36 students offered membership to Bicker clubs, at least seven Cloister members look to join Quad
By Hayk Yengibaryan & Justus Wilhoit
Head News Editor & Senior News Writer
2025 Fall Street Week concluded on Friday, with students in the Classes of 2026 and 2027 seeking spots in three of six Bicker clubs and three of five sign-in clubs. Thirty-six students were offered spots in three Bicker
clubs — Cap and Gown Club, Ivy Club, and Tower Club.
Tiger Inn and Cottage Club did not hold Fall Street Week events, nor did Cannon Dial Elm Club, which held Bicker last fall.
“At the time Cannon announced the decision not to hold Fall Bicker, the [Graduate Interclub Council (GICC)] was encouraging Bicker clubs to forgo Fall Bicker in an at-
tempt to support the open clubs,” Cannon President Scott Becker wrote to The Daily Princetonian.
The GICC did not respond to requests for comment before publication.
This was also the first Street Week in decades without Cloister Inn, which abruptly announced over the summer it would pause op -
BY ZACH GARDNER
By Elisabeth Stewart Senior News Writer
For the past several years, Princeton has chosen to divulge few details of hazing incidents in biannual disclosures required under New Jersey law, instead only describing the broad strokes of student conduct alongside the penalties imposed.
In August, however, the University took an unusual step: announcing, via an email to the undergraduate student body, additional and specific descriptions of several hazing incidents, including an “egregious” 2023 case where fraternity pledges pushed
“cinder blocks across a field using their bare chests and then had hot sauce poured on their wounds.
The details, which have not been previously publicly reported, accompanied a new “StandUp To Hazing” training required for all undergraduates.
Pledges in the 2023 incident, Dean of Undergraduate Students Regan Crotty ’00 wrote, also participated in “consuming dangerous amounts of nicotine mixed with milk, drinking large amounts of alcohol or other liquids/substances, swallowing goldfish, and having cigarettes put out on their skin.”
She added that while “such seri-
“LOOKING FOR ELEPHANTS? WELL, YOU PROBABLY WON’T BE ABLE TO FIND THEM WITH ‘PRINCE’ CLASSIFIED ADS, BUT YOU CAN ALMOST CERTAINLY FIND ALMOST EVERYTHING ELSE.”
ous cases may happen infrequently,” the University “regularly adjudicates” hazing situations, such as cases of “assigning errands/ tasks to other students, blindfolding them, smearing them with shaving cream, and requiring nudity.”
The StopHazing course led students through modules with the objectives of learning to “recognize a range of hazing behaviors and scenarios” and “differentiate healthy and unhealthy group behaviors.”
Hazing is legally defined in New Jersey as any act in connection with the initiation into a
BY SIYEON LEE AND CHARLIE YALE
A broke college student goes undercover: A review
By Amanda Hugas Staff Prospect Writer
While back to school fashion is in full swing, it seems that the frosh aren’t the only new faces in the town of Princeton. What was once Art on Hulfish is now a Brandy Melville.
As you walk in, industrial ceiling lights illuminate the open space which features walls adorned with Ivy League decor.
Half-opened boxes stocked with shirts clutter the floors under tables, and workers move quickly
throughout, unpacking and moving merchandise while assisting customers. An initial scan of the store reveals a moderate range of stylish and high quality tops, but beyond that, their range lacks in both quality and sizing.
Moving past stacks of thin sweaters and plain t-shirts, I made my way to the back of the store. The store’s layout isn’t clearly sectioned, making the whole store feel like a blend of cotton tank tops and picnic-patterned shorts without specific organization. Wheth-
This Week In History
This week, the Daily Princetonian takes a closer look at the fine print, spotlighting a few classified ads from the pages of the ‘Prince’ between 1941 and 1990. Classified ads in the pages of the ‘Prince’ are now a thing of the past, with event advertising and wishes to find lost coats concentrated in Hoagie Mail email blasts. This peek into the archives reveals stories of environmentally friendly beer steins, protests, lost notebooks and “borrowed” valuables, as well as ads to submit more ads.
Students travel the world, sail the seas in HMEI summer internships
By Suthi Navaratnam-Tomayko
Accessibility Director
From Alaska to the Philippines, 104 Princeton students engaged in cutting-edge research for the High Meadows Environmental Institute (HMEI) over the summer. Their work was part of the Environmental Internship Program and included researching extreme weather, water and the environment, biodiversity and conservation, oceans and atmosphere, environmental policy, and a new energy future.
Students presented their summer work at the HMEI Summer of Learning Symposium on Friday, Sept. 12.
“It’s all real research,” Gabe Vecchi, Director of HMEI, told The Daily Princetonian. “We’re able to take some chances and explore new directions with some really high-skilled students.”
One group of HMEI interns traveled on a research vessel to the mid-Atlantic to sample seawater. Darren McKeogh ’28, who served in the U.S. Navy for four years before attending Princeton, sampled seawater to study a bacterial gene that converts nitrous oxide to nitrogen gas.
“I was able to develop a lot of laboratory skills and research experience, which freshmen typically are not able to get on their first summer,” McKeogh said.
Jessica Curran ’28 researched seaweed and its role in climate mitigation and carbon sequestration in the Philippines and Taiwan. In the Philippines, Curran conducted research on a seaweed farm, where her team took samples of seaweed to measure how it affected the ocean’s biochemical processes. The internship was “absolutely perfect” for Curran, who studied seaweed in high
school but had little travel experience.
McKenna Crocker ’28 spent the first ten weeks of her summer at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory (RMBL), researching plant-pathogen relationships and how they changed at various altitudes. After her internship concluded, she joined an Engineers Without Borders trip, organized and supported by HMEI, to install water infrasture in Kenya.
While Crocker did not have a background in biology before the internship, the experience she now wants to focus on is agricultural research. Her time in Kenya also helped her realize the importance of projects
“helping people and giving back to communities.”
Some participants remained on campus. Julianne Somar ’26, an architecture major, researched how wood bends itself and how to implement those findings when creating biodegradable structures.
Somar and her peers made a prototype of a fully biodegradable wooden structure now residing in the Forbes Garden.
“As an architecture student, I don’t often have the chance to design something and then have it fully realized. So this was a really wonderful opportunity to get to do that,” Somar said.
Collin Guedel ’26 researched how microbes in soil influence
global hydrogen budgets. He shared with the ‘Prince’ that he believes there will be an increasing amount of hydrogen under the current hydrogenbased fuel economy.
Students are not the only ones benefiting from the program. Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering professor Michelle DiBenedetto said her HMEI interns designed a new lab setup and worked on a robotic microplastics collector.
“[This program] allows us as a research community to dream big,” Samuel Eastman, a postdoc in the Chemical and Biological Engineering department who has supervised multiple HMEI interns over the years, said. “I also like hav-
ing them in the lab because of their fresh perspectives, and I like their enthusiasm.”
Many program participants cited the experience as potentially influential for their future independent work. Guedel, for instance, plans to continue his soil research for his thesis.
The program offers interesting, potentially transformative experiences for any student, internship participants shared. Somar said, “Summers on campus aren’t as bad as they seem.”
Suthi Navaratnam-Tomayko is the accessibility director and a Features contributor for the ‘Prince.’
Student employment in flux as University navigates budget cuts
By Kian Petlin
News Writer
Students with University jobs have faced reduced hours, consolidation of positions, staff cuts and other uncertainty during the beginning of the semester amid budget cuts across departments.
While some hiring will continue throughout the fall semester, students have experienced disruptions in their workplaces due to budget cuts that have also affected faculty hiring, departmental spending, and Wintersession.
Madalyn Mejia ’26, a Frist welcome desk staffer, said she has assumed the responsibilities of another job within her current position.
“They closed the ticketing office so the welcome desk is now also responsible for ticketing,” said Mejia. “We’ve taken in all the members that worked for the ticketing desk.”
Emma de Jong ’28, who works for the Campus Rec Sports Club department, said her workplace is experiencing similar changes. “For
some shifts where previously there were two people, now there’s only one,” she said.
Students working at branch libraries — all libraries on campus except Firestone — have had their hours slashed due to ongoing financial pressure. Branch libraries have been directed to reduce student staffing hours by 50 percent, according to an email from a library supervisor to student employees at the Architecture Library.
Employment uncertainties also affected Reunions earlier this year, according to Whitman Campus Dining Student Coordinator Liam Wang ’26. Wang told the ‘Prince’ that Campus Dining hired fewer student workers than previous years to staff Reunions.
“Reunions — that got hit quite a bit,” he said. “They imposed a lower hiring quota … We did not have enough people to staff the events.”
Wang took his concerns to his manager, expressing that the number of hired staffers were unable to handle the workload. According to
Wang, he was assured that staffers would be able to make it work.
Campus Dining told the ‘Prince’ in a statement that it hired fewer student workers due to running fewer events.
University spokesperson Jennifer Morrill cautioned that student hiring changes were currently difficult to assess, although budget constraints may affect hours and positions.
“Some changes to available hours or positions may occur as units review their programming and services amid budget constraints,” she wrote. “Because student hiring is ongoing and continues through the start of the fall semester, it’s not possible to have an overall picture of student employment trends at this time.”
Morrill added that individual departments and units made their own decisions about student employment.
Some campus jobs have continued to solicit applications. Princeton Athletics, for instance, cur-
rently has open positions for field hockey and football event staff, as well as the campus mascot.
“We’re still in our temporary phase right now,” said Mejia of the Frist front desk. “We get new hires starting in two weeks, so I think things will come out around then if there are changes.”
Information for students seeking employment can be found on the Student Employment Office website.
PHOTO COURTESY OF JESSICA CURRAN AND HMEI. HMEI researchers sample seaweed.
Kian Petlin is a staff News writer for the ‘Prince.’
Staff
‘The fate of former Cloister members was not
immediately clear.’
FALL BICKER
Continued from page 1
erations for the next two to three years with the promise of “hefty renovations.” The fate of former Cloister members was not immediately clear, although Quad and Colonial had both promised to accept anyone from the sinking club over the summer.
Terrace Club and Charter Club, which rapidly filled up during this spring’s Street Week, also did not participate.
The number of students vying for Cap and Gown, usually a popular Bicker option, sharply declined to 56 students this fall from 90 last year. Instead, Tower was the most popular Bicker club, accepting 15 new members out of 65 participants, compared to 44 last year.
Notably, during the last Fall Street Week, 195 upperclassmen bickered one of the four Bicker clubs holding street week events. This year, only 162 upperclassmen bickered Tower, Cap and Gown, or Ivy.
The Class of 2027, which welcomed 1,366 students in August 2023, is notably smaller than the Class of 2026, which had 1,500 students when they arrived in August 2022.
Tower welcomed 10 juniors and five seniors, the most among the Bicker clubs that held Street week events. Tower’s new members add to the 143 Bicker participants previously accepted in the spring. In both accepting fewer members and having more Bicker participants, Tower’s fall Bicker acceptance rate decreased to approximately 23.1 percent this year from 50 percent last year.
