Wednesday September 18, 2019 vol. cxliii no. 70
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BEYOND THE BUBBLE
Acclaimed physicist and U. professor Steven Gubser ’94 dies at 47 By Allan Shen staff writer
Prominent theoretical physicist and professor of physics Steven Scott Gubser ’94 died in Chamonix, France, on Saturday, Aug. 3. Gubser died from a rockclimbing accident while scaling the Comb Needle near Mont Blanc, Europe’s highest peak, when he was on vacation with his family. He was 47 years old. Gubser was born in Tulsa, Okla., on May 4, 1972, as the second son of Nicholas James Gubser II and Margo Gubser Gardner. Soon after his birth, Gubser’s family relocated to Aspen, Colo. He attended secondary schools in Aspen and Denver, eventually graduating from Cherry Creek High School in Greenwood Village, Colo. As a high school student, Gubser had already demonstrated his intellectual prowess, having been the first American to ever become the absolute winner of the International Physics Olympiad in 1989 at the age of 17, as well as a silver medalist at the 1990 International Chemistry Olympiad. Gubser enrolled at the University as an undergraduate student, concentrated in physics and graduated in 1994 as class valedictorian. For his senior thesis, Gubser was awarded the LeRoy Apker Award by the American Physical Society, its most distinguished accolade for undergraduate research. After completing Part III of the Mathematics Tripos at Cambridge University as a Fulbright Scholar in 1995, Gubser returned to the University for graduate
DENISE APPLEWHITE / OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS
Gubser ’94 enjoyed unicycing, playing the piano, and spending time with his family while not in the classroom.
studies and completed his Ph.D. in only three years, under the supervision of Igor Klebanov GS ’86, the Eugene Higgins Professor of Physics and the director of the Princeton Center for Theoretical Science, as well as adviser to Gubser’s senior thesis. “He was very casual, very informal in a way, but very focused about theoretical physics,” Klebanov said. “Once he started working on a problem,
U . A F FA I R S
he would dive in and work super hard. Both as an undergraduate student and as a graduate student he displayed maturity well beyond his age.” After completing his doctorate, Gubser spent two years as a junior fellow at the Harvard Society of Fellows from 1998 to 1999, and then returned to the University as a faculty member in 2000. Gubser served as a professor
of physics at the California Institute of Technology in 2001 while on leave from the University, after which he became an associate professor of physics at the University and was eventually promoted to full professor in 2005, a title he kept for the remainder of his life. Gubser’s specialty in theoretical physics was string theory and its applications. When he was a graduate student, Gubser’s
ON CAMPUS
collaborations with Klebanov and the Joseph Henry Professor of Physics Alexander Polyakov resulted in foundational contributions in anti-de Sitter/conformal field theory (AdS/CFT) correspondence. A 1998 paper co-authored by the three physicists, titled “Gauge theory correlators from noncritical string theory,” is now one of the mostcited papers in theoretical high energy physics. Later in his career, Gubser continued to study various aspects of AdS/CFT correspondence, such as its applications in quantum chromodynamics as well as condensed matter physics. Gubser’s many awards include the inaugural Gribov Medal of the European Physical Society, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Blavatnik Award for Young Scientists, a Simons Investigator Award, among others. Christian Jepsen, one of the physics graduate students under Gubser’s supervision, lauded Gubser’s qualities as a mentor. “His very easygoing and approachable style made it that you weren’t afraid to ask the dumb questions,” Jepsen remarked. “He had a wonderful skill of concisely presenting the core idea of a step so that suddenly, an idea that was intimidating had suddenly become familiar.” As associate chair for undergraduate affairs at the Department of Physics, Gubser was actively involved with undergraduate teaching at the University. As a member and then Chair of the Princeton Faculty See OBITUARY page 4
U . A F FA I R S
Free menstrual prod- Yield rate for Class ucts provided to campus bathrooms of 2023 staff writer
LIANA MIUCCIO / LEWIS CENTER OF THE ARTS
The Lewis Center for the Arts recently named Professor Jhumpa Lahiri Director of the University’s Program in Creative Writing.
