Thursday, September 11 2014

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Thursday september 11, 2014 vol. cxxxviii no. 68

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In Opinion Jason Choe examines the lasting impact that grade deflation may have on the university, and Azza Cohen urges us to seriously consider how we handle our emails.

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In Street Who is coming to Lawnparties? Wouldn’t you like to know? Well, flip a few pages to Street’s Lawnparties Preview for the dirt on the ditties and the deets on the beats.

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Today on Campus

U N I V E R S I T Y A F FA I R S

Report on student Deflation had little diversity released effect on grading

By Angela Wang

By Anna Windermuth and Jackie Gufford

News & Notes New app for residents to announce issues in Princeton

a new smartphone app called Access Princeton was created to allow Princeton residents to report and track non-emergency incidents in the town such as downed trees, broken parking meters and potholes, according to The Times of Trenton.

The app allows users to raise concerns and upload photos on the spot.

Although the app is new, Access Princeton was a department created in August so users could call to report problems in lieu of filing reports on the town’s website and police department Facebook page. The department reports issues through SeeClickFix, software also launched during Community Night last month for communicating issues to town members.

Since Aug. 5, about 118 issues have been reported through SeeClickFix. The app also enables the town to see the response times of crews responding to issues. Since August, the average time to acknowledge the problem was 24 hours and two days to address the complaint.

A grand opening ceremony will be held Sept. 18 at noon in front of Monument Hall to launch the app.

sentatives, originally launched by former University President emeritus Shirley Tilghman, recorded high levels of student satisfaction across all socioeconomic levels, commending the University’s admission policies and generous financial aid packages. These financial aid packages enable lower-income students to participate in academic and residential life to the same degree as higher-income students, the press release states.

However, the committee also

staff writers

A working group of faculty and administrators led by Dean of the College Valerie Smith has issued a list of recommendations to improve academic achievement and create a more inclusive campus environment for students of all income levels, according to a recently published University press release.

The committee of 11 repre-

noted that certain academic challenges have a disparate impact on students from low-income backgrounds, who may not have had access to the same academic resources in high school as their peers. Furthermore, financial constraints may prevent some students from pursuing campus activities and from feeling fully accepted as members of the community.

The report’s public recommendations address five categories: See REPORT page 4

Following decades of rampant grade inflation, the average GPA and fraction of A-grades given dropped dramatically from 2003-05 — the years right before the current grading policy was implemented — according to a report released by the University on last month.

The report, which was prepared at the request of University President Christopher Eisgruber ’83 after only a few months in office, suggests that the controversial grade deflation policy has had little direct

U N I V E R S I T Y A F FA I R S

Class of 2018 mainly from New Jersey, New York, California WA 21

MN

ND

1

0

ID

OR

NV

2

CO

4

CA 161

13

AZ

HI

4

AK

0

5

9 6

3

14

1

KS

OK

IN

IL

MO

NM

PA

19

1

0

MI

5

IA

NE

UT

WI

14

2

WY

0

GU

MN

SD

3

5

NY

12

27

OH 27

KY

4

WV

61

MD

1

36

VA 50

TN

AR

5

TX

LA

56

2

PR

MS

2

6

GA

1-2

4

MA

CT

41

36

NJ 5

218

NC 16

11

AL

9

0

5

3

154

10

DC

DE

3-4

5

5-8

RI 9-13 14-19

20-29

30-49

SC

27

50-99 FL 38

2

100+ HANNAH MILLER :: SENIOR GRAPHICS DESIGNER

This map shows the number of students in the Class of 2018 from each U.S. state and territory. No freshem are from Wyoming, Nebraska, North Dakota or Alaska.

By Corinne Lowe staff writer

Where is the Class of 2018 from?

Students from the Class of 2018 represent 46 states, along with the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Guam. 40.6 percent of students come from three states: New Jersey, California and New York, and no students come from Nebraska, Alaska, North Dakota and Wyoming, according to information provided by Dean of Admission Janet Rapelye .

There are also students from 50 foreign nations.

The number of students representing New Jersey, California and New York is slightly higher than that of the Class of 2017, which had over 38.7 percent of its students coming from these three states. The number of states represented in the Class of 2017 was also 46, with North Dakota, Wyoming, Montana and Iowa not being represented. The number of represented nations was also similar, with 54 foreign countries being represented by the Class of 2017.

The University almost perfectly hit its goal number of students by welcoming 1,312 students to the freshman

class, Dean of Admission Janet Rapelye said, only four students above its goal of 1,308. This is an increase from the Class of 2017, which is composed of only 1,291 students.

“We’re back to steady state,” Rapelye said. “We had a big class with the Class of 2016. Last year the goal was 1,290; 1,300 or 1,308 has been our average for the past few years. So we’re back to where we wanted to be.”

Ayla Allen ’18, who attended the Daniel Pearl Magnet School in Los Angeles, may have come from one of the most represented states at the University, but she said that she and two

CLASSES BEGIN

other classmates were some of the first from her high school ever to apply to an Ivy League school.

“I felt pretty confident because I took almost the maximum number of [Advanced Placement] courses that my school offered,” Allen said of her application process. “I tried to look for outside ways to improve my application and education in high school.”

Sixty-five percent of the Class of 2018 is enrolled as A.B. students, 24 percent as B.S.E. and 11 percent remain undecided according to Rapelye.