Tower’s acceptance rate for men was 12.5 percent, while the acceptance rate for women was 36 percent. Ivy, meanwhile, demonstrated the opposite trend by gender, with an acceptance rate for men of 31.5 percent and an acceptance rate for women of 18.1 percent.
Overall, Ivy’s fall Bicker acceptance rate increased from 17.1 percent last year to 24.3 percent this year. Ivy accepted 10 of its 41 Bicker participants this fall, up from six members
last year. Ivy’s new members add to the 79 Bicker participants previously accepted in the spring.
Cap and Gown, meanwhile, welcomed 11 new members, six juniors and five seniors, joining the 100 members previously admitted in the spring.
The acceptance rate for seniors was 41.6 percent, while the acceptance rate for juniors was 13.9 percent. Overall, Cap’s fall Bicker acceptance rate increased from 13.3 percent last year to approximately 19.6 percent this year.
Head Audience Editor and Senior News Writer Justus Wilhoit ’26 is a member of Cap and has recused himself from reporting on the club.
Quadrangle Club, meanwhile, accepted 80 people via sign-in. Sofia Marina ’26, the club’s president, told the ‘Prince’ that she expected seven former Cloister members to join “once the dust settles.” Cloister’s membership has hovered in the low dozens over the last several years amid financial difficulties.
“We really sympathize with the churn that Cloister members have gone through since its closure for renovations, and have reserved space for any former Cloister members [who] would like to join Quad,” Marina said in a statement.
Officers from Colonial, meanwhile, did not respond to multiple requests for comment from the ‘Prince.’ The number of students accepted to the club was unclear. Initial Street Week numbers for sign-in clubs do not necessarily represent the final total of students choosing to sign contracts. Students have until Sept. 28 at noon to enroll in their club choices.
Hayk Yengibaryan is a head News editor, senior Sports writer, and education director for the ‘Prince.’ He is from Glendale, Calif. and typically covers breaking news and profiles. He can be reached at hy5161[at]princeton. edu
Justus Wilhoit is a head Audience editor and senior News writer for the ‘Prince.’ He is from Kenosha, Wis. and typically covers Princeton’s eating clubs and co-ops, identity and student life, and the Trump administration.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson reflects on path to the Supreme Court in campus lecture
By Justus Wilhoit & Isaac Bernstein Senior & Staff News Writers
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States Ketanji Brown Jackson sat down for an hour-long conversation with Professor Deborah Pearlstein in front of a full house at Richardson Auditorium on Wednesday. Nominated to the Supreme Court in 2022, she discussed her historic path to the nation’s highest court, the challenges of public life, and the lessons that have guided her career.
The talk was the first time Jackson has spoken at Princeton. Last April, Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor ’76 spoke on campus in April to mark the naming of 36 University Place in her honor.
Supreme Court justices often take to the lecture circuit during the court’s late summer recess, but are careful about their remarks.
The justice opened the event by reciting the preface of her memoir “Lovely One” published last year.
“I, the daughter of African American parents who had come of age in the segregated south during the 1950s and early 1960s, would become the 116th justice and the first black Woman to sit on the Supreme Court in its 233year history,” she read. “These details made the other volume on which I would swear my historic oath doubly significant.”
Jackson said that she first considered writing a memoir following her nomination to the Supreme Court by former President Joe Biden in April 2022 and her subsequent confirmation process.
“Between April and June, I really started thinking about how grateful I was to have gotten through that process,” she said. “I just thought this would be a great time to mark this moment before I get onto the board.”
Pearlstein asked Jackson how she navigated difficult decisions in her personal and professional life. Jackson described learning how to “pick and choose battles,” recalling two formative moments
— one as a high school student in which she was racially profiled walking into a store with her white friends, and one as a college student at Harvard, when a peer displayed a Confederate flag in his dorm window.
The Black Students Association mobilized in protest, but the effort became consuming. Jackson remembered turning to words from author Toni Morrison for perspective: “The very serious function of racism is distraction, that it keeps you from doing your work.”
“Part of my mother’s lesson was you’re going to see the injustices. You may even face them, but you have to understand that focusing on them will end up, at times, taking you away from the work, which is really the most important thing,” she added.
Her inspiration to enter the judiciary, Jackson said, came in part from learning about Judge Constance Baker Motley, the first African American woman appointed to the federal bench. “We happened to share a birthday, so I was very interested in her life,” she said. “I thought maybe not just a lawyer — maybe I could be a judge.”
Former President Barack Obama appointed Jackson in 2013 to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Reflecting on that transition, she recalled, “to go from being an appellate practitioner to the trial court, being the judge was very stressfu[l].”
Pearlstein continued by asking Jackson about her motivation to write dissenting positions and, oftentimes, write a lone dissenting opinion on the record. Jackson replied that “dissents are an extraordinary aspect of our American legal tradition” and “they symbolize something that is core to who we are as Americans, freedom of expression.”
“It’s spectacular that there is this opportunity for the people whose positions have not prevailed today to lay down a marker to explain why they think the majority has gotten wrong, and to hopefully plant seeds for the
future,” she said.
Pearlstein also alluded to the court’s relationship with the Trump administration, asking, “do you think the court’s job is, or should be different when the President is different or behaving differently?”
“I don’t know that the judiciary should be doing something different. I just think we need to be doing our jobs, which is to ensure that the law is announced, pronounced and followed,” Jackson responded.
In addition to her law insights, Jackson discussed her personal interests. She said she is an avid watcher of the reality TV show “Survivor” and occasionally knits and sews. She also corroborated Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s opinion that hot dogs are not sandwiches, which sparked applause throughout the auditorium.
After the change in the discussion’s subject matter, Professor Pearlstein returned to where the conversation started — Jackson’s autobiography, “Lovely One.” For the first time since the book’s publication last year, Jackson was asked what she hopes her readers will take away.
Jackson hopes to be “inspiring other young people who grew up going to public high school somewhere, who were first or second generations in their family, to do the things that they’re passionate about and hopefully succeed.”
“I just want people to be inspired by [my] life story and to continue to do the work to help others come to this point” she closed.
Justus Wilhoit is a head Audience editor and senior News writer for the ‘Prince.’ He is from Kenosha, Wis. and typically covers Princeton’s eating clubs and co-ops, identity and student life, and the Trump administration.
Isaac Bernstein is a staff News writer for the ‘Prince.’ From Pittsburgh, Penn., he often covers academic departments, faculty research, and alumni news.
JUSTUS WILHOIT / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN
Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson speaking with Deborah Pearlstein inside Richardson Auditorium.
‘Pledges participated in “swallowing goldfish, and having cigarettes put out on their skin.”’
Continued from page 1
student or fraternal organization that knowingly or recklessly endangers the physical or mental health of another person. In 2024, the Stop Campus Hazing Act (SCHA) became federal law, requiring universities that participate in federal student aid programs to report hazing incidents in their annual security reports.
Princeton University already publishes biannual updates on hazing in accordance with a 2021 New Jersey anti-hazing law, but the SCHA notably requires that
universities disclose the names or student organizations that violate hazing policies in a “campus hazing transparency report.” The first hazing transparency report must be released by Dec. 23, 2025, and include data from July 1, 2025, through the date of release.
The Canvas training is part of Princeton’s three-year partnership with StopHazing, a national hazing research and prevention organization. The University convened a Hazing Prevention and Response Task Force as part of StopHazing’s Hazing Prevention Consortium (HPC), announced to students in 2024.
From 2023–2024, the task force focused on campus communica-
tions and assessments, including a site visit from StopHazing, student and staff interviews, student survey data collection, and the creation of a self-study hazing prevention rubric, according to University spokesperson Jennifer Morrill.
Morrill wrote in a statement that the task force shifted to utilizing the assessment results to determine which “recommended strategies for hazing prevention emerged as highest priorities for implementation on our campus.”
“This triangulation led us to prioritize training undergraduate students in basic hazing prevention as our next step at Princeton. Implementation of this training
entailed providing StopHazing’s “StandUp to Hazing” as a mandatory online course for all undergraduate students in Fall 2025,” Morrill wrote, adding that varsity athletics coaches and ODUS and ODOC staff also received the training.
The third year of the HPC will focus on “long-term capacity building in hazing prevention initiatives,” she said.
The University traditionally publishes its biannual updates on the website of the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students soon after Aug. 1 and Feb. 1 in accordance with the typical sixmonth reporting periods. Despite this, the University did not up-
Murray-Dodge returns to midnight closure after substantially reduced hours
By Clara Docherty Assistant News Editor
Fresh cookies at midnight are not going away anytime soon.
Murray-Dodge Café will be open from 12:30 p.m. to midnight starting Monday for the remainder of the semester, a significant jump in hours after operating on a reduced schedule from 4:30 to 9:30 p.m. for the past two weeks.
The impetus for the change was not immediately clear. The cafe previously slashed its hours as departments and units across campus have weighed budget cuts that have impacted library hours and Wintersession.
Students expressed excitement in advance of the expanded hours for the popular late-night study spot, which bears the slogan “dedicated to the fine art of being open.”
“I’m so grateful. I think it was a terrible decision to change them in the first place,” said Zach
Mozher ’28. “[I’m] so happy.”
Lennie Kiguru ’28 said that he is “really happy” that Murray-Dodge remains a late-night study spot.
“Murray-Dodge is one of my favorite study spots on campus,” Kiguru added. “It being open until 12 makes it more accessible for students studying late, so I’m really happy about it.”
Murray-Dodge will also look to host more events in advance of its 50th anniversary next year, University Spokesperson Jennifer Morrill wrote in a statement to The Daily Princetonian. The cafe is located in the basement of Murray-Dodge Hall, home of the Office of Religious Life, and serves free student-baked cookies, tea, and coffee.
As part of the expanded hours, student bakers will have three guaranteed shifts per week, totalling at least six hours, with more shifts available upon request, according to an email to student
workers.
“I am very surprised, but I am so happy. I feel like MurrayDodge after 10:30, 11 p.m., is such a vibe, and I really missed that when they said they were changing the hours.” Ariel Chen ’28 told the ‘Prince.’
“I didn’t realize that they changed it back. I was just going to stay here and hope that no one kicked me out, so it’s great to hear that I could stay until midnight — that’s really huge for me,” Zoe Zimmermann GS said.
The new hours will go into place on Monday.
Clara Docherty is a staff News writer for the ‘Prince.’ She is from Lafayette, N.J., and typically covers campus clubs and institutional legacy. She can be reached at clara. docherty@princeton.edu.
Devon Rudolph contributed reporting.
load its most recent report until Sept. 16, following a request for comment from the ‘Prince,’ according to document metadata. The report was still labeled “August 1, 2025.”
There were no adjudicated violations of the University’s policy prohibiting hazing and no federal or state criminal charges related to hazing reported to the University, according to the report, which ran from Jan. 1 to Aug. 1.
Elisabeth Stewart is a senior News writer and assistant News editor emeritus for the ‘Prince.’ She typically covers religious life, student identity and campus life, and eating clubs and co-ops.