Author Jhumpa Lahiri named Director of Program in Creative Writing By Paige Allen staff writer
The Lewis Center for the Arts recently named Professor Jhumpa Lahiri Director of the University’s Program in Creative Writing. Lahiri was named to the position after former director and 2017 U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy
In Opinion
K. Smith was named Chair of the Lewis Center for the Arts on July 1, after having served as the creative writing director for four years. A faculty member in the Program in Creative Writing since 2015, Lahiri also serves as associate faculty with the departments of Comparative Literature and French and See DIRECTOR page 3
Guest contributors from the Woodrow Wilson School advocate joining a public strike protesting global leaders’ equivocations on climate change.
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Free menstrual products are now supplied in campus bathrooms, marking the implementation of the Menstrual Products Task Force’s initiative, which was approved by University administrators last semester. A total of 56 bathrooms in seven buildings on campus, including Frick Chemistry Lab and the Friend Center, have been stocked with free menstrual products. The menstrual products can be found in men’s, women’s, and genderneutral bathrooms. The Menstrual Products Task Force, a group of students associated with the University Student Government, hopes that this initiative will help students maintain healthier lifestyles without the cost of menstrual products becoming a burden. The bathrooms in question now feature products from Aunt Flow, an environmentally friendly menstrual products start-up. Each bathroom is equipped with an Aunt Flow dispenser attached to the wall that is stocked with biodegradable pads and tampons.
Some students have expressed appreciation for the selection of Aunt Flow products. “When I walked to the bathroom last week and I saw them, I was really excited … to see that they are organic and biodegradable,” Naomi CohenShields ’20 said. Cohen-Shields also expressed support of the genderinclusive reach of the implementation. “I think the University should strive to be as inclusive as possible and understanding of different people’s genders and understandings of themselves, so why not make them available to anyone who might need them?” she asked. Preeti Iyer ’20, leader of the Menstrual Products Task Force, has already received positive feedback and is hoping to hear more from students about what they like and dislike about the products. “It’s been really cool just to see on social media people posting about it, the reactions, the usage of it,” Iyer said. “It’s definitely been pretty inspiring to see how the campus has reacted.” According to Iyer, the iniSee PRODUCTS page 2
Today on Campus 4:00 p.m.: Workshop - Resources for Operations Research & Financial Engineering (ORFE) majors Engineering Library Room 105
increases By Rebecca Han staff writer
The University’s yield — the percentage of students who accepted their offer of admission to join the University’s firstyear class — rose to 73.2 percent this year, from 69 percent last year. In March, the University announced that it had offered admission to 1,896 students from a combined regular decision and early action applicant pool of 32,804 applications. Currently, there are 1,343 first-year students enrolled, about 50 students more than the target class size. Last year, the incoming class exceeded the target size by about 43 students. In summer 2018, the University converted Lauritzen Hall in Whitman College, which formerly housed part of the Princeton Writing Center, into a dormitory in order to accommodate the overflow. Of the incoming class, 51 percent identify as women and about half identify as minority students. Pell Grant recipients comprise 24.8 percent See YIELD page 3
WEATHER
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Wednesday September 18, 2019
Argento: I think it’s going to help some maybe underprivilged people who can’t afford to buy their own products PRODUCTS Continued from page 1
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tiative has faced some challenges in its first few weeks. She expected these obstacles, especially given the intentional inclusion of women’s, men’s, and gender-neutral bathrooms as sites of the new product dispensers. “We have had some issues with vandalism in the men’s bathroom in First, which is a little disappointing,” Iyer said. “But we do hope that over time as people recognize this and know that this is a program that’s here to stay, those will stop and people will be respectful of our mission and goal for those who do need these products.” John Argento, Operations Manager at Building Services, serves as a liaison between the student taskforce and building services. He supervised the installment of the dispensers in campus restrooms and helped Iyer print laminated informational posters to hang alongside the dispensers. Argento corroborated that there was some abnormal treatment of the dispenser in the men’s restroom in Frist Campus Center. “The supervisor from Building Services from Frist approached me when I was waiting to meet Preeti and he let me know that … in one of the men’s rooms the products were all removed,” Argento said. “No idea what happened, who or why, just know apparently all the products were taken out of it.” In his role as liaison to the Menstrual Products Taskforce, Argento has been an avid supporter of the implementation. “I think it’s a great initiative,” Argento said. “I think it’s going to help some maybe underprivileged people who cannot afford to buy their own
