Volume LXXI, Number 17
Communiversity Pages 24-25 Eight PU Faculty Members Awarded Guggenheim Grants. . . 7 Building, Auditorium Renamed for Nobel Laureates Toni Morrison and Arthur Lewis. . . . 11 Affordable Housing Settlement Reached “In Principle” . . . . . . . . . 13 Anti-Semitic Flyers Found on Campus . . . . . . . . 17 Princeton University Glee Club Closes Season at Richardson . . . . . . . . 22 Princeton Softball Wins Ivy South Crown . . . . 32 PHS Alum Gross Starring for PU Baseball . . . . . 34
Celebrating First Lady of Song Ella Fitzgerald’s 100th Birthday . . . . . 27 Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Cinema . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Classified Ads. . . . . . . . 42 Mailbox. . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Music/Theater . . . . . . . 22 Obituaries . . . . . . . . . . 40 Police Blotter. . . . . . . . 17 Real Estate . . . . . . . . . 42 Religion. . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Sports. . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Topics of the Town . . . . . 5 Town Talk. . . . . . . . . . . . 6
www.towntopics.com
Rider Faculty Union Votes No Confidence in Leader, Opposes Westminster Sale Following a no-confidence vote against Rider University President Gregory Dell’Omo and his financial team, the University’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) has sent a letter to the Board of Trustees stating its opposition to Rider’s March 28 decision to sell Westminster Choir College. “We urge the Board of Trustees to rescind this decision and to begin the long, hard task of rebuilding trust with all of Rider’s stakeholders,” said Professor Jeffrey Halpern, Rider AAUP’s chief negotiator, in the letter. “Its de-acquisition will not alter Rider’s financial position or improve its long term viability. Instead, it will surely lead to a loss of both reputation and endowment.” Mr. Dell’Omo announced last month that Rider is seeking a buyer for the Princeton-based choir college, which Rider has owned since 1992. The sale is designed to help address Rider’s projected $13 million deficit. The University had originally explored closing the Westminster campus and moving it to Rider’s Lawrenceville location, but abandoned that idea after strong protests from the Westminster community. An institution that purchases the college could either keep it at its longtime Walnut Avenue home, or move it to another location. The faculty members take issue with Mr. Dell’Omo’s future goals for Rider, which are to include new programs in science, engineering, and technology. “Any attempt to secure a windfall profit from the destruction of a unique worldclass institution in order to build new facilities is both morally bankrupt and unlikely to succeed,” said Professor Art Taylor, president of the chapter, in the letter. Mr. Taylor signed the letter along with Mr. Halpern and other members of the union’s executive board. Seventy-five percent of the Rider faculty voted no confidence in Mr. Dell’Omo and his team, citing as reasons cuts and layoffs of tenured faculty, and Mr. Dell’Omo’s “refusal to seriously negotiate with the faculty union,” in addition to the Westminster decision. This is the first time since the AAUP chapter was formed in 1973 that a no-confidence vote in the University president has been cast, Mr. Taylor said on Monday. Continued on Page 16
75¢ at newsstands
Wednesday, April 26, 2017
PHS Student Survey Reports High Stress
Princeton High School (PHS) students are experiencing high levels of stress, low levels of joyful engagement with learning, and serious sleep deprivation, according to a recent survey conducted by Stanford University researchers. Parents, teachers, and administrators gathered last Wednesday to review the results of the survey and to discuss the way forward in pursuit of the District’s quest for “wellness and balance.” Of the 1417 participants in last fall’s survey at PHS, 81 percent reported that they were often or always stressed by schoolwork, 47 percent reported that a stress-related health or emotional problem had caused them to miss more than one day of school, and 41 percent had experienced exhaustion, headaches, and difficulty sleeping in the past month. Students estimated spending an average of three to three and a half hours a night on homework and getting only six to six and a half hours of sleep each night, with 64 percent usually going to bed later than 11 p.m. The Stanford University Challenge Success survey measured students experiences with 12 different topics, including stress, academic engagement, perceptions of homework, extracurricular activities, parental expectations, sleep, aca-
demic integrity, and overall health and wellbeing. The 15 percent of students reporting “full engagement” in their school work claimed to often or always work hard, enjoy the work, and find it meaningful. Forty-one percent of the participants in the survey, however, reportedly “do school,” often or always working hard, but rarely if ever finding their schoolwork interesting, fun, or valuable. “Our students are working incredibly hard,” said PHS Principal Gary Snyder,
“but many of them are caught up in going through the motions; they are ‘doing school.’ they may find their work interesting, but they are not always motivated by a joy of learning for the sake of learning.” Mr. Snyder contrasted this with the 73 percent of students who reported participating in after-school, extracurricular activities — sports, community service, clubs, performing arts, religious organizations, and others — primarily because Continued on Page 12
Council Puts Off Parking Ordinance After Hearing Residents’ Concerns Following repeated protests voiced by residents of the Witherspoon-Jackson neighborhood at a meeting of Princeton Council Monday night, the governing body agreed to hold off on an ordinance concerning overnight parking and permits. The ordinance is part of an effort to harmonize regulations of the former Borough and Township. Residents of areas in the old Township section — on Birch Avenue, Leigh Avenue, Race, and John Streets — would be required to begin paying $120 a year for overnight on-street parking permits (a concession would be made for low income residents who qual-
ify for certain programs). They would also follow the former Borough’s regulations regarding the number of permits available to households. “You’ve unified Princeton but the neighborhoods are not uniform,” said Leigh Avenue resident Cheryl Whitney, among those who felt the proposed regulations were unfair. “You really need to do more work if you want the harmonization to work.” “Go back to the drawing board,” one member of the public shouted. “Don’t talk down to us,” called out another. Continued on Page 14
EINSTEIN’S ARMY: Saturday’s marchers for science, some 2,400 strong, gathered at the Battlefield Monument, led in spirit by Princeton’s most renowned scientist. Participants talk about what brought them there in this week’s Town Talk. (Photo by Emily Reeves)