The end of Wintersession, a free, two-week series of events open to all members of the Princeton community, is expected to significantly impact leadership training for Outdoor Action (OA), a four-day program during firstyear orientation. While the Class of 2029 OA experience was largely unchanged by budget cuts, parts of training for OA previously ran during Wintersession.
“Not having Wintersession is really detrimental to the Outdoor Action programa because this is a block of time that students have off from school where they can really dedicate time to Outdoor Action,” said Rebecca Cunningham ’26, the co-chair of the Leader Training Committee.
Cunningham is a former News writer for the ‘Prince.’
Cunningham feared the organizers may have to make group sizes larger to accommodate a potential scarcity of trained leaders. “We think that the smaller size is much more intimate and just more conducive to a learning environment, hiking, and backpacking,” she shared.
Greyson Sapio ’26, chair for the OA Command Center, acknowledged there could be alternative solutions to this problem — such as training OA leaders in the fall and spring and not during Wintersession.
“Something that we’ve been talking about a lot is: how do we now implement more opportunities for training throughout the year?” said Cunningham.
These are not the only changes surrounding OA.
This year, eight OA groups set up base camp on campus — an increase from four groups in 2024.
Leaders said the shift was a result of more students electing to stay on campus, rather than due to funding issues.
One noticeable difference from previous years was the food selections offered throughout the three-day experience.
“There were some minor things that got changed. For example, the pita pizza menu is not available anymore because of the ingredient cost, and the dried mango snacks were not available,” Sophie Lin-Wiese ’28, an OA leader, told the ‘Prince.’
Alumni voiced support for the continuation of OA amid potential funding cuts to the program.
“I really, really hope the program can continue to be supported because I think some of the impacts are not immediately visible and emerge over years to decades,” Marion Hourdequin ’95 told the ‘Prince.’
“OA was a really huge part of my experience, and the group of people that I met on my frosh trip — many of them have become
lifelong friends of mine,” Sarah Wingerter ’95 added.
Lin-Wiese noted this year’s OA experience was “not much different” from her first-year trip. “We were all able to get the full OA experience and give that to our students that we were leading.”
It remains unclear what type of long-term impact, if any, funding cuts might have on the first-year
Orientation experience. “With all the budget cuts, we’re at a point right now where … nothing is set in stone,” said Cunningham.
Sena Chang is a senior News writer for the ‘Prince.’ She typically covers campus and community activism, the state of higher education, and alumni news.
ANGEL KUO / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN Exterior of Murray-Dodge Hall. THOMAS MORRIS ’20 FOR
OA group on top of Old Rag Mountain in Shenandoah Park, Virginia, in a non-pandemic
Sadie Schreiner, a transgender woman and a track athlete at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), is suing Princeton University, alleging that officials illegally discriminated against her when she was removed from a May track meet.
In a civil complaint filed on July 15, Schreiner claimed that she qualified and reported for the 200m race at the Larry Ellis Invitational held at Princeton. Schreiner competed as an “unattached” athlete without affiliation to a specific college or club. She had previously been barred from competing for RIT under NCAA rules after a Trump administration executive order to ban transgender woman from women’s sports.
After checking in at the scorer’s table, Schreiner discovered her name was not listed on the official heat list. In the starting line area, she met Director of Athletics John Mack ’00 and Director of Track Operations Kimberly Keenan-Kirkpatrick, where Schreiner claims she was told “I do not want to assume, but you are transgender.”
In a response filed in late August, the University denied that Keenan-Kirpatrick or Mack had made the comment. Schreiner’s complaint did not specify the origin of the comment.
Mack, Keenan-Kirkpatrick, and race computing company Leone Timing and Results Services are listed as defendants in the lawsuit, along with the University.
Schreiner is seeking a trial by jury, a court declaration that the defendants unlawfully discriminated against her, and unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
Her attorney, Susan Cirilli, who bills herself as having “a strong passion for supporting women’s sports,” filed the complaint under a New Jersey law which states that places of “public accommodation” may not discriminate based on gender identity.
“As stated in the complaint, each of the defendants were aware that Sadie was a transgender woman and knowingly and maliciously discriminated against her on the basis of her gender identity and expression,” Cirilli said in an interview with The Daily Princetonian.
In its response, the University acknowledged that Schreiner was registered for the 200m race as an unattached athlete and that her name was originally listed among the runners competing in the event.
However, the University broadly denied in its response that Schreiner had experienced discrimination at the meet.
“Princeton follows NCAA rules and policies for determining who is eligible for varsity athletic events, which is what we did in this case,” University spokesperson Jennifer Morrill said in a statement to the ‘Prince.’
NCAA regulations regarding transgender athletes were updated in February, a day after President Donald Trump signed an executive order to bar transgender female athletes from participating in competition.
The NCAA rule now states that a “student-athlete assigned male at birth may not compete on a women’s team.” Where the regulation conflicts with law, the NCAA says that universities should abide by local, state, and federal legislation, which supersede its regulations.
Cirilli is also representing transgender runner Evie Parts in a similar case.
The motion to add Rambaran will be heard on Sept. 26.
Maya Mukherjee is a staff News writer and head Podcast editor for the ‘Prince.’ She is from New York City.
The University is also requesting that a second attorney, Seema Rambaran, be added to its legal representation. Rambaran typically represents higher education institutions in disputes related to non-discrimination laws like Title VII and Title IX.
Princeton police step up town Jewish Center patrols after repeated graffiti around town
By Leela Hensler Staff News Writer
The Princeton Police Department has stepped up patrols of the town’s Jewish Center on Nassau Street. The shift comes in the wake of half a dozen reported incidents of graffiti around town beginning in mid-August that are being investigated as “bias intimidation incidents.”
The first incidents of graffiti were both reported on Aug. 15 in two separate public parks — one on Mountain Avenue and one on Snowden Lane. The former involved the defacement of two buildings which read “Death to the IDF,” referring to the Israel Defense Forces; “Global Intifada;” and “Feed Gaza.” In the latter, statements expressing similar sentiments — “Death to the IDF! Global Intifada” and “From the River to the Sea” — were painted in white on restroom doors.
Three subsequent incidents in late August also involved the usage of a white paint pen, took place in public parks, and included similar messages; additional graffiti at a private residence on Linwood Circle was also reported on Aug. 28. Like the other reports, the graffiti read “Death to the IDF! Free Gaza!” and was painted on a fence in what “appeared to be white paint,” according to Princeton town police.
“All of these investigations remain active, [and] our detective bureau is following up on any possible leads,” said Captain Matthew Solovay of the Princeton Police Department in an interview with The Daily Princetonian. He also confirmed that patrols around parks and the Jewish Center had increased. He noted that it was “hard to say” if the incidents are related, but admitted they “share similar attributes,” noting the white
paint used to vandalize public parks in several instances.
“Anytime any kind of activity like this occurs in town, we understand that ethnic groups will be concerned or alarmed, and we remain in communication with them,” Solovay added.
In early September, the Jewish Center of Princeton sent a letter to Mayor Mark Freda expressing worry about the incidents. Freda said at a Sept. 8 Town Council meeting that Princeton town police had reported the incident to the county prosecutor and state officials.
“The Police Department has also met with representatives from the Jewish Center to hear
their concerns and outline the steps the Department is taking to address the situation,” he said.
The Princeton Jewish Center on Nassau Street did not reply to requests for comment in time for publication.
Rare instances of graffiti have also occurred on Princeton’s campus. Last fall, University police investigated stickers around campus reading “Death to Israel” and “Tel Aviv will burn,” alongside a separate incident of flyers near Spelman Hall reading “Nuke Gaza” and “Kill Roaches.”
“Hateful and antisemitic graffiti in our town is profoundly problematic,” Rabbi Gil Stein -
lauf ’91 of the University-affiliated Center for Jewish Life wrote in response to the recent graffiti reports. “These acts are deeply troubling, not only to Jewish students and community members, but to the values of respect and dignity that should define our society.”
Steinlauf added that he had “every confidence” in the police department’s ability to resolve the issue and “preserve the safety” of Princeton’s Jewish community.
Zach Goldberg ’28, a progressive organizer on campus, told the ‘Prince’ that he believed the graffiti was emblematic of how “contentious” geopolitical is -
sues have become.
Goldberg clarified that while he did not personally agree with statements calling for “Death to the IDF” or “Death to Israel,” he could see why “people would feel like they have to take some kind of action.”
“I would argue it ought not to be classified as bias or a hate crime,” Goldberg told the ‘Prince.’ “I think as long as this messaging is steering clear of direct antisemitism, we cannot conflate dissent towards the Israeli state with anti-Jewish sentiment,” he added.
Leela Hensler is a staff News writer and Sports contributor for
HAYK YENGIBARYAN / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN
A distant view of Jadwin Gym.
Why did we go to see Ketanji Brown Jackson, anyway?
Shane McCauley Assistant Opinion Editor
Watching Ketanji Brown Jackson speak in Richardson Auditorium last Wednesday, I felt an eerie sense of whiplash as the conversation shifted between heartfelt discussions of the justice’s life story and nervous allusions to a democracy on the brink of collapse.
At one point, Professor Deborah Pearlstein, who was moderating the talk, referenced a recent dissent of Jackson’s, in which she criticizes the Trump administration and the Court’s majority through the lens of Calvinball: “Calvinball only has one rule: There are no fixed rules. We seem to have two: that one, and this Administration always wins.” As Pearlstein read the dissent, Jackson appeared to feign shock at her own dire words, seemingly unsure how to respond. The audience then erupted in nervous laughter.
There was no following substantive conversation about what it means for the administration to always win at the Supreme Court.
There were no questions from the audience pressing on Jackson’s recent fiery dissents. The discussion eventually came to whether Jackson believes a hot dog is a sandwich.
Going in, I think most students probably knew that this was not going to be a substantive discussion about the judiciary’s reaction to the current political moment, if only because layered discussion will not take place at a public, staged book promotion in front of a crowd of hundreds and because justices must generally be careful about what they say in public.
So why did so many go to see Ketanji Brown Jackson anyways? Beyond the obvious answer — it’s cool; I was in the same room as a Supreme Court justice — attending the event is an attempt to understand or deal with the current political reality, and, as most knew going in, a completely inadequate one.
In a way, it feels like these students were hoping for some sort of catharsis to emerge from Jackson’s visit that might resolve these anxieties. After all, Jackson’s story as the first Black female Supreme Court justice symbolizes an optimistic, bygone vision of an Amer-
ica that has overcome racism, sexism, and its problematic past. Perhaps she’d have some advice that would illuminate how America finds itself out of this mess.
This uncertainty about how to cope is consistent with Princeton’s culture as a whole. In conversations I’ve had with my peers, many are seemingly unsure how to process or discuss the growing authoritarian threat of the Trump administration, especially when they are so focused on their studies. Resigned humor, instead, has become a common coping mechanism, because authentically discussing the issues feels bleak.
As a community, though, we should honestly acknowledge our bleak feelings on the Trump administration and look for genuine coping mechanisms, rather than compartmentalizing our anxiety into ceremonial events like these.