Of the 219 intended B.S.E. students, See FRESHMEN page 4

STUDENT LIFE

HireTigers replaces TigerTracks website

By Do-Hyeong Myeong staff writer

Princeton Symphony Orchestra conductor to leave

rossen milanov, the music director of the Princeton Symphony Orchestra, will also lead the Columbus Symphony Orchestra in See NOTES page 4

ME

VT NH

The Archives

The U.S. Postal Service filed two legal claims against a Princeton alumnus who allegedly started a fraudulent mailorder diet pill company by the name of Princeton International

effect on grading. Implementation began in the fall of 2005 at a time when A-grades and GPA averages had decreased significantly already, only to increase unabated soon after the policy was put in practice, the report noted.

The grade deflation policy — which states that no department should give more than 35 percent A-grades overall — has been widely criticized since its inception. At the time it was approved, it was thought that the policy would curb grade inflation and other colleges would follow suit.

See GRADES page 2

associate news editor

5 p.m.: The Princeton University Art Museum will feature food provided by local restaurants at the annual Nassau Street Sampler to celebrate the new semester and new exhibitions at the museum. Princeton University Art Museum

Sep. 11, 1987

U N I V E R S I T Y A F FA I R S

BEN KOGER :: PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR

Wednesday, the first day of classes officially kicked off. The grind won’t truly begin, however, until after Lawnparties.

The Office of Career Services launched HireTigers, a new career management website, to replace the former TigerTracks system on September 1. The system is part of Career Services’ long-term agenda to use technology to provide personalized professional services to students.

Executive Director of Career Services Pulin Sanghvi said that Career Services decided to replace TigerTracks because of frequent feedback from students that the former platform was very outdated and difficult to navigate.

Career Services received evaluations on TigerTracks through its Student Advisory Board last spring, and developed the new system over the summer in partnership with Symplicity, an education software provider.

“A lot of how we are evaluating technology is around how technology supports the personalization process. How does technology help us to understand students better? How does technology help us to contact and support students better?” Sanghvi added.

Associate Director for the Employer RecruitSee CAREER page 3

The Daily Princetonian

page 2 STUDENT LIFE

Sophomore student arrested for drug possession at Princeton Stadium

By Chitra Marti staff writer

An undergraduate student was arrested by the University’s Department of Public Safety and charged with possession of psilocybin and marijuana on August 26.

Nicholas Horvath ’17 was arrested

by DPS after an officer allegedly observed him in the Princeton Stadium just after midnight, according to the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office and arrested after a brief foot pursuit.

He was also charged with three disorderly persons offenses, including allegedly being in possession of less than 50 grams of marijuana, allegedly being under the influence of marijuana and allegedly being in possession of drug paraphernalia.

Psilocybin is a psychedelic com-

pound found in psychedelic mushrooms and its possession is an indictable offense in the state of New Jersey.

Horvath declined to comment.

He is scheduled for arraignment in Princeton Municipal Court on September 22.

Due to the nature of the charges, the matter was transferred to the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office.

The precise weight of each item has yet to be determined by the New Jersey State Police’s lab, authorities said.

DPS rarely arrests students for possession of drugs or for any other offense, instead referring them through the internal University discipline system. However, at least two students have been charged over the past year. Last September, a student was charged with possession of ecstasy. Last spring, a student was charged with possession of prescrip-

tion pills and marijuana.

According to the University’s most recent annual crime report, which covers the period between October 2012 and October 2013, seven individuals were arrested for allegedly being in possession of drugs.

Director of DPS Paul Ominsky explained after the report was released that the seven arrests belonged to a single incident.

Meanwhile, 45 students were referred to the internal University disciplinary system. Details of those cases are not considered public records and as such it is hard to determine what can trigger an arrest.

“Those decisions are made on a case-by-case basis based on a number of factors, including the type or quantity of the drug,” University spokesperson Martin Mbugua said last year about this distinction.

Thursday september 11, 2014

A-grades decreased most before deflation GRADES

Continued from page 1

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Impact was most substantial in engineering departments, which have “significantly” lowered the fraction of A-grades across all its courses, the report said. Most other departments present a general disparity in grading averages between introductory and upper-level courses. While many departments score less than 35 percent A-grades in 100 or 200 level courses, no departments do so in 300 or 400 level courses. Introductory mathematics and physics courses are notorious for their low number of A-grades at the introductory level, the report said, but have very high number of of A-grades in upper-level courses.

“Ironically, many of the students taking the introductory mathematics and physics courses are in fact Engineering students, so these students get hit twice,” the report read.

All members of the committee declined or did not respond to a request for comment. University spokesperson Martin Mbugua said that Eisgruber would not comment until October, when the report is expected to be passed onto the faculty at large for voting. He said the report was only a recommendation.

The announcement came at a time when school is not in session and no press release was sent through the University’s usual channels announcing the report. A press release was sent later in the day pitching newly released research about sheep and resistance to parasites.

Meanwhile, Harvard and Yale have continued to face public criticism for their high percentage of Agrades. At Yale, 62 percent of grades were in the A-range in the Spring of 2012. Yale currently has a committee reviewing the possibility of implementing a grade deflation policy.

“What this says is that the University has decided that the new grading policy was a failure, and is searching around for something else to do,” Wilson School professor Stanley Katz said.

The committee’s survey to undergraduates and faculty showed that only five percent of students and six percent of faculty found the current

policy to be effective in maintaining fair and consistent grading standards.

The report showed that GPA and A-grades had risen steadily from 1975-2003, reaching a high of 3.38 and 47.9 percent respectively. In the years since the policy has been put into place, the fraction of A-range grades has decreased in percentage, remaining in the low 40s, while B-range grades have increased into the high 40s. C-range grades have remained steady around 10 percent.