products.” When asked how the implementation would affect Building Services, Argento explained that it should not add any significant burden. “I don’t think it’ll make that much of a difference to us,” he said. “It’s just a matter of restocking them as needed, checking them every day, like restocking any other item like toilet paper, paper towels, soap — just takes an extra three seconds for our custodians to do it.” According to Iyer, while the initiative started as a studentled effort for the sake of improving student life, she sees it expanding to become a larger campus effort. Many staff members have reached out to her, hoping to get involved. Iyer hopes to incorporate their perspectives to help expand the initiative with a second stage implementation in the future. “[We hope to work with] a little more staff, a little more diversity of the University population, instead of just students, to understand how this could benefit everyone,” Iyer said. “Then, hopefully, laying some of that financial and policy understanding, so hopefully next year we could do a second-wave implementation.” While the past few weeks have served as the first-stage implementation following a pilot program in 2017, Iyer does not take for granted that the initiative will get approval to continue and expand. “I think in the administration’s mind, this was still a little bit more of a pilot program, so they really want to see that there is support for this, that this should be prioritized on their agenda and their budget as much as other initiatives that they are prioritizing,” Iyer said. “That really comes from the student engagement and support of this initiative.”
YAEL MARANS \ THE DAILY PRINCETON
Some dispensers were vandalized shortly after being added.
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Wednesday September 18, 2019
Hotchkiss: These students will have opportunity to impact the world
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MARCIA BROWN / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN
University yield — percentage of students who accepted admission to Princeton’s first-year class — rose to 73.2 percent this year.
YIELD
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of the class, while recruited athletes make up 16.2 percent. In an email statement to The Daily Princetonian, Deputy University Spokesperson Mike Hotchkiss said that the University is “grateful that so many high school seniors and transfer students choose to join our diverse community and experience the transfor-
mative power of a Princeton education.” “These students will have the opportunity to graduate debt-free, pursue a wide range of careers, and impact the community and world around them,” he said through email. “Thanks to the planned expansion of the undergraduate class, we look forward to welcoming even more academically talented and dynamic students to campus in the coming years.”
Lahiri will oversee expansion of program via increased student demand DIRECTOR Continued from page 1
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Italian. As Director of the Program in Creative Writing, which celebrates its 80th anniversary this year, Lahiri said she will bring “a new perspective, one that will reflect my own mix of interests that are now developing and moving forward, especially in my time here at Princeton. By that I mean really looking at the larger dialogue between writing and translation, maintaining a very international focus within the Creative Writing Program, [and] looking at creative writing and other disciplines in the arts and other academic disciplines across the University.” “In her time on the faculty, [Lahiri has] innovated several new courses and worked collaboratively with students in a variety of ways,” Smith wrote in an email to The Daily Princetonian. “She also has a respect for the urgencies our students grapple with every day — from questions of climate change, to migration, to gender and sexuality and beyond. She’ll embolden students to use writing as a means toward insight and clarity in those and other areas.” Lahiri received the Pulitzer Prize in 2000 for her debut collection of stories, “Interpreter of Maladies.” Her other titles include “The Namesake,” “Unaccustomed Earth,” and “The Lowland,” which was named a finalist for the Man Booker Prize and the National Book Award in fiction in 2013.