Many of the Trump administration’s policies stand to existentially and tangibly affect academia and Princeton itself. From international students to disciplines of the humanities, no facet of the American university experience seems like it will be spared in President Trump’s authoritarian
attack on academia. These are conditions that, when genuinely confronted, could drive anyone into an anxious spiral. It makes sense that Princeton students would yearn for an event that arguably celebrates a different, more optimistic vision of America.
But, for some students, a headliner talk like Jackson’s might be their only civic event in an entire academic year, considering the numbers that showed up relative to your normal conversation in a School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA) basement bowl or the protest in April that drew a thousand townies but 30 Princeton kids. This reflects a failure — of the community, and the country as a whole — to acknowledge and emotionally reckon with the political reality. Perhaps we need to look toward solutions that will allow us to genuinely engage with, rather than avoid, our political discontents.
At a place as civically oriented as Princeton, one way to engage is to simply take advantage of the University’s wealth of resources.
Upcoming events — in and outside of SPIA and the Politics department — already provide vari-
ous seminars for Princetonians to discuss matters directly and indirectly related to the Trump administration. And the Pace Center for Civic Engagement offers a litany of ways for students themselves to take agency over the political moment and civically engage, such as Service Focus, the Civic Leadership Council, and summer service internships. While I primarily see politically oriented students take advantage of these programs, students of all disciplines and interests should consider exploring them.
And perhaps we need to be more honest with ourselves about our collective anxiety over the state of the country. That doesn’t mean all our conversations need to be fatalistic discussions of fascism’s incoming creep. But it does mean consciously acknowledging our concern about the arc of U.S. politics, rather than making a joke of it or throwing up our hands.
Shane McCauley is an assistant Opinion editor from Boston intending to study Anthropology, History, or English and minor in Computer Science. He can be reached at sm8000[at] princeton.edu.
For a more effective USG, train newly elected members on the bureaucracy
Luqmaan Bamba
Opinion Staff Writer
In May last year, I was elected to the Undergraduate Student Government (USG) Senate as a U-Councilor. I was brimming with enthusiasm. The semesterly retreat, a day-long event laying out policy and programming goals, intensified my optimism. But my enthusiasm was soon dampened as I took on an actual project: I found that I lacked the skills to achieve said goals within a system that breeds stagnation.
As a U-Councilor chairing the International Student Working group last semester, I was focused on addressing the federal tax on international students. It made sense to go to the Office of Financial Aid, but when other members talked to the Davis International Center, they said we actually needed to talk to the Office of Finance and Treasury (OFT) and deal with them. The Council of the Princeton University Community also referred us to OFT. Talking with OFT then revealed that any change would really have to go through the Board of Trustees, and USG’s biggest hope was some Young Alumni Trustee who resonated with the issue and could bring the issue up to the board. You could imagine that a wild goose chase of this kind would not only discourage a new class senator but also derail their progress as they struggle to navigate this circuitous administrative system.
This is where I found myself: grappling with procedural hurdles and struggling to advance the issues closest to students’ hearts. And this situation certainly contributes to student perceptions of USG as ineffective. For student representatives to make the change we can through the systems we have, we need a more
onboarding process that prepares us to navigate these byzantine processes.
Policy advocacy within USG demands an understanding of the intricacies of University structures, clear proposal writing, and strategic coordination. USG’s introductory retreat currently seeks to outline the policy goals of the upcoming term and bring the government-wide initiatives onto the same page — a worthy goal. But a new student leader attending this can find themselves a little lost.
Without training about the University’s systems, new members face a steep learning curve. Navigating Princeton’s highly bureaucratic administrative landscape — identifying decision-makers, securing meeting times, and drafting proposals — requires extensive training.
Moreover, the transience of USG leadership poses an institutional memory gap that has been recognized by the current Kho-Swamidurai administration. As they noted in an interview with the ‘Prince,’ USG presidents serve one-year terms while administrators remain for decades, meaning students risk reinventing the wheel each cycle as knowledge falls through the cracks of transition.
Arming new members with knowledge of history and instruction of procedure is key. More attention to representative-elects, alongside the effective policy of documenting all past activities and meetings, would allow close bonds between those leaving and those entering, preserving knowledge necessary for continued work.
There are some ways that the University administration and USG are trying to address this issue presently.
ODUS’s Student Engagement team, for example, coordinates major campus initiatives, working closely with and mentoring student leaders.
And informal mentorships between old and new members of USG exist. However, a more structural and comprehensive model to train new USG members remains necessary.
The semesterly retreat that USG does is a perfect opportunity to implement some of these proposed changes. The retreat should blend workshops, keynote speakers, and real-world simulations to build policy skills before members take on the work of the semester. These workshops should cover governance structures, legislative drafting, and negotiation tactics, ensuring that student governors have a sufficient understanding of the system they’re working within.
Princeton’s peer institutions’ student governments offer lessons for how USG can improve training. Some student governments establish dedicated committees to archive proceedings, conduct exit interviews, and maintain searchable archives.
Bryn Mawr’s SGA Institutional Mem-
ory Committee preserves bylaws, meeting minutes, and oral histories to benefit future members. Rutgers University’s “Student Org Essentials” workshop pairs training with a living online repository of guides, templates, and FAQs, ensuring continuity beyond individual tenures. Instead of throwing new members in the deep end, USG should provide policy training workshops, a series of interactive sessions each semester covering university bureaucracy, proposal drafting, and advocacy simulations. They should also initiate a formalized system of mentorship pairings, matching every new USG candidate-elect with a current member who can offer personalized support and institutional tips. Additionally, maintaining an online hub with past proposals, case studies, meeting protocols, and contact directories would preserve key institutional knowledge and help guide future generations of USG members.
Implementing this framework
will enable new members to contribute substantially from day one. By giving new members better training, USG can tap a broader pool of passionate students who may lack prior advocacy experience. Ultimately, well-trained representatives will secure more wins for undergraduates, from academic policy reforms to improved campus services.
Investing in robust orientation and training for incoming USG members isn’t merely helpful — it’s essential. Structured workshops, strong mentorship, and curated knowledge repositories will transform enthusiasm into effective advocacy, empowering USG to fulfill its mission as the undergraduate voice at Princeton.
Luqmaan Bamba is an Opinion staff writer and an Electrical and Computer Engineering major from Ghana and New York. He serves as a U-Councilor in USG. He can be reached at luqmaanbamba[at] princeton.edu.
It’s time to step it up on diversity and inclusion
Christopher Robles Editorial Board Chair
In May of 2020, University President Christopher Eisgruber ’83 wrote to the Princeton community, “We have witnessed yet again how this nation’s long legacy of racism continues to damage and destroy the lives of black people.” Eisgruber lamented police brutality and racial health disparities related to the COVID-19 pandemic, affirming that “commitments to diversity, inclusivity, and human rights are fundamental to the mission of Princeton University.” Princeton has undoubtedly followed through with many of the promises it made at the time. Despite the threat of consequences from the federal government and peer institutions abandoning diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, the University’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion and Office of Institutional Equity and Diversity (OIED) continue operating. Princeton continues to diversify its “institutional narrative,” flooding its canon with more diverse figures from the University’s history. In order to target racial contracting disparities — which plague New Jersey — Princeton’s Diverse Supplier Locator highlights busi-
nesses owned by underrepresented and minoritized groups. The OIED’s most recent DEI Report boasted 20 research projects between faculty and collaborators at Historically Black Colleges and Universities and programs engaging with community colleges.
This progress is exciting, warrants recognition, and must be continued and expanded upon. But these kinds of institutional accomplishments do not make a Princeton where the student body is both diverse and feels included.
Five years after President Eisgruber’s statement, only 5 percent of the Class of 2029 identifies as Black — the lowest enrollment of Black first-years since 1968 and a sign that racial diversity is regressing. According to survey climate data, Black and Brown students at Princeton continue to feel excluded. Princeton’s failure to be diverse and inclusive is a reminder that the University has not yet fully realized the “steps the University administration will take to address systemic racism at Princeton and beyond” President Eisgruber outlined in a letter in September 2020.
In a statement to the ‘Prince’ about the drop in Black first-year enrollment, the University responded that “there are natural fluctuations that will happen given the variability of the applicant pool.” This kind of sedated assur-
ance from Princeton in today’s national landscape is worrisome.
Over the last five years, Princeton never achieved parity in diversity and inclusion for Black students. Now, the University faces a conservative culture and federal government hostile to antiracism. Now, more than ever, Princeton cannot abandon its students.
Superficially, Princeton has remained steadfast in its defense of the value of diversity. The word “diversity” is ubiquitous in Eisgruber’s lexicon. But the percentage of Black students in an incoming class after 2020 never reached or surpassed the national proportions of Black young adults nor Black college students. After two years of affirmative action, this year’s 3.9 percentage point reduction in Black firstyears makes the class even less diverse.
Princeton cannot seem to even meet proportionally representative diversity because, as I have argued in these pages before, “the core elements of Princeton admissions” do not promote a diverse class. The University continues to rely on admissions criteria like secondary school rigor, standardized testing, and legacy admissions — policies that benefit white and wealthy students. Without the band-aid solution of affirmative action, it is even more important that Princeton design a more equitable
and holistic service-driven admissions process.
Not only has Princeton failed to realize a diverse student body, but it fails some Black and Brown students who it does accept.
Quantitatively, the University’s annual DEI report reported very little data on the campus’s racial climate. Only one question relevant to the undergraduate experience was crosstabbed with race: “would you encourage a high school senior who resembles you when you were a high school senior (same background, ability, interests and temperament) to attend Princeton?” In response, 14 percent of Black and 20 percent Native American undergraduate students selected “definitely or probably not.” Only eight percent of White students answered the same.
The Appendix to 2025 State of the University Letter revealed more of this kind of data, and the results are predictable. In response to the question, “How would you evaluate your educational experience at Princeton University?” Black undergraduates consistently responded “fair” or “poor” at higher rates than their white peers from 2021 to 2024. In 2024, that gap was 12 percentage points. In response to the prompt “I feel safe on this campus,” 23 percent of Black and 30 percent of
Native American undergraduates disagreed or strongly disagreed. Eleven percent of white undergraduates responded the same.
The Princeton experience necessarily breeds racially disparate experiences of inclusion. Some students have already noted the demographic shift on campus, even worrying that Black students might face isolation and negative academic effects as a result. A less diverse cohort is especially worrisome at a school where Black representation is similarly abysmal among the faculty — 6.2 percent of tenured or tenure-track faculty were Black in the fall of 2024 — as a racially diverse faculty can greatly improve the experience and outcomes for Black and Brown students.
In 2020, Eisgruber committed to creating a more diverse and inclusive Princeton, and the University is certainly not in a wholly worse place than it was five years ago. But growing racial consciousness and institutional selfreckoning were de rigueur following the summer of 2020. Now the winds have changed, and Princeton will need to try harder.
Christofer Robles is the Editorial Board Chair for the 149th Board. He can be reached at cdrobles[at]princeton.edu.