Included in the report were graphs detailing how grade changes have fluctuated by department. The Slavic languages department was the only outlier, having a disproportionate percentage of A-grades in both lower and upper level courses, reaching a high of more than 70 percent and a low close to 60. No exact figures were released.

Slavic languages chair Michael Wachtel noted that the percentage of A’s given in his department went down considerably once the grading policy was put into place.

“I suspect what we’re seeing is that when Nancy Malkiel stepped down as dean, I think in our department, there were a certain number of people who decided that that meant that the grading policy could be immediately jettisoned,” he said in response to the report’s findings that the Slavic department gave out roughly 70 percent A’s in the past two years.

Malkiel was Dean of the College in 2005 and was a big proponent of the grade deflation policy. She declined to comment on the report.

Wachtel said that he did not foresee a huge change in his department’s grading practices since most classes have a small number of students and are not as strictly bound to the grading policies as larger, introductory courses in other departments.

The report also argued that the numerical targets for grades were often misrepresented as quotas rather than guidelines and added a layer of stress to students. In addition, the report also acknowledged that the policy could have given prospective students pause about the University.

The report did not find that the grade deflation policy had had any impact on students’ post-graduation plans.

The report also discussed the effects of the grade deflation policy on the possibility of Princeton students to attain top fellowships such as the Marshall or Rhodes scholarships. The report cited that administrators expressed that there was “correlation” between high grades at Harvard and their higher number of students winning scholarships.

However, Elliot Gerson, American Secretary to the Rhodes Trust who was consulted by the committee, said in an interview that the Trust was aware of Princeton’s particular grading policies and took them into consideration, noting that the value of a transcript has decreased over the years because of widespread grade inflation elsewhere.

“I have never heard a Princeton applicant directly express concern or anxiety whether Princeton’s grading standards would affect his her chances but we certainly did have questions from Princeton administrators whether this would be a problem,” he said.

The freshman year experience was also evaluated by the committee. The report stated that the average freshman GPA is 3.24, significantly lower than the average for the school as a whole, which stands at around 3.32. No exact figure was released for the overall GPA. “The committee was surprised to learn that students at other schools (e.g., Harvard, Stanford and Yale) use our grading policy to recruit against us,” the report read.

The Faculty Committee on Examinations and Standing will now review the report. If this committee approves of the recommendations, it will bring them to the faculty for a vote, probably in October.

New policies to replace grade deflation would entail, each department to come up with its own grading standards, although grades will still be monitored by the Office of the Dean of the College. Overall, the report suggested dissolving the Standing Faculty Committee on Grading and instead charging the newly formed Faculty Council on Teaching and Learning, which had previously focused on online initiatives such as Coursera, with devising new feedback-based grading policies.

Thursday september 11, 2014

The Daily Princetonian

page 3

HireTigers more mobile-friendly service

SUMMER STATUES

CAREER

Continued from page 1

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ing Program Grace Williamson said that the new system also allows Career Services to host events that meet students’ interests since information that students provide in their profiles will help Career Services figure out what industries and types of events interest students.

Williamson also said that HireTigers has the advantage of being connected to the National Association of Colleges and Employers network, which allows students to browse more job opportunities than through TigerTracks, which only listed job offerings targeting University students.

Williamson noted that HireTigers’ mobile-friendly interface is another advantage JAQUELINE LI :: STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Musée d’Orsay

KELSEY DENNISON :: SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

Xi’an

to students.

“Whether you are in between classes and walking across the campus, or you have your cell phone with you when you’re waiting in line in the UStore,” Williamson said, “you can log into the system, apply to positions, and upload your cover letters and résumé.”

Career Services is preparing to add a customized resumebuilder tool to the HireTigers system, Career Services’ Associate Director for Communications Outreach Evangeline Kubu said. Kubu explained that they will have examples of résumés from alumni and many different options for students with different industrial preferences to customize their résumés.

Cara Zampino ’17 said that she is excited about the new system, noting that the ability to use the system with her phone is really convenient.

Stacey Park ’17, said that she personally doesn’t think the change in system makes much of a difference.

Zampino is a former copy editor for The Daily Princetonian.

Kubu said that based on the feedback she received from students, she believes that HireTigers is a user-friendly system that is easier than TigerTracks. She added that students haven’t had any issues with the new system aside from bookmarking the wrong login page.

“So far, we had more than 1500 students join and create their personalized, customized profiles, and we only received less than ten requests for assistance,” Williamson added.

The Career Services is hosting a HireTigers Orientation on September 15 to provide students with training on how to use the new system.

The Daily Princetonian

page 4

Thursday september 11, 2014

International students about 11 percent of class Focus of report on FRESHMEN improving experience Continued from page 1

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42 percent are women, remaining close to last year’s 43 percent; in contrast, the national statistic for the percentage of female engineers remains around 20 percent, Rapelye said.

International students represent about 11 percent of the incoming class. This number has remained steady for the past several years, with 12.5 percent international students populating the Class of 2017. These recent statistics reflect a huge lead over the number of international students attending the University only a decade ago, Rapelye said, noting that there were only 46 international students in 2001.

Hassan Ejaz Chaudhry ’18

from Punjab, Pakistan, was one of two people admitted from his country, he said.

“I’m just worried about adjusting to studies here because I know that the education systems are quite different.”

Hassan Chaudhry ’18

Chaudhry initially did not plan on applying to American schools and said that he had never been in the Western hemisphere before coming to

the University.