Lahiri has received numerous awards and fellowships, including the PEN/Hemingway Award, the PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in the Short Story, the Addison Metcalf Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Vallombrosa Von Rezzori Prize, the Asian American Literary Award, the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship. In 2014, she was awarded a National Humanities Medal by President Barack Obama. Lahiri has also written and published works in Italian — including “In Altre Parole (In Other Words),” “The Clothing of Books” (originally published in Italian), and “Dove mi trovo” — and translated works by herself and other authors from Italian to English. Lahiri’s translation of Domenico Starnone’s “Trick” was a finalist for a National Book Award, and her translation of Starnone’s “Ties” was named a New York Times Notable Book and Best Foreign Novel by the Times of London in 2017. Lahiri also edited and introduced “The Penguin Classics Book of Italian Short Stories.” Lahiri was born in London and raised in Rhode Island. She earned a B.A. in English literature from Barnard College in addition to an M.A. in English, M.F.A. in Creative Writing, M.A. in Comparative Literature, and Ph.D. in Renaissance Studies from Boston University. In addition to teaching at the University, Lahiri has led courses in creative writing at See DIRECTOR page 4
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Gubser authored “The Little Book of String Theory,” other physics works OBITUARY Continued from page 1
............. Council on Teaching and Learning, Gubser introduced new methods of teaching to existing courses, such as PHY 101: Introductory Physics I and PHY 102: Introductory Physics II. In addition to graduate courses in classical mechanics and quantum mechanics, Gubser also created and regularly taught PHY 211: Invitation to Theoretical Physics, a seminar frequently taken by first-years and sophomores interested in physics, as well as several introductory physics courses at the 100-level. Mufaro Chitoto ’22, who enrolled in Gubser’s PHY 211
course during his last semester of teaching, praised Gubser’s commitment and attention to undergraduate students. “The fact that he took time out of his very busy day to bake cookies to bring to every class shows how much he was devoted to his students,” Chitoto said. In addition to his scholarly work, Gubser was also the author of two popular science books: “The Little Book of String Theory,” published in 2010 by Princeton University Press; and “The Little Book of Black Holes,” which he co-authored with Professor of Physics Frans Pretorius and was published by Princeton University Press in 2017. Gubser was frequently seen unicycling around Princeton
with his two younger daughters; he and his daughter Lillian led the Class of 1994 on unicycles at the 2019 P-rade for Gubser’s 25th Princeton reunion. Gubser even unicycled across a frozen Lake Carnegie. A skilled piano player, Gubser regularly played at the annual physics department recital, most recently singing with his oldest daughter, who is a member of an a cappella group at Princeton High School. Steven Gubser is survived by his wife, Laura Landweber ’89, and their three daughters: Cecily, Heidi, and Lilian. A celebration of Gubser’s life and work took place in the University Chapel on the morning of Saturday, Sept. 14.
Wednesday September 18, 2019
Lahiri also teaches a course on artist, novelist Leonara Carrington DIRECTOR Continued from page 1
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Boston University, Baruch College, Barnard College, The New School, and the Rhode Island School of Design. In addition to her duties as Director of the Creative Writing Program, Lahiri is currently teaching what she describes as a “very hybrid” course about artist, painter, and novelist Leonara Carrington, from whom Lahiri draws inspiration. “To me, [Carrington] epitomizes the potential of the Creative Writing Program,” Lahiri said. “She’s a visual artist, a writer, a writer who writes outside of her dominant language who was a figure who crossed borders geographically, linguistically, culturally … It’s that kind of breadth that really excites me about her personally, which is why I’m teaching this course, but I look to her as guidance in terms of how widereaching, how far-reaching creative writing can be. That’s exciting to me, just to ponder her example and think about how to keep widening the conversation.” The goal of “widening the conversation” is one that the Creative Writing Program will focus on as it moves into its next stages. As student interest in taking workshop courses
increases and the University enacts its plans to expand class sizes in the coming years, Lahiri foresees that the program will need to adapt to accommodate the demand and carefully consider whether to increase the number of courses offered or the number of seats in each workshop, which are currently capped at 10 students. “Having taught workshops, I know the difference between 10 and 15,” Lahiri said. “It’s a big difference, actually — a huge difference.” Smith considers Lahiri “uniquely equipped to amplify the conversation between student writing, contemporary literature and current issues.” Smith also sees the future of the program including “more types of courses, and a broadening of opportunities for students to pursue certificates in CWR.” Lahiri also intends to continue important conversations about how to make sure the program’s courses and climate are truly inclusive and supportive to all students. “There are many ways in which creative writing can be defined here within Princeton and within the Princeton community,” Lahiri said. “That will certainly be one of my objectives, to be very vigilant toward that and to keep opening our doors and inviting students from all departments across the campus.”
