USG VP MIKE WEINBERG ‘11 KIND OF LIKES DEAN MALKIEL, BUT REALLY LIKES LAUGHING COW CHEESE

Name: Michael Jay Weinberg
Age: 20 (9/18/89)
Major: ORFE
Hometown: Suffern, NY. It’s a suburb about 45 minutes outside the City.
Eating club/residential college/affiliation: Ivy and Forbes College.

Who’s your favorite Princetonian, living or dead, real or fictional?
Real: Albert Einstein, if you consider him to be a Princetonian. If not, Alan Turing. Fake: Bruce Wayne as portrayed by Christian Bale. How can you not choose Batman?

What’s the best meal you’ve eaten in Princeton?
Three course meal at Teresa’s with my girlfriend. Minestrone soup, followed by a shared margherita pizza (of which I ate three-fourths), followed by lasagna. It was an absurd amount of food, but it was delicious.

In one sentence, what do you actually do all day?
I wake up about 20 minutes before class (30 if I plan on showering), go to class, eat lunch and hopefully play a game of pool, go to class, catch up on email and start a problem set, maybe play squash or IM something, eat dinner, meet with some people in USG, consider catching up on reading but instead continue working on the problem set, go to sleep.

What is your greatest guilty pleasure?
Laughing Cow cheese. It’s probably completely artificial, but it’s so good.

What’s the last student performance you saw?
Disiac on Newman’s Day last year. It was quite an experience.

Do you know all the words to Old Nassau?
Of course–I learned them on OA and have known them since.

What do you hate most about Princeton?
I’m a pretty big fan of this place, so I wouldn’t say that I hate anything. If I had to pick something, it would be the large lack of transparency around admissions. I also think the gross inequalities in housing should be addressed.

What’s your drink?
Gin and tonic (completely hypothetical, of course, since I’m not 21).

What’s your favorite medication?
Sudafed. I don’t get too sick that often, but I feel congested from November to February. Sudafed is my weapon of choice.

What’s hanging above your desk and/or bed?
The obnoxiously large Princeton 2011 banner.

Where do you do your best thinking?
Any well-lit place with a large, flat surface and a reasonably comfortable chair.

When’s bedtime?
2am Sunday through Wednesday and Friday, 4am Thursday and Saturday.

New Butler or Old Butler?
I have to pick New. I actually have never seen Old, but heard it was pretty gross. I really like the newly renovated Wu-Cox servery.

What do you think of Dean Malkiel?
I think Dean Malkiel is a strong, authoritative leader who is trying to ensure that Princeton remains a top tier institution. Major Choices is a valuable initiative, and I am not completely opposed to having a more rigorous grading policy than our peer institutions. I believe that it does not hurt Princeton students’ opportunities at employers and graduate/professional schools where we have well-established relationships, although it may hurt our chances at smaller employers and schools that do not consistently recruit or enroll Princeton students. In five years, the effects of the policy should be rigorously evaluated to make sure that it has not negatively impacted our collective fortunes.

Where is the best place on campus?
McCosh Walk.

Where is the worst place on campus?
Undergraduate parking lot (used to be lot 23).

Who is your mortal enemy?
Connor Diemand-Yauman ‘10

When’s the last time you used cash?
To pay for dinner tonight at Masala Grill. The food was very good, although now I smell like Indian food.

In 25 years I will be…
divorced with two kids and about to get remarried to someone who also has two kids, working for PRINCO.

Where do you go to study alone?
Friend Center library.

What makes someone a Princetonian?
There is no single thing that makes someone a Princetonian. Princetonians do the following: wear orange and black when it’s not socially acceptable, stay up all night to finish an assignment, contribute to annual giving in a twice-a-century recession, and walk in the P-rade and give the president a locomotive. Loyalty to Princeton is the defining quality of a Princetonian, and it manifests differently in different people.

(image source: usg.princeton.edu)