“I’m just worried about adjusting to studies here because I know that the education systems are quite different,” Chaudhry said about the upcoming year. “So I just want to adjust to the U.S. education system and make sure that I excel at it.”

Fifty-nine percent of students come from public schools, 28 percent from independent schools, 12 percent from religiously affiliated schools and the rest from either military school or home school programs, Rapelye said.

Thirty-five students from the Bridge Year program initially admitted to the Class of 2017 will be returning, and 35 students from the Class of 2018 will defer in order to take part in the same program. Eighty-

two other students chose to defer until next year, an increase from the 69 deferrals

REPORT Continued from page 1

“They’re a terrific group of students, and we’re really glad they’re here.”

Janet Rapelye

dean of admission

last year, according to Rapelye.

“We’re really pleased,” Rapelye said. “They’re a terrific group of students, and we’re really glad they’re here.”

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catalyzation of academic performance; science, technology, engineering and mathematics development; student resource centralization; a supportive campus culture; and the strengthening of relations between the University and parents or home communities.

“We felt that students from all different socioeconomic backgrounds are thriving and having productive experiences, but there was still room for attention to certain areas,” Smith said.

While some of these are already in practice, others will require additional consideration and funds, University President Christopher Eisgruber ’83 said in the press release.

The full report was not released to the public.

To boost academic performance, the committee proposed reducing curricular obstacles that students from high schools with fewer resources may face.

The committee suggested considering an alternative assessment method for all students during their freshman year, such as providing grades for feedback but not registering these beyond indicating pass/fail on transcripts or reducing the weighted value of students’ freshman year grade point average.

Another committee that convened on grade deflation earlier this year considered recommending altering the freshman grading system, but determined this is not currently an appropriate option.

“A committee that has thought a lot about grading at Princeton has determined that [altering the grading system] is not really viable at this time,” Smith said.

Expanding the McGraw Center for Teaching and Learning could

help students extend their academic horizons, the report notes, while a “boot camp” for sophomores could help ease them into the demands of independent work for their junior and senior years.

Improving the reach of STEM courses may be promoted by building on existing programs such as the Council on Science and Technology, exploring the use of technology and online modules to improve learning opportunities, and enhancing STEM-specific offerings in the Freshman Scholars Institute.

Stronger support may be achieved by providing further online resources advertising emergency funding and peer mentoring, and by developing further online platforms to monitor students’ academic difficulties.

In addition, the committee suggests building a more inclusive and supportive campus atmosphere through further mentoring and support groups comprised of students, faculty, administrators and alumni. Members of the community could become more equipped to tackle issues surrounding socioeconomic diversity by receiving training and incorporating this information in programs such as freshman orientation, the committee noted.

The data and information collected for the committee’s deliberations on student satisfaction rates was compiled as a report for Eisgruber, and will not be released to the public, Smith said in a phone interview.

Eisgruber thanked the working group for its recommendations and said it reaffirmed the University’s deep commitment to include students from a full range of socioeconomic backgrounds while ensuring that all students take advantage of academic and extracurricular opportunities, according to the press release.

Eisgruber did not respond to a request for comment.

News & Notes NOTES

Continued from page 1

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Ohio, The Star-Ledger reported.

Beginning in the 2015-16 season, he will direct the CSO for the following four years before his contract ends. His current contract with the PSO will end in 2017.

In addition to these two positions, the 49-year-old Bulgarian native serves

as music director for a training orchestra — New Jersey’s Symphony In C — and another in Spain, positions he will retain with his new contract.

He was selected for his position with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra after a 10-month search. He will be responsible for the orchestra’s repertoire, selecting programs and developing the symphony’s position in and interactions with the community.

Opinion

Thursday september 11, 2014

page 5

{ www.dailyprincetonian.com }

The message behind grade deflation

Azza Cohen

contributing columnist

I

Urgent

’ll begin with the most ironic part of this article — that to remind myself to write it, I emailed myself with the title in the subject line. This title refers to a growing number of emails in my inbox, and in yours, which demand a reply as soon as absolutely possible. Mine range from the professional — quote requests or application deadlines — to the sarcastic funny photo or YouTube video.

At a summer retreat with the Dalai Lama Fellows, I attended a workshop on “Email Management.” I thought I’d finally figure out the secret to email management because at times (maybe you’re with me) I’ve felt like I was drowning in them.

Turns out, so did everyone else. We found ourselves complaining about this feeling of urgency being a privileged problem, relieved that we each recognized this in each other, celebrating how we had acknowledged ourselves as a community.

Our emails feel urgent for legitimate reasons. We don’t want to miss out on something important: a preceptor sending an altered assignment or a last-minute rehearsal schedule change. The University’s productivity culture is both our strength and weakness — we try to achieve great things, but sometimes lose our balance while juggling.

What I learned from the workshop was simple: the “secret” to managing emails (and everything else) was managing oneself. By acknowledging that I work better in the morning, I now carve out an hour or so to clear my inbox of anything important. I check it two or three more times, but have made it a goal to leave it for the rest of the day.

In a recent New York Times opinion column, Clive Thompson argued that work email should be limited to business hours to both increase productivity and happiness. He cites examples of German companies having their employees set their email to “holiday mode,” which literally deletes emails one received during vacation. I do not believe this could be feasible at a school with finals after winter break nor do I think the University should hover over our happiness like that. However, we should ask ourselves: why do we feel the need to check our emails constantly?

Are these emails truly urgent? Why do we like to place this urgency on others?