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Climate Policy is Public Policy As our leaders equivocate and waver, we, the undersigned, will strike with other climate-concerned young people around the world this Friday, Sept. 20. Coinciding with the start of the UN Climate Action Summit in New York, we strike for stronger action on the climate crisis. We — graduate students at the Wilson School — take seriously our charge to act “in the nation’s service, and in the service of humanity.” The climate crisis presents an existential threat to our shared future, and as policy practitioners, we will spend our careers grappling with this crisis in all its configurations. The growing threat of floods and wildfires will fundamentally reshape our debate on fair housing and healthcare, extreme weather events will become more common — stifling development of fragile nations — and displacement (both internal and, to a lesser extent, cross-border) will increase as a changing climate remakes the world for the worse. Some experts say we have just 18 months to prevent the most catastrophic of these impacts. There are few policy problems where the science is so settled, yet our leaders have not faced up to the urgency or significance of the crisis. In the 2015 Paris Agreement, the world’s nations committed
to a global target of 2.7–3.6°F warming, the bare minimum required to avoid a large scale ecological breakdown. On current trends, however, we will reach 5.6°F of warming by the end of the century, which will have disastrous social and ecological consequences. We strike for action because of the devastating effects of rapid climate change on communities around the world, particularly on those least to blame for our current situation. Droughts and warmer temperatures are decreasing crop yields and increasing the spread of infectious diseases. Experts estimate 400,000 people die each year due to climate change, and casualties multiply when considering those who die prematurely from exposure to fossil fuel poisons in our air and water. The ranks of those displaced by climate change continue to swell with families leaving homes overrun by rising seas, while others flee armed conflict fueled by severe drought. Meanwhile, international and domestic norms and commitments to the rights of displaced people are crumbling. This injustice must incite a call to action. Just as impacts are global, they are also very local. Policymakers are already considering which coastal cities are worth the investment of protecting with sea walls and
infrastructure upgrades, and not every New Jersey community will make the list. The most vulnerable communities — people of color and low-income families — will likely lose out. New Jersey is one of the fastest-warming states in the continental United States, and drastic temperature increases are already taking their toll. While still tackling the costly damage from natural disasters, including Hurricane Sandy, New Jersey is losing its shoreline to a local sea rising at twice the global rate, and a changing climate has brought on large-scale algae blooms and disease-carrying mosquitoes. While many countries will come to the UN Climate Action Summit next week earnestly seeking meaningful progress on the Paris Agreement, the United States — now withdrawn from the Agreement — and other nations remain stubbornly beholden to a fossil fuel industry that has long exercised its corrupting influence around the world. The situation is dire, a joint result of years of inaction interwoven with ongoing efforts to unravel the few policies in place that combat climate change. There are many potential pathways to lower emissions, such as cap and trade systems, carbon taxes, reforestation, and investment in new clean energy
vol. cxliii
technologies. However, these all require policy changes and an engaged public dedicated to climate action. Managing damage control tomorrow will be far more expensive than mitigating the crisis today. Striking for action communicates the need for immediate and comprehensive solutions. As policymakers, we understand that the impact of the climate crisis stretches across every public policy discipline. We also understand that elected officials respond to public pressure, and that pressure is exactly what we hope to achieve with our demonstration. This Friday, Sept. 20, we join millions around the world in a Global Climate Strike to make our voices heard at the Summit in New York. It’s time to act like our house is burning down — because it is. The event will begin in Hinds Plaza at 12:30 p.m. We will then march through town and onto the University campus. We hope you will join us. RSVP to the event here. Written by: Tom Taylor, Sujata Rajpurohit, Molly Brune, Ryan Warsing and Sagatom Saha For a complete list of contributors, please reference the online version of this article.
