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Monday September 25, 2017 vol. CXLI no. 72
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Graduate students: New U. daycare is not affordable regardless of U. statement ON CAMPUS
staff writer
Many graduate students with children disagreed with a University statement that claimed that the new on-campus facility for the University-National Organization for Women Day Nursery will make affordable childcare more accessible to all members of the University community. UNOW focuses on playbased learning, low staffto-child ratios, and nature, incorporating the latest research on early education and childhood development into its approach to childcare. But this high-quality care is expensive. Tuition for infants is upwards of $25,000 per year, which many graduate students say is completely unaffordable even with University assistance like the Student Child Care Assistance Program, which reimburses students for up to $5,000 of their childcare expenses based on their household income. Joshua Wallace GS, a fourth-year student in the astrophysical sciences department, is the publicity chair and advocacy liaison of Tigers with Cubs, an organization for undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral students with children. He said he was “very angry” because the University’s press
COURTESY OF PRINCETONUNOW
A view of new construction of the UNOW day nursery.
release suggested that between SCCAP and UNOW’s expansion, on-campus child care was affordable for all members of the University community. A representative in the Graduate Student Government for his department, Wallace calls himself a “de facto representative for families” on campus. Wallace explained that his wife stays
BEYOND THE BUBBLE
home because childcare costs more than she would be able to earn by working a job, which would require her to pay for care for their children. Wallace added that childcare is particularly expensive for graduate students who are single parents and international graduate students whose spouses are unable to work due to visa restrictions. U . A F FA I R S
FIRE releases new set of ratings for colleges By Marcia Brown head news editor
COURTESY OF ANTOFRAN VIA WIKICOMMONS
Building in Mexico City partially destroyed by 2017 earthquake.
Mexican Student Association raises disaster relief funds By Marcia Brown head news editor
The Princeton University Mexican Student Association is raising relief funds to donate to Mexican NGOs that specialize in rescue and disaster management in light of the recent earthquake devastation. Carla López Castañeda GS is one of the students spearheading PUMSA’s efforts. She explained that the effort is largely the initiative of several Mexican students in the community. “It’s really the [University students] who have been sharing the information with classmates and all the people they know,” said López Castañeda. “All of us are involved and have been
In Opinion
Other graduate students have had similar reactions to the press release. “I was just so angry because it’s not true,” said Christine Philippe-Blumauer GS, who is a research associate at the Foreign Policy Research Institute’s Eurasia program. PhilippeBlumauer, whose husband is also a graduate student at the University, said she
shocked in the past days because we all know someone who has been affected in a way.” The group has set up a Venmo account to receive the donations, and has been promoting its efforts on social media. The organizations to which funds will be donated include Cruz Roja Mexicana, Amazon, Oxfam México, Topos, and Cadena. Since Wednesday, the group has raised $4,778.50. According to López Castañeda, the money is being donated through local Mexican bank Multiva. The bank is matching what the group raises, effectively doubling the funds. “We don’t have a specific goal See DISASTER page 3
Guest contributor Marcus Norkaitis writes about living through Hurricane Irma, and senior columnist Bhaamati Borkhetaria writes about the difficulty of communicating abroad. PAGE 6-7
For the first time, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education has rated the top 53 universities in the country, according to U.S. News & World Report, on their due process rights for students accused of various offenses on campus. In its ranking “Spotlight on Due Process 2017,” 45 of 53 universities received “a D or F rating from FIRE for at least one disciplinary policy,” and similarly 79 percent of these universities received a D or F for “protecting the due process rights of students accused of sexual misconduct.” The new rankings come as the handling of sexual misconduct and campus rape cases are increasingly under assessment with the new administration. Communication coordinator for FIRE William Rickards noted in an email that “Princeton received a D for sexual misconduct due process protections and a C for other due process protections.” FIRE is a nonprofit dedicated mainly to advocating for free speech and due process rights on college campuses. “The schools were judged based on whether they guarantee those accused of campus misconduct 10 core elements of
fair procedure, including adequate written notice of the allegations, the presumption of innocence, and the right to cross-examine all witnesses and accusers,” he wrote. The report analyzed disciplinary procedures at 53 schools, but focused on nonacademic disciplinary cases. The group did not consider faculty disciplinary procedures. Furthermore, “where institutions maintain different policies for academic and non-academic cases, we analyzed only the procedures for nonacademic cases,” and even then only looked at procedures involving potential suspension or expulsion. Due to these parameters, FIRE did not look at the Honor Committee’s procedures and thus did not speak to any of the members of the committee, according to Committee Chair Carolyn Liziewski ’18. Vice Provost for Institutional Equity and Diversity Michele Minter explained that the University pays some attention to releases and studies from groups such as FIRE. “We don’t pay particular attention,” she continued, “but we are always interested in external organizations.” “We make all of our decisions based on what we See FIRE page 3
Today on Campus 7 p.m.: Pete Baker, Chief White House Correspondent for The New York Times lectures on his book “Obama: The Call of History.” Robertson Hall, Arthur Lewis Auditorium.
first realized how expensive childcare near campus was when she was pregnant, noting that the issue came up “quite frequently” in her conversations with her colleagues. Ph i l ippe-Blu m auer praised UNOW’s “amazing approach to childcare,” its low staff-to-child ratios, and its proximity to campus, and she said that this quality of care was understandably expensive. “But,” she added, “it’s a fact that it’s not accessible or affordable to most graduate students and postdocs.” Philippe-Blumauer also asserted that because SCCAP is taxable, no graduate students are able to use all $5,000 dollars — even if that were enough. Merle Eisenberg GS, a sixth-year in the history department, often works with Tigers with Cubs to push for more affordable childcare through GSG. Most recently, he has collaborated with Tigers with Cubs to create a series of policy proposals that the GSG would be willing to support. Eisenberg said that he doesn’t expect to achieve every goal listed in the proposal, but he hopes that it will mitigate the “astronomical costs” of having children in general. He echoed Wallace’s earlier comment, asserting See DAYCARE page 3
U . A F FA I R S
Betsy DeVos ends Title IX claims from Obama era By Marcia Brown head news editor
In an announcement this morning, Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos released a directive reversing some Obama-era rules surrounding Title IX claims and sexual assault. Notably, some rollbacks could give accused students greater protection against campus rape and sexual misconduct claims if universities choose to invoke the rules. Colleges may now use a higher standard of evidence before finding students responsible for sexual assault. Resolution agreements, decided upon during the previous administration, are to remain in place. Because the University has been in such an agreement since 2014, no changes will be made at this time, said Vice Provost for Institutional Equity and Diversity Michele Minter. As the Title IX coordinator, Minter explained that the the University plans to review the new rules and FAQ. “We have to really review it,” she explained. “We think that the policy we have is working well for our campus. We think it’s fair and gives significant, equivalent rights to both parties.” When asked if the University would consider advocaSee DEVOS page 5
WEATHER
By Rose Gilbert
HIGH
88˚
LOW
66˚
Sunny, humid chance of rain:
10 percent