Here are the habits I’ve noticed in myself:

1. Checking my email before I sleep

2. Checking my email while waiting for a friend

3. Checking my email while walking (and inevitably tripping)

4. Noticing the urge to check my email when I go to the bathroom

5. Thoughtlessly “refreshing” on my phone

I’m an addict. And this has to stop. Some would call this insanity; my parents have joked it before. Like Van Gogh, we do not “suffer from insanity, but rather enjoy every minute of it.” Or do we?

How should I be able to responsibly respond to an email while exhausted, in passing, or on the toilet? The real issue is not whether I’ll be able to construct a competent response, but why I have had trained myself to feel compelled to constantly check it.

According to a study at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, 68 percent of college students across American campuses reported checking their email during class. I distinctly remember the first time I did; it was also the last. I immediately tried to recall what my professor had said and couldn’t and realized I was wasting precious time. Although checking emails in class, before sleeping, or while walking works for some people, we should question ourselves nonetheless.

Every email I send before sleeping is one more minute the bright screen keeps me from solid sleep. Every email I send while waiting for a friend, is one less minute spent focusing on what that person might need. Every email I send while walking is one less moment I take to breathe and appreciate wherever I am.

If something is truly urgent, I will call you and ask. In the smart phone age, it’s hard to tell when I have your full attention, or if you have mine. I understand that sometimes we wait for interview results, or news about a surgery or a Skype call from across the ocean.

I pledge to not treat your time as mine, to not waste mine in the delusion that emails are that imperious and to not falsely force you into “urgency.”

Azza Cohen is a history major from Highland Park, Ill. She can be reached at accohen@princeton.edu.

Jason Choe

to be the first in what would hopefully become a larger battle to curb the rampant grade inflation that was spreading across college campuses nationwide. Moreover, it was to hold our professors accountable, to ensure that free grades were not simply given to students who enrolled (not that this was the case to begin with).

Even today, when speaking of our academics, grade deflation is commonly cited to validate the worth of a Princeton diploma. Unlike other schools that have a rather unenviable reputation of simply giving away A grades, Princeton graduates can say that their GPA means something.

Compared to our sister institutions where the average grade can be as high as an A- (here’s to you, Yale), we can revel in our academic challenges.

What’s more, other claims about grade deflation have minimal basis.

Even though anxiety about the grade deflation policy may indeed give accepted students pause before deciding on a college, the statistics show that it has really done little, if anything, to actually deter them from either applying to or deciding upon Princeton.

The number of applicants, as well as the number of students in each class has actually grown from year to year.

In fact, the number of applications Princeton has received has “risen for seven consecutive years,” concluding with the Class of 2015’s applicant pool.

Despite grade deflation’s positive aspects, I feel that I am in accord with most students when I say that

contributing columnist

F

or many returning undergraduate Princeton students, the month of August was the harbinger of good news. That month, a University committee tasked with evaluating the necessity of the grade deflation policy concluded that it should be rescinded. In place for the past decade, the grade deflation policy has capped the number of A grades any department could give to less than 35 percent.

There is a plethora of arguments against the policy: it is outdated and archaic; it gives B grades to A-quality work; it fuels competition and inhibits cooperation; it even convinces prospective students against choosing to matriculate to Princeton. When investigating the efficacy of grade deflation, the committee looked into many of these concerns, and in their report, they expressly investigated several of the aforementioned topics. In fact, the entire fourth segment of the report consisted of chapters covering “anxiety among students, competitiveness outside Princeton, admissions yield and impact on freshmen.”

Yet it is also important to remain cognizant of the fact that grade deflation, despite the negative reputation it has earned over the years, was, indelibly, a part of Princeton’s culture. It was launched under wholly positive intentions — Princeton was

the committee’s recommendation to do away with the grade deflation policy shows a progressive and forward-looking mindset. However, it is important that the administration and the student body recognize that, if the policy is indeed done away with, it must be for the right reasons.

Since grade deflation’s inception, stricter standards have inextricably worked their way into the minds of students and faculty alike. But now, after 10 years, those standards are selfsustaining. Even without the threat of grade deflation in place, professors will still ensure that students get grades that are indicative of their level of effort and quality of work.

The chances are high that Princeton’s academics will remain as rigorous as always, that the distribution of grades will remain similar to before, and that Princeton will be Princeton, as usual.

In the end, even if grade deflation ceases to be a reflection of our current academic struggles and instead fades into the past as a relic of a bygone administration, we should remember it not as the monster it is so commonly labeled, but instead as a successful effort at spreading a message to Princeton students, faculty and the wider community as a whole — that we hold our students and professors accountable, and that we will continue to do so, policy or not.

Jason Choe is a sophomore from Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif. He can be reached at jasonjc@princeton.edu.

vol. cxxxviii

Marcelo Rochabrun ’15 editor-in-chief

Nicholas Hu ’15

business manager

BOARD OF TRUSTEES president Richard W. Thaler, Jr. ’73 vice presidents John G. Horan ’74 Thomas E. Weber ’89 secretary Kathleen Kiely ’77 treasurer Michael E. Seger ’71 Craig Bloom ’88 Gregory L. Diskant ’70 Richard P. Dzina, Jr. ’85 William R. Elfers ’71 Stephen Fuzesi ’00 Zachary A. Goldfarb ’05 John G. Horan ’74 Rick Klein ’98 James T. MacGregor ’66 Betsy J. Minkin ’77 Alexia Quadrani Jerry Raymond ’73 Annalyn Swan ’73 Douglas Widmann ’90