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Editor’s Note: In yesterday’s paper, the concurrent publication of a guest submission by Vice President for Campus Life W. Rochelle Calhoun and an editorial authored by The Daily Princetonian Editorial Board incorrectly implied that the former was written in response to the latter. In reality, the two pieces were unconnected. The ‘Prince’ regrets this error.
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The role of corrosive patriotism in the Kashmir lockdown Khadijah Anwar Columnist
Ideally, patriotism is a beautiful notion — a love for one’s homeland and heritage paired with a burning desire to protect those roots. In the real world, however, the idea of “patriotism” devolves into just another weapon used to propel conflicts between nationalist governments. Even more egregiously, it is often merely a disingenuous rebranding of chauvinism. Last month, Priyanka Chopra blatantly disregarded her duties as a UNICEF ambassador. When Ayesha Malik, a Pakistani-American audience member, challenged her for her hypocritical support of the Indian Army in the face of the Kashmir lockdown, Chopra had little to say besides apathetically asking Malik if she was “done venting.” Despite preaching about humanity, Chopra fallaciously reduced her support for the issue down to her identity as an Indian “patriot.” Priyanka holds a lot of influence in the United States
as one of the few Bollywood actresses to have been successfully integrated into Hollywood. She represents a face for Indian women to many people who are otherwise unaware of Indian culture, and she is a key figure with whom many young Indian-American women identify. Her ability to openly abuse her star power in the name of patriotism and carelessly set an example of apathy is one of the many reasons that a pernicious “patriotism” pervades our current political sphere. We live in a world wrought with religious warfare, where thousands are being stripped of their human rights every day in Kashmir, Syria, Afghanistan, and many more regions where religious politics supersede individual rights. In the face of such circumstances, international intervention and empathy are crucial. Yet “patriotism” allows for an abuse of power on not only the social level that Chopra demonstrated, but also the governmental level. Nationalist governments protect their ideological interests over humanity’s, rallying the public
to show their patriotic support. Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister, regularly advocates for the suppression of Indian Muslims in the name of being “Hindustani.” He has now unconstitutionally stripped Kashmir of its independence in revoking Article 370, promoting centralized national control over the Muslim-majority region of Jammu and Kashmir. The last six weeks in the region have been marked by a complete denial of human rights. People are being tortured and molested for leaving their homes. Gatherings, even phone calls, are being blocked on religious holidays such as Eid and Muharram. The decimation of individual rights is grossly overwhelming. Yet millions of “patriotic” Indians still stand resolutely behind their government’s actions, showing blind support for a more powerful Hindustan. The pressure to show support for one’s homeland carries a lot of momentum in nationalist societies like India, meaning that millions of Indians willingly turn a blind eye
to the wide-scale suppression of Muslim minorities, while simultaneously showing limited resistance as leaders like Modi abuse their power and violate democracy in stripping Kashmir of its independent status. Patriotism also offers members of the public a one-word excuse for their blissful ignorance of the lack of humanity surrounding them. Under the assumption that patriotism is a positive sentiment, these societies propagate the illusion of heinous acts having profound and reasonable justification. Not only do notions of patriotism create an ignorance towards domestic human rights violations within a country, they also spur ignorance between countries. While patriotism within countries can terrorize and marginalize minorities, as is the case with Indian Muslims in Kashmir, the hostility bred by pro-Hindustani ideologies manifests most strongly in intercountry conflicts with Pakistan. Here, it is no longer a matter of minorities within a country converging to their national
values, but rather an issue of establishing the superiority of one’s country in relation to other nations that represent values different from their own. Thus, the Kashmir crisis is intensified by the Indian army’s reluctance to succumb to the demands of Pakistani Muslims who seek the liberation of Indian Kashmiris. The Pakistan-India conflict is the epitome of what “patriotism” has come to mean in the current political arena, led by nationalist giants like Trump’s America, Johnson’s UK, Xi’s China, and Modi’s India. Moreover, many European Union countries are also trending towards nationalist, conservative governments. In such a playing field, modern day patriotism deviates far from its idealistic notion of love for the homeland and instead leans dangerously towards weaponizing the national identity to hate and target nations with diverging values. Khadijah Anwar is a sophomore undergraduate from Dubai, UAE. She can be reached at kanwar@princeton.edu.
