Volume LXXI, Number 48
Holiday Home On Pages 22-23 Build-A-Thon at Princeton Academy . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Ending a Russian November With Dostoevsky’s “The Possessed” . . . . . . . . 14 Karyn Levitt in “A Hanns Eisler Cabaret” . . . . . . 18 PU Women’s Soccer Falls at UCLA in NCAA Quarters . . . . . . . . . . 28 Chase Taking Helm of PHS Boys’ Hockey . . . 32
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University Stews Over Responses to Case of Sexual Harassment
Hundreds of members of the Princeton University community have been gathering this week in town hall meetings organized by the Faculty-Student Committee on Sexual Misconduct and the Title IX Office, responding with widespread frustration and criticism to the University’s handling of a sexual harassment case involving a distinguished electrical engineering professor. Eugene Higgins Professor of Electrical Engineering Sergio Verdu was found guilty in June, after a Title IX investigation, of sexually harassing one of his graduate students, Yeohee Im. A November 9 Huffington Post article (“Grad Student Says Princeton Prof who Sexually Harassed Her Was Given Slap On the Wrist”) reported that Verdu’s only punishment was an eight-hour training session. Verdu, according to the Huffington Post article, had invited Im to his house to watch a movie with sexually explicit scenes, and had touched her upper thigh and stomach during the movie. Following publication of that article, Continued on Page 11
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Wednesday, November 29, 2017
DACA Rally Brings Crowd to Hinds Plaza About 200 people rallied in Hinds Plaza outside the Princeton Public Library at noon yesterday, loudly voicing support for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients and calling on Congress to pass the DREAM Act by December 8. Federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrests earlier in the morning on Witherspoon and John Streets provided a certain urgency and sobering context to the proceedings, but did not dampen the enthusiasm of the participants. Princeton Police Chief Nicholas Sutter reported that he was informed of the ICE action after the fact, but the Princeton Police Department was not involved and was provided with few details. Leticia Fraga, newly-elected Princeton Council member and Latin American Legal Defense Fund (LALDEF) board chair, said she received a panicked phone call from a local resident early Tuesday morning. She noted that she thought there were four individuals arrested, only one for whom there was a warrant. She urged residents to acquire Community ID cards. Further details of the raid were not
available at press time from the local police or Human Services Department, or from ICE. In the rally titled “Hands Around Princeton in Support of a Clean DREAM Act,” sponsored by LALDEF and an array of local community organizations and faithbased institutions, Princeton Mayor Liz Lempert, newly-elected Assemblyman Roy Freiman, Nassau Presbyterian Church Pastor David Davis, LALDEF Executive Director Adriana Abizadeh, and a 24-year-old DACA recipient all called upon enthusiastic demonstrators to urge Congress to pass a clean DREAM Act that would provide a pathway to citizenship for recipients of DACA without expanding funding for immigration enforcement. Carrying an array of signs supporting DREAMers—“No Hate, No Fear, Dreamers are Welcome Here,” “Keep Calm and Love DACA — #Here to Stay,” and many others — the crowd marched from Hinds Plaza up Witherspoon Street, through Palmer Square, and back to Hinds Plaza to listen to the speakers. The marchers called out a variety of chants as they marched, including “When DREAMers are under attack, what do we do? Stand
up, fight back!” and “Money for jobs and education, not for mass deportations!” Lempert asked the crowd a series of questions, with the supportive crowd chiming in at appropriate points. “What are our values? What do we stand for?” she asked. “Do we want to be the kind of country that kicks out hopeful young strivers? Do we want policies rooted in fear and cruelty? Or Continued on Page 10
Support of Climate Charter Is Debated At Council Meeting Just what signing a resolution to support the North America Climate Summit Charter would mean to the town was the subject of a debate at a meeting of Princeton Council on Monday, November 27. After much discussion, the governing body voted four to one in favor of the measure. In reaction to President Trump’s decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement, cities and Continued on Page 11
Former PU President Harold Shapiro to Speak at Library . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Books . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Calendar . . . . . . . . . . 25 Cinema . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Classified Ads. . . . . . . 37 Clubs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Mailbox . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Music/Theater . . . . . . 18 Obituaries . . . . . . . . . 36 Real Estate . . . . . . . . 37 Service Directory . . . . 40 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Topics of the Town . . . . 5 Town Talk . . . . . . . . . . . 6
LET THERE BE LIGHT: Thousands gathered in Palmer Square on Friday evening for the Annual Holiday Tree Lighting to usher in the holiday season. The 65-foot Norwegian spruce tree, decorated with more than 32,000 lights, was lit with the help of Santa Claus. The event also featured music by Holiday Brass and the Princeton High School Choir, a special performance by the American Repertory Ballet’s Nutcracker and Clara, and a visit from Ebenezer Scrooge from McCarter Theatre’s “A Christmas Carol.” Photo by Charles R. Plohn)