In days of you’re terry o’shea ’16

NIGHT STAFF 9.10.14

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news Corinne Lowe ’17 Sarah Kim ’17 senior copy editors Julie Aromi ’15 Elizabeth Dolan ’16 Natalie Gasparowicz ’16 Caroline Congdon ’17 Jacob Donnelly ’17 Joyce Lee ’17 staff copy editors Jay Park ’16 Belinda Ji ’17 Marlyse Vieira ’17 design Carrie Chen ’16 Patrick Ding ’17 Morgan Taylor ’15 Gerry Lerena ’16

When Fidel Castro and Hannah Arendt met at Princeton Rafael Rojas

P

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rinceton University’s archives guard a story that helps to build an understanding of the totalitarian drift of the Cuban Revolution and the convoluted reading that the West gave that Latin American and Caribbean phenomenon. In April 1959, Fidel Castro, the prime minister of the new Cuba, and his delegation took a detour from their itinerary — leaving Washington D.C. for New York — in their first visit to the United States, which had been organized by the American Society of Newspaper Editors. They went to spend a couple of days at Princeton.

Castro’s visit to Princeton was aided by several scholars and institutions of the University: the historian Roland T. Ely ’46, a scholar of the Cuban economy who lived in Princeton; ambassador Paul D. Taylor ’60, then a student and the president of the American WhigCliosophic Society, the organization that extended the invitation to the Cubans; and the Wilson School, whose program in American Civilization had scheduled a seminar for those same days of April 1959 titled “The United States and the Revolutionary Spirit.”

Castro delivered the keynote speech on the evening of Monday, April 20, 1959. According to the notes that Taylor took at the event, the Cuban prime minister opened his remarks proposing that the scholars and students in attendance listen to him as a practical revolutionary, as someone who did not study but rather produced a revolution.

In Castro’s words, the Cuban revolution had knocked down two myths of 20th century Latin American history: It had shown that a revolution was able to defeat a professional army that

possessed modern weapons, and it had shown that it was possible to create a revolution when the people were not hungry.

This second observation is interesting in light of the official story of the Cuban revolution that, for the last halfcentury, has insisted in presenting the island’s pre-1959 society as a victim to the triple calamity of hunger, misery and exploitation. Curiously, in April 1959, Castro told the Princeton students and faculty members that one of the particularities of his revolution was that it had triumphed in a Latin American nation with a relative degree of social welfare. The Cuban revolution, according to this young Castro, had been more a political and moral revolution against a corrupt dictatorship than a class-based uprising of poor against rich. For this reason, the revolution had been supported by “95 percent of the people,” generating “unanimity of opinion,” a phenomenon unheard of in Cuban history.

This analysis allowed Fidel Castro to add to the debate on “The United States and the Revolutionary Spirit” among the historians, philosophers, sociologists and economists of Princeton. The central theme at this seminar, as well in a good part of the historical and philosophical thought in the United States during the Cold War, was the parallel between the American, French and Russian revolutions as opposing models of social change. According to Taylor’s notes at the conference, Castro argued that the Cuban revolution belonged more to the 1776 tradition than to 1789 or 1917 traditions because it did not encourage class warfare. Nor did the Cuban revolution propose a confrontation with the United States, given that it preserved its distance from communism and encouraged a defense of Cuba’s national interests, a defense

that the U.S. government could tolerate because it was framed on its own tradition of self-determination.

One of the professors who participated in the seminar and who, most likely, listened to Castro that evening, was the German philosopher Hannah Arendt. Just that year, the author of “The Origins of Totalitarianism” and “The Human Condition” had been hired by the University and had begun to research the history of the French and American revolutions. Arendt’s lecture at the seminar was the starting point of her 1963 book, “On Revolution.” In the acknowledgements section, Arendt explains that the idea for the book had started during the seminar on “The United States and the Revolutionary Spirit,” organized by the program in American Civilization at Princeton’s Wilson School.

In her book, Arendt argues that the historical linkage of revolution and war — two phenomena that, in her judgement, were radically different — had distorted the basic objectives of the modern revolutionary tradition: liberty and happiness. The advantage that, in her understanding, the American Revolution of 1776 had over the French and Russian revolutions was that by confronting the “social question” of equality through constitutional rights, the American revolution had achieved those historical objectives. Jacobinism and Bolshevism, instead, had created a disconnect between justice and law — what Ferenc Feher would later conceptualize as “frozen revolution” — that promoted despotism and buried the moral legacy or the “lost treasure” of the revolution.

But despite having written her book between 1959 and 1963 in New York, a city where the communist radicalization of the Cuban revolution was fiercely

debated, Arendt did not make any allusions to Cuba or Fidel Castro. In fact, the philosopher refers to Latin America only once in her book and does so only to place the experience of revolution in the 20th-century third world more in the French tradition than in the tradition of Russia or North America. An argument could be made similar to Susan Buck-Morss’ in relation to the lack of references about the Haitian Revolution in Hegel’s “The Phenomenology of Spirit,” but it is most likely that such silence contains as much colonial prejudice as rejection to the idea of communist totalitarianism, even in a region so dominated and intervened by the Atlantic empires like the Caribbean.

In other moments of her book, Arendt describes the single-party dictatorships and the bureaucratic regimes of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe as new forms of tyranny. In 1963, that seemed to be the rational choice of the Cuban leaders, reason for which the words of Castro that evening in Princeton must have rang, four years later, as a complete fabrication. According to Castro, the difference between the Cuban revolution and the revolutions in France and Russia was that, in the latter, “a small group had taken power by force and had established a new form of terror,” while in his nation the totality of the people had mobilized because of their “hatred towards a dictatorship.”

