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Thursday april 9, 2015 vol. cxxxix no. 43
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EUROPEAN UNION
BEYOND THE BUBBLE
Study details interaction of race, job market
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In Opinion Columnist Azza Cohen discusses the Germanwings Flight 9525 crash and guest contributor Elise Backman argues that there are better options than Israeli divestment. PAGE 5
By Durva Trivedi senior writer
In Street This week, Street presents the annual Food Issue, in which Street writers review the newer restaurants on Nassau Street and compare the various ice creams, pastas, croissants, pancakes and cocktails offered by Nassau’s finest eating establishments. PAGE S1-4
Today on Campus 8 p.m.: Princeton Chinese Theatre will present “I’m Not Li Bai,” a play about two orphans growing up and then starting a company together. Whitman Theater.
The Archives
April 9, 1958 In reaction to discrimination charges during Bicker period, the Interclub Committee adopted an anti-bias measure to advocate for the reduction of selectivity and quotas in the clubs.
News & Notes Documents show suspicious monkey deaths at Harvard
New documents suggest that Harvard was dealing with suspicious primate deaths before 2010, The Boston Globe reported. Harvard had previously reported four monkey deaths from 2010-12 at its New England Primate Research Center, which was supported by taxpayer funds. However, a detailed spreadsheet released by the former head of the center, Frederick Wang, contained the medical histories of 14 monkeys from 1999-2011 and suggested that the center harbored suspicious primate deaths long before 2010. Wang told the Globe that his experience and review of the data suggests that the deaths were primarily a consequence of human error and inadequate animal care, which caused the monkey’s deaths primarily by deprivation of water. In 2013, the Primate Research Center announced that it would close. Harvard Medical School Dean Jeffrey Flier said the decision to close the center had to do with financial problems, not animal care. The medical school declined to comment on the monkeys’ deaths but said extensive changes were implemented as soon as animal care problems were identified in 2011.
SUNNY HE :: CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
José Manuel Barroso, former President of the European Commission and current visiting professor of International Economic Policy, gives a talk on “The State of the European Union” on Wednesday.
Black students who graduate from elite universities are about as likely to get competitive jobs as white students who graduate from less selective universities like the University of California, Riverside and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, according to research published by University of Michigan sociology professor S. Michael Gaddis. “What this tell us is that there remains a lot of discrimination in employment markets,” Omar Wasow, assistant professor of politics at the University, said. “We can certainly say there’s a causal effect of exposing employers to cues about college selectivity and race that effects the likelihood of getting a response.” Gaddis created resumes listed with people who had what the study referred to as distinctly black names and distinctly white names, and who went to either elite or less selective universities. He then submitted these resumes for entry-
level positions in three chosen areas and compared response rates. Gaddis concluded that a bachelor’s degree from an elite institution is not a complete antidote to racial discrimination in the labor market. Gaddis was not available for comment. “The results of the study don’t surprise me,” Shawon Jackson ’15, former Undergraduate Student Government president, said, adding that he thinks his background as a low-income student and a black American puts him in a good position to talk about diversity. As a senior applying to consulting jobs, fellowships and for positions working abroad, Jackson said he never felt uncomfortable talking to employers about his background. “I never thought my race hindered me from getting a first-round interview,” Jackson said, “although I’m not sure if I would have gotten an interview if I wasn’t USG president.” In conversations with his peers, Jackson said he has heard many students talk about how See STUDY page 2
U N I V E R S I T Y A F FA I R S
Cruz ’92: Unlikely path from academic to grassroots hero By Katherine Oh staff writer
While many now identify Ted Cruz ’92 as the classic example of a conservative populist politician, few still remember a time in his life when he seem destined for the ivory tower or understand how someone so committed to the life of the mind became a grassroots phenomenon. Cruz had already begun thinking about the topic of his senior thesis while he was a freshman, his roommate and debate team partner David Panton ’92 said. “He was 17,” Panton said. “Not too many 17-year-olds were thinking about their thesis their freshman year first of all, and also writ-
ing about two relatively unknown, orthodox amendments of the constitution. He was very focused, very driven.” Cruz and his office did not respond to requests for comment. Cruz’s thesis, called “Clipping the Wings of Angels: The History and Theory behind the Ninth and Tenth Amendments of the United States Constitution,” explored the meaning of the Ninth and Tenth amendments and how they were actually being applied in modern court cases. Robert George, professor of jurisprudence who was Cruz’s senior thesis adviser, recalled working closely with Cruz. “He was very dedicated to it, deeply interested in the
BEYOND THE BUBBLE
subject matter. Of course the subject matter had to do with the way in which the Constitution shapes and limits the powers of the national government,” George said. “What he ended up producing was a thoughtful, original, careful, critical piece of scholarship.” George said that he was initially surprised when Cruz decided to pursue a career as a politician, adding he was one of the top students at the University and genuinely interested in intellectual debates and ideas. “I think it’s an occupational hazard for professors, that we tend to think that our very best students will of course want to do what we did,” George said. “I always See CRUZ page 3
COURTESY OF THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN ARCHIVES
Ted Cruz ’92 was a serious student at the University, and professor Robert George said he thought Cruz would become an academic.