What I learned about the forgotten history of science from Guyot Hall
Moamen M. Elmassry Guest Contributor
Guyot Hall laboratory was once the world’s foremost center of research on bioluminescence. Once, Biology professor Edmund Newton Harvey, the world’s leading scientist on bioluminescence and the man who discovered firefly illumination, worked in the building. I am connected to him in two ways: First, one of his students ultimately became a faculty member and oversaw a Nobel prize winning discovery in the lab where I work today. Second, he spent his workdays — and hopefully not too many weekends — inside the same building where I spend mine.
My office sits in the extension between Guyot and Moffett, and over the past five years I’ve developed my own interest in both buildings. But soon, the historic Guyot will cease to exist. From the outside, it may look unchanged. But the inside will be transformed into Schmidt Hall, redesigned to house the Department of Computer Science.
Guyot has changed many times and housed multiple departments, including biology. But as the building changes so dramatically this time, I am concerned that students, faculty, and staff will lose touch with its deep history. The physical space connects Princetonians present with the scientific legacy
of Princeton past. Once that is gone, it will be nearly impossible to recover.
Guyot Hall means different things to different people. To some, it’s that building with the dinosaur and the big globe. To others, it’s the one with a dozen or so fascinating gargoyles. To those who have been here long enough, it was the home of the Museum of Natural History. When I walk through the halls that generations of great scientists have walked since Guyot was built in 1909, I am in awe of their discoveries.
Lauded for his discoveries, Harvey became the namesake for several species including the bioluminescent bacterium Vibrio harveyi. Current faculty member Bonnie Bassler has continued the work on V. harveyi, revealing how microbes communicate through chemical signals — Princeton connects scientific breakthroughs a hundred years apart.
This history is already so little known that without the physical building to remind us of our connection to it, it risks permanently being lost.
I didn’t even know that Harvey taught at Princeton until Professor Bassler told me. Even then, neither of us knew exactly where his office was.
Last winter, this question bothered me enough that I decided to investigate. I asked everyone I met — no luck. I went to Mudd Library to examine Harvey’s personnel file – faculty personnel files are accessible 100
years after their birthdate. The only relevant clue was a card listing his office and residence addresses. His office? Room 1 of Guyot Hall. But when I went looking, that room didn’t seem to exist.
I searched for several days with no luck — how could Room 1 not exist? There is no indication — no plaque, no online record — that a space in Guyot once belonged to one of the world’s leading scientists.
Harvey is just one story. How many other faculty have worked in Guyot’s spaces over the decades? Soon these spaces will be completely redesigned, and their history erased as the building becomes home to computer science.
To me, a building is never “just” a building. It holds the stories of the people and the
discoveries that shaped our world. The buildings connect us across time. And Guyot is not alone: As the University continues to expand and renovate, the histories of many other buildings could be lost.
There are a number of ways to preserve Guyot’s rich history. Imagine, for example, a virtual map of the building, showing which scientists worked in which spaces over the past 100 years, paired with photos and stories. That could honor more than a century of science at Princeton and inspire future students and scientists.
If we don’t work to preserve the history of the great science that happened here, no one else will. And once it’s gone, it’s gone forever.
Moamen M. Elmassry is an associate research scholar in Molecular Biology. He works in the Laboratory of Mohamed S. Donia. He may be reached at elmassry[at]princeton.edu.
From what I’ve gathered after contacting several University offices, there is no University plan to preserve Guyot’s history in any form — not even a digital one. This isn’t about anyone neglecting their job — it’s the kind of responsibility that easily falls through the cracks. Ultimately, it will require a decision at the University level to get done. History does not preserve itself — we have to fight for it. In a few years, Guyot Hall’s walls will echo with new conversations, but the panels that remind us of the voices of the past will be gone, and the voices with them unless we capture them now.
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Charlie Kirk’s death shows why conservatives fight for free speech
also encourage us to be honest about the reality of political speech on our own campus.
On Wednesday, prominent conservative activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated on a college campus, silenced in the middle of a debate with a liberal influencer. The killing was a horrific spectacle, both in its sheer violence and tragic symbolism. It was first a human tragedy, but it was also a tragedy for the idea that politics can, and must, be conducted through reasoned discussion. Here at Princeton, it has reignited the debate over the state and role of free speech on our campus.
Later Wednesday evening, The Daily Princetonian published an Opinion piece by Siyeon Lee and Charlie Yale, criticizing The Princeton Tory for publishing a letter by alumni group Princetonians for Free Speech. In the letter, PFS quotes the experiences of one of our sophomore writers who penned a personal essay recounting his negative experiences as a conservative freshman. Finding the Tory “a journal that only appeals to a select few on this campus,” Lee and Yale concluded that “protecting speech that lies beyond the confines of conservatism was never in [PFS’s] interest at all.” The Tory is open to all who choose to read it. The fact that its pages are not often read by leftleaning students is indicative of an anemic campus discourse.
Though clearly written before the tragedy, it is fitting that their piece was released on the same day as Kirk’s killing. Free speech has always been a particularly important subject for campus conservatives, and not by coincidence. Whether you use faculty donations or national polls as a metric, the political story is one-sided, and it has been for some time. While many campuses, like ours, have rigorous formal protections for free expression, the problem lies in their cultures, not their codes of conduct.
“Manners maketh man,” the old saying goes. Likewise, culture createth campus. Though rights and rules are important for creating de jure support for speech, it is the responsibility of students to actually embody and protect that culture. The killing of Charlie Kirk should make us all reflect on our individual duties to love one another and speak the truth as we can best see it. In the aftermath of his death, people should find renewed zeal for the truth, not fear. It should
For example, in 2023, the Princeton Federalist Society hosted an event titled “The Transgender Movement and Its Assault on Biology,” which convened a panel of different perspectives on the issue. I, of course, knew the event would be controversial, and I was looking forward to the debates it would spark. When I posted advertisements for the event, they were taken down by students as soon as I had put them up. When the Tory hosted an event with a conservative theologian the same year, one anonymous poster mocked the role of religion in modern politics, writing, “Bro did not get the enlightenment memo from 250 years ago” to the tune of 1,100 upvotes. In the spring of this year, when President Trump enacted controversial policies targeting universities, another poster wrote, “[t]he clowns over at the Princeton Tory are mad quiet right now.” Again, 1,100 upvotes.
These are, of course, just quips from anonymous students. Yet, despite their relative insignificance, they do reflect a popular small “p” progressive idea of higher education, by which I mean the view that universities have as their highest calling the duty to promote social progress. Traditions only exist to be deconstructed, and received knowledge is to be scrutinized before it is wholly discarded. Our past is merely the prologue to a more enlightened present. The worst of this ethos dispenses with arguments altogether, seeking silence for its opposition.
While the authors insist “the people on our campus currently facing the most tangible threats to free speech are not disaffected conservatives who had tough freshman years,” it is hard to argue that conservative ideas don’t suffer from suppression.
Charlie Kirk’s presence on college campuses was proof enough of the void he was filling. In a world where our universities were better fulfilling their missions, we would have no need for figures like Kirk.
The greatest ideological threat to campus speech comes from those who seek to entirely write others out of discussion, and in recent years, this push has come from progressive students. In their piece, Lee and Yale link to one of these students’ articles from last year, to which I responded soon thereafter. Though a political Conservative (in a big “c” sense), the
tradition of free speech I seek to conserve (in a small “c” sense) is itself broadly liberal, meaning it seeks to protect the ability for people to speak regardless of the substantive arguments they advance.
These reflections and distinctions aside, I commend Lee and Yale for doing what few on our campus are willing to do: sign their name to an argument and put it up for scrutiny. I also appreciate the free advertising they have given the Tory, and I hope more students visit our website to read what we have to offer. They have modeled the kind of spirited opposition that should characterize campus discourse and its various sides.
The same cannot be said for others on this campus, who took to Fizz to mock the death of Charlie Kirk. To treat bloodshed so flippantly reflects a deeper darkness that words can hardly confront. I would thus encourage us to recover an appreciation for Princeton’s original motto: “under God’s power she flourishes.” We should seek the image of God in every person we meet. Abstractions cannot be made to fight abstractions: though “right” and “left” are helpful terms in organizing schools of thought, we cannot reduce ourselves to them, and we cannot place them before our shared humanity. To reason, and not simply react, is to do something fundamentally human.
Charlie Kirk was a person first. He was a son, a father, and a husband. The best way to react to his death is to seek this common dignity, and the best way to seek this common dignity is to seek people. Choose the relationships that challenge the temptation to turn others into abstractions. Don’t scroll on Instagram, don’t refresh your Twitter, don’t gossip on Fizz. Go read a book, go make a friend, go listen to a song. Politics is not just the views we hold or the debates we have; it is the choices we make while living in community with one another. As a conservative, I ask that Kirk’s death prompt reflection on our own campus culture. As a student, I hope it inspires us to seek knowledge with openness and humility. And as a person, I pray it challenges us to see each other as brothers and sisters, not simply as small examples of bigger phenomena.
Zach Gardner is a senior majoring in Politics and minoring in English and History. He is the publisher of The Princeton Tory. He can be reached at zachgardner[at] princeton.edu.
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Class of 2029: Reject selective views of free speech
Siyeon Lee & Charlie Yale Associate & Assistant Opinion editor
On Monday, Princetonians for Free Speech (PFS) — an alumni-organized nonprofit supposedly committed to reviving viewpoint diversity at Princeton by empowering a “nonpartisan community of alumni” — published a letter in The Princeton Tory titled “A Letter to the Class of ’29 from Princetonians for Free Speech.”
PFS’s letter references an article written by Antonio Settembrino ’28 — also published in the Tory — last April, detailing a first-year conservative’s disillusionment with a campus culture he thinks is pitted against conservative thought. “Sometimes, [Princeton] is an environment that only welcomes elite progressives,” he said. “If you fall outside that group, you can be labeled an ‘idiot, uninformed, and irresponsible’ person, as some of my peers did to me.”
Why is PFS, which claims to protect students regardless of political identity, publishing a letter to all first years in a journal that only appeals to a select few on this campus? Perhaps it’s because protecting speech that lies beyond the confines of conservatism was never in its interest at all.
So let us make an appeal to the entire Class of 2029: Contrary to the
trite tropes of PFS’s letter, you can care about viewpoint diversity and free expression even if you don’t read the Tory. As liberals and progressives, you can understand that free speech is an issue that affects everyone.
In fact, the people on our campus currently facing the most tangible threats to free speech are not disaffected conservatives who had tough freshman years. While the ways that Settembrino was treated by certain individuals are certainly regrettable, not once did he have to worry about potential legal repercussions for speaking his mind.
The same cannot be said for international students, who make up 14% of the undergraduate population at Princeton. Last March, Rümeysa Öztürk at Tufts and Mahmoud Khalil at Columbia were kidnapped off the streets by plainclothes Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers for writing an op-ed or participating in protests — both actions that are protected by the First Amendment for citizens and noncitizens alike. Hundreds more students across the country have had their visas revoked for pro-Palestinian speech. At Princeton, two students had their visas revoked for reasons unknown.
