Volume LXXVI, Number 17
Healthy Living Pages 20-21 Earth Day Celebration in Herrontown Woods . . . 5 Chambers Street Will Be One-Way Northbound During Hotel Project . . 8 Whyte Biography By Local Journalist . . . . . . 9 PU Concerts Welcomes Tetzlaff String Quartet . . . . . . . . . 17 Theatre Intime Presents The Laramie Project . 18 PU Men’s Volleyball Wins EIVA Title, Will Face North Greenville in NCAAs . . 26 Erickson Keys Defensive Effort as PHS Boys’ Lax Defeats Allentown . . . 29
Emily Mann is the Subject of This Week’s Book Review . . . . . . . 16 Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Books . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Calendar . . . . . . . . . . 24 Classifieds . . . . . . . . . 35 Mailbox . . . . . . . . . . . 14 New To Us . . . . . . . . . 25 Obituaries . . . . . . . . . 34 Performing Arts . . . . . 19 Police Blotter . . . . . . . 12 Real Estate . . . . . . . . 35 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Topics of the Town . . . . 5 Town Talk . . . . . . . . . . 6
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Westminster Tradition At University Chapel To End After This Year Since Rider University moved Westminster Choir College (WCC) from its longtime Princeton location to Rider’s Lawrenceville campus two years ago, Westminster’s dwindling student body has watched the 96-year-old school’s traditions fade. The latest to be headed for extinction is Westminster’s commencement ceremony, a much-anticipated event held each spring at Princeton University Chapel. Westminster’s May 13 commencement will be its final one at the chapel. Next year, according to Rider Associate Vice President of University Marketing and Communications Kristine Brown, the Westminster students will become part of Rider’s regular graduation ceremonies on the Lawrenceville campus. “There are many reasons for this, including factors such as the overall number of WCC students graduating and cost, but mostly it is to incorporate all that is special about WCC’s commencement into the overall university commencement for everyone to experience,” Brown said in an email this week. This doesn’t sit well with alumni, students, and supporters of the choir college, which merged with Rider in 1992 but maintained its identity as a top training ground for musicians and music educators until Rider attempted to sell the 22-acre Princeton campus four years ago. When those efforts proved unsuccessful, Westminster was moved to the Rider campus. The future of the Princeton campus has yet to be decided. The ceremony at Princeton University Chapel is more than an awarding of diplomas. “This is the final straw for many Westminster Choir College students, and definitely for the alumni,” wrote Barbara Calvert Freund, Class of 1973, in an email. “Many of us would return every year to participate in this glorious celebration of music, and welcome the new WCC graduates into the greater family of alumni who share an ageless and eternal bond.” In an article in The Rider News, Westminster Professor Joel Phillips called the decision “another attempt by this administration to eradicate something valuable and irreplaceable.” On May 16, oral arguments are scheduled to take place regarding lawsuits by Continued on Page 10
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Wednesday, April 27, 2022
Pressure Ramps Up For Fossil Fuel Divestment As the Princeton University community awaits an administration committee’s proposal to the board of trustees on dissociation from fossil fuel companies and the trustees’ ultimate decision, many in the community are not optimistic and not happy with the slow pace of the University’s response to many years of student activism in urging divestment. A year ago the Princeton University Board of Trustees authorized a process to consider the University’s dissociation from certain fossil fuel companies. On March 21, 2022, University Vice President and Secretary Hilary Parker provided an update on the work of an administrative committee assigned to the task. “Our goal remains to propose for board approval a set of actionable criteria for dissociation and a process for implementing them, now and into the future, by the end of this academic year,” she said. In February of this year Divest Princeton — a coalition of students, staff, and alumni — filed a legal complaint against Princeton University with the New Jersey Attorney General, calling for an investigation of the University’s investments in the fossil fuel industry. Last Friday, April 22, a group of about 40 demonstrators outside Nassau Hall delivered to University President Christopher Christopher L. Eisgruber a petition signed by 160 faculty and staff, the
first time Princeton faculty and staff have publicly taken a collective position calling for divestment from fossil fuels. An earlier Divest Princeton open letter calling for divestment has been signed by more than 3,000 Princeton students, staff, and alumni. The recent faculty and staff petition states, “It is incompatible with the University’s moral principles to seek profit from continued investment in fossil fuels. We thus call on its leaders to adopt a policy of
complete divestment during this calendar year, in keeping with the majority of Ivy League peer institutions.” The petition claims that the current University administration process to consider dissociation from fossil fuel companies spreading climate disinformation or involved in coal and tar sands production is not adequate. “We feel this is not enough; we are fast losing the only home we have,” the petition states. Nate Howard, Princeton University Continued on Page 10
Princeton Public Schools Take First Steps To Create New Strategic Plan for District
More than 100 parents, community members, administrators, and staff have come together to begin the process that will culminate in August 2022 with a new strategic plan for the future of Princeton Public Schools. “We have a great school district for most kids, and we want to make sure it’s a great district for all kids,” said PPS Board of Education President Dafna Kendal. “That’s what we know we have to work on, and that’s what we’re hoping the planning process will help guide us to do.” In all-day sessions of the core planning team on April 19 and 20, more than 50 stakeholders analyzed data from recent surveys of different segments of the community, as well as perusing PPS’ stan-
dardized test scores, absenteeism information, and other data points. The core planning team is expected to integrate feedback and perspectives of other teams involved in the planning and to lead the way in setting the direction for the district’s strategic plan. The core team is scheduled to meet three more times in the coming weeks. The alignment team, comprised primarily of community leaders and BOE members, also met last week, and on Thursday, April 21, the 20 members of the instructional planning team spent a fullday session incorporating and expanding on work done by the core planning team earlier in the week. Continued on Page 12
PORCHFEST COMES TO TOWN: A front porch on Linden Lane was one of 11 locations hosting a total of 61 performers for the inaugural Princeton Porchfest music festival on Saturday. Residents and visitors share their impressions of the event in this week’s Town Talk on page 6. (Photo by Charles R. Plohn)