Board of Trustees,” she said. Ziegler was unavailable for comment. According to a biography sent to the voting classes, Ziegler was president of the Class of 2016; See TRUSTEE page 3
FINALS ARE LOOMING
A survey about the academic calendar, administered by the Undergraduate Student Government Academics Committee this past March, found that 72 percent of undergraduate respondents would prefer to have fall term finals before winter break, according to Academics Committee Chair Shannon Osaka ’17. In March the Academics Committee partnered with the Graduate Student Government and the Office of the Dean of the College to compile and administer a survey to undergraduates, graduate students and faculty about the current academic calendar. The survey assessed respondents’ opinions on moving fall final exams to before winter break, having a three-
week-long winter break with either one or two weeks of Intersession, lengthening the teaching period from 12 to 13 weeks and shortening the reading and finals period from three to two weeks. According to Osaka, the survey had 2,525 undergraduate respondents, or 48 percent of the undergraduate student body, while 817 graduate students responded, representing 31 percent of the graduate student body. The survey revealed that 72 percent of undergraduate respondents and 76 percent of graduate student respondents wanted fall semester finals to be moved to before winter break, while the other 28 percent and 24 percent, respectively, voted that they would not prefer for finals to occur before the break. Osaka added it was surprising that there was no trend
specific to students in any discipline, even though humanities and engineering majors have different types of assessments and finals schedules. According to the survey, a majority of undergraduate and graduate students would be willing to start classes earlier in the summer in order to move finals before winter break, Osaka noted. The survey also asked students how they would feel about a three-week-long winter break followed by a one- or two-week-long Intersession period if finals were moved. Students could chose whether or not they wished to return for Intersession. Osaka said that the one-week-long Intersession was more popular among undergraduate and graduate students than the See SURVEY page 2
STUDENT LIFE
JESSICA LI :: CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
White shirts with messages on sexual assault are hanging outside of Frist Campus Center.
Clothesline Project seeks to spread awareness about interpersonal violence By Catherine Wang staff writer
Sixty-six white shirts with messages expressing solidarity with victims of sexual assault are currently hanging outside of Frist Campus Center, as part of the Clothesline Project, a national initiative which was started in order to raise public awareness about interpersonal violence. The overarching aim of the project is to put up displays nationwide to show support for victims of sexual assault while also raising public awareness about crimes against
women, according to the Clothesline Project’s official website. Emily Kraeck ’17, the vice president of education for Sexual Harassment/Assault Advising, Resources and Education, was largely involved in organizing the project on campus. She said the Clothesline Project is displayed every year during Sexual Assault Awareness month as part of Take Back the Night programming. Take Back the Night, which took place on April 21 in the Butler Amphitheatre, is an event which takes place nationwide as a way to break the silence surrounding sexual
violence. This year, there are 66 shirts hanging up on the clothesline, which was the maximum number that organizers could fit on the line, according to Kraeck. Kelly McCabe ’18, a SHARE peer, said the project has historically been a joint collaboration between SHARE and the Women*s Center. The shirts for this year were created during a study break at the Women*s Center on April 20 so that they could be hung up during Take Back the Night, according to McCabe. See PROJECT page 3
NEWS & NOTES
Smoke detected in Cap and Gown Club, no reported damage or injuries news editor
Robert Gregory, director of Emergency Services for the town of Princeton, confirmed on site that there was emission of smoke in the back of Cap as a result of an unattended burning cigarette. “Firefighters had doused [the cigarette] with water,” he said.
As reading period and finals week approach, many students spend a lot of time studying for exams and writing papers.
Smoke from a burning cigarette in Cap and Gown Club resulted in an emergency response on Thursday afternoon, according to Daniel Day, assistant vice president for Communications for the University.
In Opinion
Today on Campus
The Editorial Board suggests expanding the duration of Princeton Preview, and columnist Dan Sullivan discusses the parallels between the debate over the $20 bill and the Woodrow Wilson debate on campus. PAGE 4
4:30 p.m.: Daniel Philpott, Professor of Political Science and Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame, will deliver a lecture titled “A Pathway to Liberty: Developing Islam’s Seeds of Freedom.” Lewis Library 120.
MARIACHIARA FICARELLI :: ASSOCIATE PHOTO EDITOR
According to Gregory, there was no damage as a result of the smoke and no reported injuries. Most of the firefighters had exited the building around 2:55 p.m. and emergency vehicles had cleared the scene at approximately 3:05 p.m.
WEATHER
By Annie Yang
HIGH
57˚
LOW
43˚
Cloudy. chance of rain:
20 percent