Less than a month later, PFS published an article on why “The Fight for Free Expression at Princeton is Just Getting Started.” Making no reference
to these nationally contentious events, the letter instead remarked on Princeton’s low rating from the Foundation for Individual Right and Expression (FIRE) — a distraction if there ever was one, not to mention the spurious methodology of the rating system.
Yes, free speech is in a precarious place on campus. But PFS’s attempts to ameliorate the concerns of the entire student population are misguided at best, insidious at worst. While PFS wrings its hands over DEI, students have stopped writing op-eds out of fear of government retaliation.
PFS also shows its hand in its homepage’s hyperlinks to “Free Speech News & Commentary,” consisting mostly of a dubiously reasoned selection of articles from various political leanings, which operate on an Overton window shifted rightward.
From a look at its more recent posts, more conservative features on the site consist of ‘anti-white racism’ arguments by Christopher Rufo from the Manhattan Institute-backed City Journal, or reactionary columns by people without intimate knowledge of our campus from minor right-leaning publications. These are largely tired arguments on shaky factual ground. Yes, they also reprint extensively from The Daily Princetonian. But PFS is overly generous to columns on free speech that avoid addressing many of the speech problems that students actu-
ally face on campus, and exaggerates the relevance of a minor strain of conservative arguments in the space of campus discourse.
PFS rightfully recognizes that things like viewpoint diversity are essential. But it does not go far enough in fighting for free speech rights for all students, nor does it make its appeal in a publication that is targeted to the entirety of campus.
If the Tory or the PFS stand for free speech, they only stand for one slice of it. So challenge your professors, interrogate yourself and your classmates, and surround yourself with voices that will constructively engage with your own. But remember that free expression doesn’t come from organizations
that confuse ideology with principle, but by those who insist that every voice of the community — conservative, progressive, international, undocumented — is a voice worth protecting and caring for.
It’s in your hands, then, Class of 2029, to reject their one-sided appeals and embrace a fuller vision of free speech on this campus.
Charlie Kirk died for ideals the left has ignored
The following is a guest contribution and reflects the author’s views alone. For information on how to submit a piece to the Opinion section, click here.
Members of the far-left have spent years talking down to the American people from a position of self-styled moral superiority. They have scolded that it is racist to support the police, transphobic to seek to keep biological men out of women’s sports, and emboldening of Nazis to dare to support President Trump.
The assassination of Charlie Kirk on a college campus, allegedly carried out by someone who proclaimed that “some hate can’t be negotiated out” and whom Utah Governor Spencer Cox described as consumed by “leftist ideology,” is but the latest in a series of acts of deranged lunacy — following the pair of attempts on the life of President Trump leading up to the 2024 election — targeting those whose ideas are deemed lesser than, whose followers are looked down upon, and whose personhoods are denigrated as devoid of meaning. Rhetoric reducing political opponents to “Nazis” excuses people from ever having to engage with the other side. And when the core values of honest dissent and earnest dialogue slip out of the political arena, it’s all too easy for violence to fill the void.
Charlie Kirk recognized all of these things. He understood the perverse effects of ideological conformity on college campuses. And so he visited those campuses. He modeled respectful debate in the public square in a way that so few have been willing to do in recent years, probing his challengers’ assumptions
and demonstrating a willingness to speak on any topic of public import. He sought to change minds through persuasion — not bullying, condescension, or violence. From these virtues, Princetonians have something to learn.
Too often, however, Princeton students have turned up their noses at the prospect of dialogue with those they deem to be members of the “class of oppression.” When interviewed as a proIsrael leader back in December, I told the ‘Prince’ regarding siloization surrounding the conflict in the Middle East on campus: “End it. I am ready to talk and am waiting for anyone who is pro-Palestinian to take my offer.” A student supporter of the Palestinian cause responded, saying: “You don’t go around asking oppressed people why they don’t have conversations with their oppressors.”
That same refusal to recognize ideological opponents as worthy of dialogue has metastasized into something far darker: a willingness to cheer violence itself. Just as many on Princeton’s campus excused or even celebrated Luigi Mangione — who has been charged with the murder of healthcare CEO Brian Thompson — so too did a collection of my peers respond to Charlie Kirk’s death with mockery.
On the anonymous campus social media platform Fizz, one student shared an article about Kirk’s support for the Second Amendment and cracked, “He really shot himself in the foot there. Or maybe in the neck, in this instance.”
Another said, “You felt no sympathy for kids being killed by gun violence and want me to pray for you? Yeah no thanks.”
One opined, “If you can’t bring yourself to feel sorry for Charlie Kirk in light of what happened today, don’t feel too bad. Because you know who else wouldn’t feel that bad for Charlie Kirk? Charlie Kirk.”
That any number of Princeton stu-
dents — supposedly among our nation’s most talented — are expressing these beliefs is reflective of an unacceptable slide towards moral depravity.
Personally, there is no invited guest whose attack or death would not warrant my prayer. There is no speaker or speech whose words are so objectionable as to warrant physical attack. And, as was the case for Charlie Kirk, there are few ideas so intolerable as to repel my desire for dialogue.
If conversation is off-limits, then what remains is contempt — which, as we saw with Kirk, too quickly devolves into support for violence. This issue transcends the halls of Princeton. A YouGov poll last week reported that 26 percent of liberals aged 18–44 believe that political violence can sometimes be justified. Twenty-four percent of those who identify as “very liberal” among all age groups find that it is “always or usually acceptable” to “be happy about the death of a public figure they oppose.”
Where do we go from here? Where do we go when to be a conservative speaker
on a college campus is to put oneself at risk of a bullet? Where do we go when to be a healthcare CEO is to be considered unworthy of life itself?
How do we inspire a new generation of Princetonians and Americans to step up and share their ideas when to do so is to put their physical safety at risk? How do we convince young people that the honorable way to engage in discourse is to make the argument, build the movement, and contend with diverse sets of ideas when to do so is to put a target on their backs? How can we feel confident in the future of our republic when students at our top universities cannot bring themselves to pray for the innocent victims of violence, even when those victims have differing political opinions?
The tragedy of Charlie Kirk’s assassination is the loss of a model of courage when our country needs courage most. In a nation where the price of speaking freely becomes death, freedom itself is imperiled. When the response to slaughter is
mockery, it is apparent that too many on the left have today lost sight of the basic truth that violence is never the answer.
The measure of a free nation is not how it treats those who agree with the majority, but how it protects those who dissent. If we cannot relearn that lesson, if we cannot demand of our universities, our leaders, and ourselves a return to decency and morality, then Charlie Kirk’s death will have been — in part — in vain. Kirk’s killing will mark a turning point. The question is whether it leads America and those who diverge from the prevailing orthodoxy on its college campuses into fear and silence, or towards courage and conviction. We best honor the ideals for which Charlie Kirk stood not with silence, but by speaking, building, advocating, and leading with the same resolve he carried until his dying breath.
Maximillian Meyer ’27 is the president of Tigers for Israel. He may be reached at mm1346[at]princeton.edu.
ORI ORBACH / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN Whig Hall, home of the
Siyeon Lee is a junior associate opinion editor from Seoul, South Korea, majoring in History. She can be reached at siyeonlee[at] princeton.edu.
Charlie Yale is a sophomore assistant opinion editor from Omaha, Neb. He can be reached at cyale[at]princeton.edu.
CALVIN K. GROVER / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN Nassau Hall.
Maximillian Meyer Guest Contributor
The Prospect 11 Weekly Event Roundup
By Irene Kim, Assistant Prospect Editor
Music: Open Acoustic Jam
Campus Art Tour: Main Campus Neighborhood
Every Saturday and Sunday at 2–3 p.m. Meet in front of Nassau Hall
Take a guided outdoor tour of the University’s 19th and 20th century sculptures, such as Henry Moore’s Oval with Points and Jacques Lipchitz’s Song of the Vowels and learn about art techniques and design. The tour is free and open to the public; no tickets required.
1 2 3 4
Sept. 21 at 3–4:30 p.m.
Princeton Public Library Community Room
Bring an acoustic guitar, uke, violin, resonator, or your voice for a community jam led by New Jersey Acoustic Music in the Park. This event is free and open to the public; no tickets required.
Seuls en Scène, Princeton French Theatre Festival 2025
Sept. 12–21
Various locations
Explore works like Une Ombre Vorace by Mariano Pensotti and Mémoires sauvées de l’eau by Nina Léger from French actors, directors, and budding artists for the 14th annual festival on French theatre. This event is free and open to the public; tickets required.
Princeton Sound Kitchen presents Mixtape
Sept. 23 at 8–10 p.m.
Taplin Auditorium, Fine Hall
Join for a night of new works by five of Princeton’s graduate student composers. This event is free and open to the public; no tickets required.
5
Jazz Vespers
Sept. 24 at 8 p.m. Chapel
Experience a night of poetry and music with jazz saxophonist Audrey Welber, pianist Adam Faulk, and Princeton’s Chapel Choir. This event is free and open to the public; no tickets required.
6
Drop in and Knit
Sept. 24 at 10–12 p.m. and weekly on Wednesdays until Dec. 17
Princeton Public Library Quiet Room
Bring a knitting and/or crochet project to work on, and enter a community of knitters and crocheters! This event is free and open to the public; no tickets required.
7
Mexican Embossed Metal Workshops with Veronica OlivaresWeber: Celestial Motifs in Metal
Sept. 25 at 12–1:30 p.m.
Louis A. Simpson Building, Room B60 A+B+C
Join New York City-based artist Veronica Oliveras-We- ber in an embossed metal workshop featuring celestial motifs, a practice rooted in pre-Columbian traditions and Latinx heritage. Advanced registration required.
8
After Noon Concert
Sept. 25 at 12:30 p.m. and weekly on Thursdays until April 23, 2026
Chapel or livestream
Join organist Victoria Shorokhova from First United Methodist Church for a half-hour concert with the Skinner/Mander organ installed in the chapel in 1928. This event is free and open to the public; no tickets required.
10
Takács String Quartet | Jordan Bak, Viola I presented by Princeton University Concerts
Sept. 25 at 6 p.m.
Richardson Auditorium, Alexander Hall
Celebrate the 50th anniversary of the world-renowned Takács Quartet alongside internationally acclaimed artist Jordan Bak in performing Mozart’s Viola Quintet No. 3 in C Major and Viola Quintet No. 4 in G minor. Tickets are available for purchase.
9
Author talk: Jane Hamilton
Sept. 25 6–7 p.m.
Labyrinth Books
Join best-selling author Jane Hamilton as she discusses her new novel “The Phoebe Variations” which explores girlhood, identity, and familial relationships. This event is free and open to the public; no tickets required.
11
The
Voice of the Century: A Tribute to Umm
Kulthum
Sept. 26 at 6:30 p.m.