Rafael Rojas is a Cuban historian. He spent the 2013-14 academic year at Princeton as a Global Scholar.

This article was originally published in Spanish newspaper El Pais on July 6, 2014.

Republished with permission. Translation by Marcelo Rochabrun. © RAFAEL ROJAS ROJAS/EDICIONES EL PAÍS, SL., 2014.

The Daily Princetonian

Thursday September 11, 2014

page 6

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2014

PAGE DESIGN BY LIN KING :: ASSOCIATE STREET EDITOR

quadrangle club

ANGEL HAZE

YouTube it: “WERKIN’ GIRLS” “BATTLE CRY” “ECHELON (IT’S MY WAY)”

At 23-years-old, rapper Angel Haze is making her voice heard in the hip-hop world, producing emotionally charged tracks that act as a window to her troubled past. Angel Haze, who has been an outspoken critic on rape culture and sexism, brings a fierce spirit of rebellion that can be plainly heard in her music. Her first studio album, “Dirty Gold,” which dropped December of last year, showcases both her lyrical talent and flaming delivery. A true artist with a powerful message to send, Angel Haze will undoubtedly pull a crowd of her own at Quad this fall.

- GRACE LIN, SENIOR WRITER

SCHOOLBOY Q quadrangle club

COURTESY OF BLOG.SLACKER.COM

As the headliner of the day, ScHoolboy Q will make this fall’s Lawnparties one of the most memorable in recent years. A member of Black Hippy, the West Coast hip-hop collective fronted by Kendrick Lamar, ScHoolboy Q is poised to be the next to make a mainstream breakout. “Oxymoron,” his latest record that debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200, was both a chance to settle into an identity and also a test of ScHoolboy Q’s ability to balance mainstream landfall with his gangsta rap roots. Citing Nas, 50 Cent and The Notorious B.I.G. as influences, ScHoolboy Q raps with versatility and lyrical force. Most of all, he likes to keep his listeners close, and his visceral delivery makes each track an intimate experience. ScHoolboy Q is certainly carving out his YouTube it: own niche in the hip-hop scene, and, fortunately, we all have a chance to see him perform at this exciting point in his career.

“COLLARD GREENS”

“MAN OF THE YEAR”

JOJO

- GRACE LIN, SENIOR WRITER COURTESY OF MIC.COM

tower club YouTube it: “LEAVE (GET OUT)” “TOO LITTLE TOO LATE”

Guys, JoJo is coming to Princeton!

“Get out! Right now,” you protest with a cynical frown, “that joke is so last April Fool’s. It’s the end of you and me.” Thankfully, Tower knows that it’s never too little, too late when it comes to Lawnparties and will extend their successful #tbt streak that began with Aaron Carter last fall. In 2004, 13-yearold JoJo launched her musical career and reached the top of the Billboard Pop Songs chart with her debut single, “Leave (Get Out),” making her the youngest solo artist to have a number-one hit in the United States. In the 10 years that followed, JoJo has recorded two chart-peaking albums and participated in various acting projects including “Aquamarine” and “RV.” Most excitingly, JoJo finally announced her upcoming first full-length album after eight years since her last. Don’t miss out on the tween legend before her long-awaited comeback!

- LIN KING, ASSOCIATE STREET EDITOR COURTESY OF ENRIQUEIGLESIAS.COM

colonial club

RAY J

Do you know why you keep up with the Kardashians? According to Ray J’s 2013 single “I Hit It First,” it’s because of him that the seemingly never-ending reality show garnered interest in the first place. In his own right, Ray J is a singer, songwriter, producer and actor with four studio albums under his belt and a fifth, titled “Raydiation 2,” in the works. He is perhaps best known among our generation for his 2007 single, “Sexy Can I,” which at its peak occupied the number-two spot on Billboard’s Top 40. Be sure to swing by Colonial this Sunday to dance away with the man who has collaborated with Lil’ Kim, Shaquille O’Neal, the late Joan Rivers and countless other pop culture icons. Also drop by if all you want to know is, “Sexy, can I?”

YouTube it: “SEXY CAN I” “I HIT IT FIRST” “ONE WISH”

- LIN KING, ASSOCIATE STREET EDITOR

COURTESY OF MAFARO.CO.UK

STACHE ivy club

COURTESY OF STACHE

YouTube it: “SEMI-CHARMED KIND OF LIFE & MR. BRIGHTSIDE”

We mustache you a question: Who is the number one party rock cover band in Delaware? It’s Stache!

The band plays a variety of rock from the classic to modern, but their song bank does not end there. Their repertoire includes songs by artists like Kenny Loggins, Florida Georgia Line, The Divinyls and many more. This five-piece band is a nonstop party which keeps the music coming even after the members set the instruments down as one of them takes over as DJ. Stache likes to include the crowd in its performances so get ready to give this versatile band a warm, preppily-attired, champagne-fueled Lawnparties welcome! Fingers crossed they give out some gear with their logo on it!

- KATIE BAUMAN, STREET EDITOR

The Daily Princetonian

Thursday September 11, 2014

page 7

cottage club

terrace club

BREAK SCIENCE

SHOT OF SOUTHERN

TEEBS COURTESY OF RBMARADIO.COM

YouTube It: “BRAIN REACTION” “NASTY” “MOMENTS”

Catering to the strong Pennsyltucky country music market, Shot of Southern will venture out of Philadelphia to grace Lawnparties with a bit of their southern comfort. While pregaming with shots of the lower-end whiskey might not go down smoothly, this cover band’s take on modern country classics will soothe your ears, even if your throat is still burning. Be sure to stop by, at least for a fleeting reminder of Sunday Funday.