U N I V E R S I T Y A F FA I R S
ACLU Director lectures Before referendum vote, faculty on American fight for argue in favor of divestment at panel justice, equality By Shriya Sekhsaria staff writer
By Jessica Li staff writer
Despite facing numerous challenges, the American public should look towards the fight for justice, equality and civil liberties with optimism, American Civil Liberties Union Executive Director Anthony Romero ’87 said in a lecture on Wednesday. “We believe that everyone is entitled to live a life of dignity,” Romero said. “We all have the right to live, the right to love, the right to speak your mind and the right to be treated fairly when you’re walking in public domain. These are the best aspirations that any group of human beings can come up with.” Romero said he was particularly gratified with the past decade in LGBT rights. While a student at
the University, gay men and women were convicted of crimes even for consensual activity inside the students’ dorms, he said. In the decade after 2003 when the Supreme Court made states decriminalize homosexuality, many states went from decriminalization to full rights and privileges for any loving couple, Romero said, adding this outplay of events is a testament that law and policymakers will catch up to public opinion, especially those of the millennial generation. “Your generation has the power by size and ability to change American politics in a very substantial way,” Romero said. Nonetheless, even after winning the right to marry, numerous obstacles still confront the LGBT community, namely, the lack See ACLU page 3
It is a moral duty to put pressure on the University to divest from companies profiting from the occupation of the West Bank and the siege of Gaza, Cornel West GS ’80, professor emeritus in the Center for African American Studies, said at a panel discussion on Wednesday. “We don’t want our money spent on those particular private sector institutions that are facilitating this kind of occupation,” West said. “Occupation is immoral, is wrong, is unjust, is illegal and it can only be pushed back — we have experienced this in South Africa — when voices of those across the border… are heard.” The vote on the student referendum calling for University divestment from the occupation of West Bank and the siege of Gaza
will occur on April 20, Max Weiss, professor of Near Eastern Studies and moderator for the event, said. A lot of people have expressed relief in having found a mechanism to talk about the difficult situation in the region through the petition, Molly Greene, professor of History and Hellenic Studies, said, noting that a similar petition is underway at Stanford University. Even though the University has engaged in divestment as recently as 2006, it is difficult to make progress due to University policy, Greene said, especially because the University gives out mixed messages about what leads to divestment. “Is it something the trustees decide? Do they want input from students? Do they want input from faculty?” she said. Part of what is being asked of the University is greater transparency in what companies the Uni-
versity has invested in, author and journalist Max Blumenthal said. Everyone on the panel, and supporters of divestment in general, are subject to accusations of antiSemitism, he added. “I want to challenge this accusation in the context of this divestment motion and ask how is it anti-Jewish to divest from weapons companies?” he said. “To me that’s — the way I’ve been raised — is a completely Jewish act. How is it anti-Jewish to campaign for peace and justice?” The peace process is dead right now, Blumenthal said. “So if you have no alternative [to divestment], then either just come forward and say that you’re in favor of apartheid and just be real with me — and be real with Palestinians — or get out of the way because there are people who are suffering,” he said. In the 1950s, there was a report See DIVEST page 2