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Sports
Wednesday September 18, 2019
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{ www.dailyprincetonian.com } FIELD HOCKEY
No. 6 field hockey defeats two ranked opponents, prepares for two more By Molly Milligan Senior Sports Writer
This week, Princeton field hockey sits at sixth in the Penn Monto/NFHCA National Coaches Poll. The ranking comes as the Tigers prepare for the final games of their nonconference schedule. Princeton went 2–0 last weekend, defeating then-No. 20 Albany 4–3 on Friday, and posting an additional win over then-No. 17 Penn State on Sunday, 2–1. Against Albany, sophomore midfielder Hannah Davey recorded her first hat trick, the fifth by a Princeton player in Head Coach Carla Tagliente’s tenure. The Tigers earned four corners in the first five minutes of play, but would not score their first point until a fifth attempt, when Davey’s shot trickled in off an Albany defender. Davey would take advantage of another corner later in the game for her third
score of the day. She leads the team with four goals, two assists, and 10 points so far this season. But in the meeting with Penn State, it was junior striker Clara Roth who would propel Princeton to the weekend sweep. With an impressive individual effort in the third quarter, Roth dribbled along the baseline and whipped the ball into the cage to tie the score at one goal apiece. She would also produce the gamewinner with just 3:23 left to play, rebounding Davey’s failed shot off a corner and tapping it into the back of the net. Roth was named Ivy League Co-Offensive Player of the Week with two goals and three assists over the weekend. Princeton now turns its focus to another pair of ranked opponents who will visit Bedford Field this week. No. 21 Rutgers will travel south for a Friday evening game. Last season, the Scarlet Knights
shocked the Tigers in a 1–0 decision. This year’s edition will be available in the Philadelphia area on NBC Sports Philadelphia+. Sunday afternoon, Princ-
eton will face off against one of the nation’s strongest programs in a hotly anticipated meeting with No. 4 Connecticut. In 2018, Princeton traveled
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Hannah Davey celebrates a goal.
to Storrs, Conn., and dominated the hometown Huskies, 5–2. It was the Tigers’ first road win against the University of Connecticut since 2002. In that game, Roth and Ali McCarthy, now a sophomore striker, stuffed the stat sheet with a goal and an assist from Roth and two goals from McCarthy. Both will be back on the field this Sunday, looking to build on Princeton’s 3–1 start to the season. UConn sits at 5–1, with its most impressive win to date coming by a score of 3–0 on Sept. 8 against then-No. 6 Harvard. So far this fall, the Tigers and the Huskies each have one win over a Top Ten opponent. Princeton will then travel to take on No. 3 Maryland early next week. With such a challenging non-conference slate, the Tigers will be well prepared for Ivy League play. Entering this season, Princeton was picked to win the league title over rival No. 14 Harvard.
MEN’S VOLLEYBALL
Princeton men’s volleyball exchanges orange and black for red, white, and blue By Alissa Selover Associate Sports Editor
First-year James Hartley was just seven years old when he started playing volleyball with his sister in his driveway in North Carolina. He knew that he loved the game, but there wasn’t a boys’ team for him to play on. When he was nine, he started playing with a local volleyball club for the girls’ U12 team; he moved to the U13 team when he was 10. When James was 11, a boys’ club team was started in Rock Hill, S.C., about 30 minutes from where he grew up. It was his first experience playing on a boys’ team. Little did he know that in just over a decade, he would represent the United States for the U.S. Youth National Team in Tunisia. Hartley was one of thousands at the first series of try-outs and one of 24 at the second round, where he eventually became one of the 12 members of the team. Hartley explained that process was intense and demanding, both physically and mentally. “That meeting when you are told if you made it or not is the most nerve-wracking meeting in the world. It’s like you get a plane ticket home or you get a plane ticket to the tournament,” Hartley explained while reflecting on the process of making the team. Hartley relied frequently on the people close to him to get through this process. “Coach Shweisky has been there with me for my whole journey because I am a very emotional player, and these national team try-outs are really tough to handle — so I would call Coach Shweisky all the time and say, ‘Oh my gosh, I am so scared,’ and he would talk me through it,” Hartley said. Hartley wasn’t the only Tiger volleyball player representing the United States over the summer, though; seniors George Huh-