- SETH MERKIN MOROKOFF, ASSOCIATE STREET EDITOR

Opening up for Break Science is wonky trance artist Teebs. Straight out of Chino Hills, Calif., Teebs will bring a dreamy, SoCal vibe perfect for basking in the lawn of Terrace. Break Science begs quite a few questions, primarily stemming from their name. Is it an imperative commanding their audience to break science? Does it imply that science is broken? Does the electronic music duo explore the science of spring break? Find out for yourself by venturing off of Prospect and into Terrace — the strongest bastion of live music on campus. If you’re looking for a break from some country cover bands, Break Science is the answer.

- SETH MERKIN MOROKOFF, ASSOCIATE STREET EDITOR COURTESY OF SHOT OF SOUTHERN

COURTESY OF OKAYFUTURE.COM

tiger inn

COURTESY OF COUPDEMAINMAGAZINE.COM

YouTube It: “SOUTHERN SWAG MEDLEY” COURTESY OF FREDERICKSBURG.COM

KEVIN MAC

Get ready to welcome Kevin MaC back to campus, a veteran Lawnparties act and occasional Sunday Funday performer. The country crooners claim to have coined the term “southern swag” to describe his sound, and his promotional video features slow-motion cuts of most of your upperclassman friends dancing at Cottage. We’ll see how his energy translates to TI this year — a club known for hosting a respectable share of America theme nights and housing a large portion of the campus’s country music fans.

- SETH MERKIN MOROKOFF, ASSOCIATE STREET EDITOR

cloister club

3 WEST charter club

ECHOSMITH

COURTESY OF 3 WEST

3 WEST’s popularity in the TriYouTube It: State area is “HAPPY” rapidly growing “DOWNTOWN” — the acoustic duo perform over 200 shows each year! Their repertoire includes original country and pop songs as well as covers of current hits. In 2011, the singer/ songwriter duo released their first single, “Crazy Amazing.” 3 WEST has been invited to perform at New York City’s Rockefeller Center and Rachel Ray’s show as well as on a ABC, NBC and FOX. In May, they released their newest single, “Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man.” Be sure to stop

by Cloister Inn to catch this band!

- OLIVER SUN, SENIOR WRITER

SUPERMAN SKIVVIES

cannon club

Echosmith brings cutting-edge indie music to Lawnparties.

Hailing from Los Angeles, the band is composed of four YouTube It: siblings who started gaining widespread recognition with “COOL KIDS” their hit song “Cool Kids” last summer. Echosmith has “TELL HER YOU opened for Owl City, Neon Trees and Twenty One Pilots. The band’s debut album, “Talking Dreams,” was released in 2013 LOVE HER” and includes the song, “Surround You,” which was featured “COME WITH ME” in the film “Endless Love.” Echosmith was recently selected as one of MTV’s 2014 Artists to Watch. Influenced by The Smiths, Fleetwood Mac and U2, Echosmith is a contemporary reinterpretation on past soft-rock style, perfect for the new indie wave. With lead singer Sydney Sierota drawing comparisons to Ellie Goulding, it seems Echosmith will be the “Cool Kids” for years to come.

Weezer’s ninth album will drop later this fall, and in anticipation we want to throw it back to the American rock band’s origins by revisiting their 1994 release “The Blue Album” and their 1996 album “Pinkerton.” Philadelphia’s Superman Skivvies, a fourpiece cover band, will take you on a journey through favorites like “Undone – The Sweater Song” and “The Good Life”. If you haven’t wailed “Say it ain’t soooooooo” since your last “Rock Band” jam session in the early 2000s, get ready to warm up those vocal chords and party until you become undone.

- HARRISON BLACKMAN, SENIOR WRITER

- KATIE BAUMAN, STREET EDITOR

YouTube It: “WEEZER BLUE ALBUM PARTY”

Sports

Thursday September 11, 2014

page 8

{ www.dailyprincetonian.com }

Water Polo Opening Weekend: Sept. 6 - Sept. 7

Game Notes • First win over St. Francis since 2011 • Largest margin of victory over St. Francis since 1998

St. Francis

Johns Hopkins

Game Notes

Iona

WWW Score

Score

10-5

10-8

Score

20-11

• Most goals scored

by Princeton in a game since a 2311 win over George Washington in 2002

key players

Jovan Jeremic

Drew Hoffenberg

Thomas Nelson

61 goals in 2013

66 goals, 32 assists in 2013

53 goals, 47 assists in 2012

Southern Division Rookie of the Year

2012 and 2013 NCAA Honorable Mention All-American

2013 NCAA Honorable Mention All-American

Sophomore Utility

Senior Attack

Junior Center

next weekend

fresh faces

Princeton will face

#23 Cal Baptist MIT #8 UC Irvine Jordan Colina

Eric Bowen

Vojislav Mitrovic

5 goals in 2014

5 goals in 2014

0.705 Save % in 2014

Attacker from San Diego, CA

Center from Santee, CA

Goalie from Serbia

in Providence at the Bruno Fall Classic

EDDIE OWENS AND CARRIE CHEN :: ASSOCIATE SPORTS EDITOR AND SENIOR DESIGNER, SOME PHOTOS COURTESY OF GOPRINCETONTIGERS.COM

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