Richardson Auditorium, Alexander Hall
Celebrate the legacy of Arabian singer Umm Kulthum, the “Voice of Egypt,” with the New York Arabic Orchestra and singer Marwa Morgan. Tickets are available for purchase.
the PROSPECT. ARTS & CULTURE
‘However, while elegance and simplicity serves as its strengths, it also lacks a crucial range and quality for some pieces.’
BRANDY
Continued from page 1
er due to the recent move-in or a deliberate part of the aesthetic, I was unsure.
From what I knew of the Brandy brand from my exposure on social media platforms and friends’ experiences, I was not surprised by the one-size-fits all labels on the items I picked up. Some online creators critique Brandy’s sizing as exclusive to women who typically fit in size smalls, and in the rare case of hoodies, mediums. Unlike its eclectic rival down the street, Urban Outfitters, shirt designs were very simple and elegant. There was a noticeable lack of colors beyond muted and pastel shades of pinks, blues, greens, whites, and beiges with the occasional cherry red, gingham tops. This simplicity means their items can be paired with many different outfits and aesthetics.
Also noticeable is the quality. The majority of their shirts are made from a range of 95-100% cotton, so the more expensive price tag, typically ranging between $20-$30, feels justified. Their tank tops in particular were a highlight within the store, with a design
range including lace trimming, stripes, and small engravings, making the tops a great versatile investment.
The smaller selection of pants lacked that quality. Loose threads and messy stitching indicated a lack of durability. The linen pieces, with the exception of the linen tank top, had some quality issues that do not warrant the price tag. On one of the display racks for a selection of beige linen drawstring pants, a majority of the pants had a messy inner hem with loose ends. Their pants and linen products aren’t the only pieces that aren’t worth the price tag, as the hoodies were made of too thin of a fabric and had only a printed logo — a bit lacking considering the $42 price.
Instead of the basic, thin hoodies or jackets, I’d recommend the knitted sweaters with heavier fabric and embedded designs. I’d also recommend avoiding any of their dress or skirt selections, which use fabrics such as viscose or polyester. Viscose dresses, due to the nature of the fabric being a semi-synthetic silk knock off, would require extra care that most college students don’t have time for, limiting longevity. With polyester products, the fabric is too thin and can be more revealing than intended.
Overall, the Brandy Melville store offers a
decent selection of long-term tops that could complement a majority of wardrobes. However, while elegance and simplicity serves as its strengths, it also lacks a crucial range and quality for some pieces. In both inclusive sizing and designs beyond plain or striped
shirts, the selection has the potential to become more appealing to students.
Amanda Hugas is a member of the Class of 2027 and a staff writer for The Prospect. She can be reached by her email at ah0942@princeton.edu.
Tina M. Campt succeeds Paul Muldoon as new director of Princeton Atelier
By Lily Hutcheson | Pospect Staff Writer
Tina Campt has worn many hats throughout her career as a scholar of history and photography, a cultural theorist, and Princeton’s Roger S. Berlind ’52 Professor in the Humanities, teaching in the Department of Art and Archaeology. Beginning July 1, she added another item to her resume: director of the Lewis Center for the Arts’ Atelier program, a group of immersive courses in which visiting artists leading their fields collaborate with Princeton students to create new works.
Campt replaces Paul Muldoon, who retired after the 24–25 academic year after leading the Atelier for over twenty years. Muldoon was only the program’s second director after its founder, Nobel Prize winning author Toni Morrison. Muldoon and Morrison both shaped the Atelier into the staple of the Lewis Center it is today, and Campt now takes up the mantle to steer the program into a new era.
“It was kind of a dream job for me,” Campt said in an interview with The Daily Princetonian.
The Atelier is known for bringing award-winning artists from different disciplines and backgrounds into Princeton classrooms to create ambitious new works of art over a 12-week semester. Past Atelier classes have included “Athens, Georgia,” in which students created a rock musical based on “The Frogs” by Aristophanes; a
class fusing dance, theater, and poetry to speak to the topic “How To Find a Missing Black Woman;” and “Baby Wants Candy: Creating Comedy for Television,” whose students learn from professors and guest speakers well-versed in the television industry.
Campt will bring something new to the program by highlighting the faculty already on Princeton’s campus, a change from the usual focus on outside artists.
“I want to recenter the faculty in the arts here at Princeton within [the Atelier],” she told the ‘Prince.’
Campt also said she aimed to expand the Atelier to provide more students with access to its resources. “It’s always been a … very boutique kind of operation,” she said. “Its gift is to be able to expose students to thinking from within practicing artists’ minds … I just think that more students should have access to that.”
The program’s offerings have slimmed down this semester due to the leadership transition. As opposed to usual semesters, in which four to five Atelier courses are offered, only the returning “Baby Wants Candy” course is available this semester.
Campt also noted that Atelier, which was endowed in 2009 with a “generous” gift from an anonymous donor, was more insulated than other programs from federal cuts to funding sources like National Endowment for the Arts. However, she lamented the loss of artistic freedom she feels that the current
political climate has created.
“Artists are not necessarily being encouraged to be as radically creative or experimental as they would under different circumstances,” she said. Campt sees the Atelier and its focus on collaboration as a way to remedy this.
“If we can continue to make a space where artists feel like they can think and imagine boldly, and radically, and without boundaries, then I think that we have a big contribution to make, in particularly this moment in time,” she said.
Lily Hutcheson is a member of the Class of 2028 and an assistant editor for The Prospect and a contributing constructor for the Puzzles Section.
AMANDA HUGAS / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN Inside of Brandy Melville store, displaying a variety of clothes and accessories.
Bruised and senior-less, men’s basketball looks to rebound from a season of missteps
By Alex Beverton-Smith Head Sports Editor
The last four months have been nothing short of transformative for Princeton Men’s Basketball team — for all of the wrong reasons.
In March, the team lost to Yale in Ivy Madness semifinals despite preseason predictions of an Ivy League victory. Ten days later, two key coaches were asked not to return, news first reported by the ‘Prince.’ In April, star player Xaivian Lee announced he would be transferring to the University of Florida, the reigning national champions. In July, Caden Pierce, the team’s other star, announced he would sit out his senior year.
In March, Head Coach Mitch Henderson ’98 succinctly reflected on his coaching during the season: ‘Yeah, [it] wasn’t my best year.”
Alongside fellow rising senior Jack Scott’s transfer to Duke, the loss of Lee and Pierce leaves the the Tigers senior-less as they enter the 2025–2026 season. As the team looks to rebuild, it will need to develop new leadership on the court and incorporate two new members of the coaching staff. Henderson was scheduled to speak
with The Daily Princetonian in May, but cancelled last minute.
One area in which he admitted he may have dropped the ball was not giving enough playing time to thensophomores Jacob Huggins and Dalen Davis.
On Huggins, Henderson remarked, “Got to blame the coach on that one ... you know, that’s on me. He was really helpful all season and [it was] my decision at certain times to not play him, [but] he was terrific when he did [play].”
Now Henderson, has no choice but to look to Huggins, Davis, and fellow rising junior standout Jackson Hicke as potential remedies to the leadership gap.
In an interview with the ‘Prince,’ Huggins said he is confident the junior class can rise as leaders.
“Our junior class is really close, and we agree on expectations for the team and how we’d like our season to go,” Huggins said. “The team is full of great guys ready to listen and learn so I think they’ll help make it a smooth adjustment.”
On the coaching side, filling former Associate Head Coach Brett MacConnell’s shoes will be no easy feat, as he
has been credited as a central figure in the team’s recent success. Since MacConnell’s departure, the Tigers have appointed Mike Brennan ’94 and Matthew Johnson to their vacant associate and assistant coaching positions.
In the offseason, both will hope to find footing in Princeton’s culture. Brennan will have especially more time to center these efforts. Where his predecessor, MacConnell, played a key role in recruitment, the role of recruiting coordinator has been transferred to the responsibilities of coach Luke Gore.
Despite these losses, the team retains talent that will need to be used.
Davis, now the sole player on the roster to have played over 20 minutes per game last season — averaging 24.6 minutes with 20 games — now leads the team in scoring and will have to put points on the board where Lee and Pierce no longer will. Guard Hicke, another leading scorer, and forward Huggins also saw game time — mostly rotational — averaging 17.1 and 7.5 minutes per game.
“I’m definitely trying to get stronger and work on my shooting to help space the floor,” Huggins said. “I’m
willing to do whatever helps give our team the best chance to win next year.”
The upcoming sophomore class also has standout guard Jack Stanton, as well as forwards Malik Abdullahi and CJ Happy.
Barring any further additions, expect to see Davis as the primary ball-handler alongside Hicke in the backcourt. Happy and Abdullahi will provide some height on the wing and in the frontcourt, while Stanton and Huggins may be competing for the fifth spot. But, like last season, the starting lineup might be a revolving door.
As of August, the Tigers have just 10 active players on the roster for the 2025–26 season, with the first-years yet to be included and commitments to the program still up in the air. Expect to see the roster rounded out when Princeton resumes the school year on September 2.
“We’ve got high expectations for next season,” Huggins said. “We’ve got a great group of talented guys who want to win the Ivy League.”
Alex Beverton-Smith is a head Sports editor for the ‘Prince.’
Women’s soccer overtaken by the Black
Knights in a 3–1 loss
By Lily Pampolina Associate Sports Editor
On Saturday afternoon, Princeton women’s soccer (1–3–3 overall, 0–0–0 Ivy League) traveled to the United States Military Academy to take on Army West Point (6–2–1 overall, 0–0–0 Patriot League) just three days after winning their first regular-season game against Villanova, 1–0. To end nonconference play, however, the Black Knights surmounted the Tigers 3–1.
“We ride the ups and down of each game, every game and every season is always a challenge,” senior forward Ally Murphy wrote to The Daily Princetonian. “We try to always have total effort and a positive attitude because those are the things we can control. If a ball doesn’t bounce our way, or a call doesn’t go our way, that’s out of our control. But our effort and attitude are constantly ours.”
The match was a battle from the whistle, with Army West Point on the scoreboard first just eleven minutes in. The goal from forward Brigid Duffy came unassisted and targeted the lower right corner, before nailing off the side goalpost to the back left of the net. The Tigers thus trailed 1–0 early.
Princeton did not fall behind for long, though, regaining its footing thanks to a strong performance from first-year forward/midfielder Sarah Houston. The Tigers weaved the ball through the Black Knight defense from the left corner of the field.
The assist came through junior midfielder Kayla Wong and sophomore forward Dylan Jovanovic, landing at Houston’s feet, and she swiftly finished the job with a successful shot to the lower right corner.
With 33 minutes left in the half, the game was equal at 1–1.
The half ended in a tied stalemate, with both teams possessing about equal offensive opportunities at five shots a-piece.
“We knew we had to get at them, they were strong, athletic, and fast. And again, controlling what we could control to give us the best chance at winning,” Murphy wrote to sthe
‘Prince’ about the mindset coming out of the half.