mann and Parker Dixon were also wearing the national colors on the court. Huhmann played for the FIVB Volleyball Nations League (VNL) in Winnipeg, where Cody Kessel ’15 also suited up for the team and Princeton head coach Sam Shweisky assisted in coaching. Dixon played for USA Volleyball in the World University Games in Italy. When Huhmann found out that he was selected to join the roster of the men’s U.S. volleyball team for the FIVB VNL team, he immediately told his mother. “I knew I wouldn’t be home the following week since I was going straight to Anaheim for training,” Huhmann explained in an email to The Daily Princetonian. Being selected to the final roster for the team was a bit of a surprise for Huhmann. The U.S. team is a combination of young players who have played in both FIVB and Pan American settings. Many of the players spent their summer training in hopes of making the roster for the FIVB World Cup in October and the To-
kyo 2020 Olympic Games. “It was definitely a much more competitive group of teams, and there was a lot on the line. I was a little surprised, but at that point in the summer, I was used to getting thrown off guard on various teams I never thought I would make,” Huhmann said. Huhmann and the VNL team placed second in the tournament, but Huhmann’s favorite memory of the summer was his first VNL experience in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. It was the first time that he officially played in a match with the senior team. One of the most thrilling moments of his time on the team was the atmosphere in the gym during the VNL Finals. This was the first time that the VNL team had the chance to play in front of U.S. fans. Huhmann also had the opportunity to play for Coach Shweisky and with Kessel for the first time. “I am pretty used to Coach Shweisky’s coaching, and I’ve always heard so many great things about Cody,” Huhmann explained. “It was nice to finally
play with him.” In a statement to GoPrincetonTigers, Sam Shweisky stated: “I am so grateful for this opportunity to coach with the United States again this summer and travel with a team internationally for the sixth consecutive year. This will be my first time coaching internationally at the men’s senior level which is very exciting. The best part about this trip is getting to see two Tigers on the roster! Getting to coach George and Cody is such an incredible opportunity! I am so proud of those guys and what they have accomplished.” For Hartley, his experience representing the United States was an opportunity to see the diversity of the game of volleyball across nations. “Playing these teams like Russia, Bulgaria, or Italy, who have these people that you are never exposed to while playing club here in the U.S. at this age — I was exposed to a level of volleyball that I have never seen kids my age play,” Hartley said. “It’s weird be-
COURTESY OF GOPRINCETONTIGERS
Cody Kessel, Georgge Huhmann, and coach Sam Shweisky at the NORCECA Championships.
cause in club, you are saying, ‘Oh, we are playing this club today,’ but on the national team, you are saying, ‘Oh, I am playing Russia today.’” Dixon and the United States Collegiate National team placed 16th at the 2019 World University Games. In addition to having the opportunity to represent his country, Dixon received an AVCA All-American Honorable Mention and was selected to the EIVA All-Tournament Team and firstteam all-conference during the last season. Dixon could not be reached for comment. Huhmann and the VNL squad received the silver medal in the NORCECA championship. Cuba defeated the United States in the championship, 25–18, 21–25, 25– 20, 25–20, giving the United States its only loss of the tournament. Hartley and the U.S. Youth National team finished 15th at the FIVB Boys U19 World Championship. When reflecting on what he will bring back to his senior season with Princeton Volleyball from his experience playing for the United States, Huhmann said, “I’m going to try and work on my game off the court more, similar to what a lot of the national team guys do, and hopefully that helps me be better on the court.” As for Hartley, he is still trying to adjust to finding his place on the men’s volleyball team here at Princeton. He is continuing to reflect on his journey to get to this point today. “It is cool for me to see my journey going from playing in my driveway, to a girls’ team, to a small club team, to being on the National team,” Hartley explained. He is grateful to have been given the chance to pave the way for a lot of other North Carolina boys who now have the opportunities playing volleyball that he didn’t.
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