Shortly after the break, though, Army West Point came out with a new sense of urgency. Their second goal of the game came just three minutes into the half off of a floating cross in the box, resulting in a header. The Black Knights recaptured the lead, ahead 2–1. The Tigers tried to respond, but could not connect and find the back of the net. With 20 minutes left in the game, Army West Point breached the Princeton defensive unit again, earning their third and final goal of the game with a two-touch volley to score off a missed clearance from the Tigers.
As the clock hit 90 minutes, the Tigers fell 3–1 to the Black Knights.
After completing a less-than-ideal nonconference stretch, Princeton looks to recuperate in time for their first Ivy League matchup against Penn this Friday. After hosting and winning the Ivy League tournament last year, the Ivy League preseason poll overwhelmingly favored the Tigers to repeat as champions this season.
However, the team has lost multiple key members since last fall season: Goalkeeper Tyler McCamey ’25 graduated and is now playing for the Kansas City Current, and star forward Pietra Tordin left Princeton last January for the Portland Thorns.
Currently, the Tigers sit second-to-last in the opening season standings within the league, while Penn boasts four wins thus far. Nevertheless, the Tigers will look to bring a strong start to the second half of the season in Philadelphia later this week.
“Our results so far do not impact the Ivy season. It’s a fresh slate,” Murphy told the ‘Prince.’ “We have plans to improve our play and our coaches have been working hard to help us keep improving. We have lots of talent, and I know we have the compete and attitude to find success one game at a time in the Ivy.”
Lily Pampolina is an associate Sports editor and an assistant Audience editor for the ‘Prince.’
MEN’S BASKETBALL
WOMEN’S SOCCER
Late goals lift men’s soccer past University of Massachusetts Amherst, 2–0
By Matthew Yi & Harrison Blank Assistant & Head Sports Editor
On a cool Tuesday night at Roberts Stadium, the Princeton men’s soccer team (3–1) overcame the University of Massachusetts Amherst (4–2–2) by a score of 2–0. After coming off a dominating win over the Villanova Wildcats (2–2–2) last weekend, the Tigers looked to continue their winning form in this midweek matchup.
Coming into the game, the Tigers were hungry for a victory over the Minutemen, who also just fell out of the Top 25 this past week.
The Tigers started the first half slowly as the Minutemen controlled the pace of the game, and the majority of possession was seen in the Tigers’ half. In the first minute of play, junior goalkeeper Andrew Samuels made a save to keep the score level and ease the team’s nerves.
The Minutemen kept their high press and frustrated the Tigers until senior forward Daniel Ittycheria broke through and missed a shot just wide of the post.
The Tigers continued to look out of sorts as they were unable to figure out the Minutemen’s press. In the 34th minute, the Tigers played a dangerous ball in the backline, and Samuels forced a huge save as a one-on-one opportunity against Minutemen forward Matt Cence
was parried out by Samuels.
The Tigers continued to play their press, and in the 36th minute, they forced a foul. A beautiful free kick by senior midfielder Jack Jasinski was met by senior defender Stephen Duncan and forced a save by the Minutemen goalkeeper.
However, the Tigers showed some more energy at the end of the half as their offense began to click. In the 44th minute, Ittycheria sprinted past his man on the edge and found senior midfielder Sam Vigilante, who forced a good save by the keeper.
The best chance for the Tigers came at the end of the first half. With seconds left, sophomore defender Roka Tsunehara played a good through ball, which Ittycheria put inches wide of the post.
After a physical, choppy first half, the two sides entered the locker room with blank scores.
“They’re very direct, they love to play everything long, and they are very competitive in the air and look for second balls and relentlessly press,” Head Coach Jim Barlow ’91 told The Daily Princetonian after the game. “We knew we had to be really safe in our half of the field with the ball.”
The intensity picked up after the break. Princeton continued pressing, but strug-
gled to get a chance to break through. Both sides pushed for chances, and the tension on the field was palpable.
With 15 minutes left, senior midfielder Jack Jasinski had a shot blocked in the box, off a Minutemen shoulder. The referee originally gave a penalty kick for a handball but then withdrew it.
The Tigers protested but were forced to settle for a corner. Jasinski sent the ball in, and Ittycheria rose above the defense, heading the ball just a foot to the right of the goalpost for a goal kick.
Jasinski then found himself alone on a breakaway down the right side after a long pass in from junior midfielder Liam Beckwith. He launched a shot right and beat the keeper on the near post to put the Tigers in the lead with just 10 minutes to go.
A change in tactics was the difference for the Tigers, as Jasinski spent the second half playing on the attacking wing instead of his normal position as an outside defensive back.
“In the second half, we had pretty much four center backs on to help with all the aerial duels,” Barlow explained to the ‘Prince.’ Sophomore defender Dash Papez shifted from center back to right back, and first-year defenders Frederik Sadjak and Tyler Vilet were brought into the game.
“Those guys helped us get a little more control in the game in the second half, and that also allowed us to move Jack Jasinski and Roka [Tsunehara] higher, and they got the goal,” Barlow continued.
Jasinski did not expect the positional change at halftime.
“When the coaches came to me at halftime, I was pretty surprised,” he told the ‘Prince’ after the game. “I’m super comfortable playing there, I played there over the summers and growing up but just wasn’t expecting it. Credit to Coach [Barlow] and taking that risk to completely abandon our strategy, and it paid off.”
Consistent offensive pressure from the Orange and Black scattered any offensive chances from the Minutemen in the final minutes, and precise passing throughout the midfield and the backline secured possession for the Tigers. A late Minutemen throwin gave the away team a chance as the ball flew high into the 18-yard box. Samuels skied for the catch, and Tiger fans were able to take a breath.
Defensive pressure from the Tigers’ press caught the Minutemen overextended, and junior forward Bardia Hormozi sprinted ahead on a two-on-one breakaway. He drew the defender, then
found sophomore defender Tsunehara, who finished with fancy footwork for a 2–0 lead with just a minute left.
Barlow pointed out that the Tigers’ consistent toughness throughout the full 90 minutes proved to be the difference, a marked change from last week’s loss against Hofstra.
“I think the toughness is that we learned Hofstra is not that different from UMass and how they play. And I think we learned a lot from that loss … we had to find a way to get it done, and the toughness was shown there for sure,” he said.
Jasinski also brought up the Hofstra game as a learning experience for the team.
“[In the Hofstra game], we just kept it at 0–0 pretty much the whole game until the end, and we gave up one. So we knew we had to keep fighting and had to play for the full 90 minutes,” he said.
The Tigers play the University at Albany Great Danes (2–3–1 overall) this Saturday at 6 p.m. at Myslik Field at Roberts Stadium. They will look to continue the strong start to the season and build on the learning experience from Hofstra and UMass.
Matthew
Yi is an assistant Sports editor for the ‘Prince’.
Harrison Blank is a head Sports editor for the ‘Prince’.
WOMEN’S FIELD HOCKEY
Overtime mania: Field hockey splits the weekend in two close games
By Emilia Reay staff Sports Writer
No. 11 Princeton (2–2 overall, 0–0 Ivy League) fell to No. 5 Syracuse (6–0 overall, 0–0 Atlantic Coast Conference) in an overtime game last Friday night, but rewrote the script against No. 18 Rutgers (3–3 overall, 0–0 Big Ten Conference) on Sunday to conclude a feisty weekend.
Seeing through Syracuse
In the first matchup, Princeton faced offensive powerhouse Syracuse, which scored 15 goals in their opener against Lock Haven. The Tigers, who have a new goalie this season, were able to hold the Orange scoreless for the entire regulatory 60 minutes of play. Ultimately, however, that wasn’t enough.
The first quarter was reminiscent of ping pong. Syracuse would lift the ball to get it across the fifty, but couldn’t get further into Tiger territory. Princeton took a different approach, dribbling their way down the field only to be stopped by swarms of Syracuse.
“Going into [the game] we really just focused on our defense as a team. And I think they do a lot of overheads, we practiced a lot of things they do in practice and then from there we trust the practice and kind of just roll as a team,” junior goalie Olivia Caponiti told The Daily Princetonian.
The second and third quarters came and went scoreless, and the officials started giving a slew of green cards as the competitiveness amped up. First, senior midfielder Beth Yeager sat for two minutes with a green card just under the four-minute mark. Then, Syracuse midfielder Bo Madden was penalized with a green card to finish the quar-
ter. Sophomore midfielder Clem Houlden received a green card in the third quarter, and not even a minute later, Syracuse midfielder Aiden Drabick did too.
The fourth quarter followed the same pattern: runs for each team, but no goals to show for it.
Syracuse player Lana Hamilton received a yellow card and sat the rest of regulation out, and since neither team could get the ball in the goal to stop playing, the game was sent to overtime.
This overtime was the first of the season for the Tigers, but Syracuse had just come off a win against No. 12 Ohio State that took double overtime to decide.
The Tigers had the first possession of OT, but couldn’t capitalize on their touches in the circle. On the flip side, Syracuse made it past the 25 and won a corner at 4:31. That call was then reviewed and officials upgraded the call on the field to a penalty stroke. With only her second career start, Caponiti was the only thing stopping Syracuse from taking the game.
“When the call was made, I honestly think it was a hard call, but I think mentally I put away the entire game and I did my best,” Caponiti told the ‘Prince.’ “It was an exciting moment and it could have gone either way. So yeah, unfortunate ending, but I think we have a lot to go this season,” she concluded.
“You just need one corner, one break, if you don’t have a shot, just win a corner,” Head Coach Carla Tagliente told the ‘Prince.’ “It takes a lot of mental resilience playing a 60 minute game and then to get back in the set in overtime.”
Racing against Rutgers
In the next top 20 matchup of the weekend, the Tigers experienced yet another OT game, but they were
able to get the ball in the goal and defeat Rutgers 1–0 on the road.
The difference between the two matchups was the offense from Princeton. They were able to get more shots on goal during this game than against the Syracuse squad, outshooting the Scarlet Knights 19–5.
Despite the strong offense, a missed penalty stroke from Yeager in the fourth quarter pushed a 0–0 matchup into OT. With the missed opportunity, the Tigers were now forced to go to overtime for a second straight game.
“The first thing we said going into the huddle was that you have to take this opportunity. You can either play scared or you guys can step out and just go get this,” Tagliente told the ‘Prince.’ “You have dominated the whole game. You have nothing to be ashamed of for the first 60 minutes. Just go close the door on this game and take it. Just go do it.” And do it they did. Everything seemed to come together for the Tigers in overtime. Caponiti came up big in goal, deterring Rutgers’ shot attempt. Then, it was Princeton who got the corner
call in post-regulation gameplay. Sophomore forward Lilly Wojcik inserted the ball to Yeager, who flicked it, and junior midfielder Ella Cashman tipped it past Rutgers’ defense. The Tigers were able to pull away with the 1–0 victory. The turnaround from the game versus Syracuse leads the Tigers into Ivy League play. They are set to face the University of Pennsylvania (2–2 overall, 0–0 Ivy League) on Friday.
Emilia Reay is a staff Sports writer for the ‘Prince.’
PHOTO COURTESY OF
Women’s Field Hockey split their weekend games after a pair of overtime battles.
