Author Archives: Brian No

John Burford 12, former SAE pledge

John Burford '12, former SAE pledge

The administration will consider over the summer banning fraternities and sororities outright from campus, President Shirley Tilghman said in an interview.

Tilghman said she was considering three options: 1) keeping the University’s current policy of non-recognition, 2) recognizing fraternities and sororities in the hopes of increasing regulation and University oversight, and 3) banning Greek life from Princeton outright.

“At the moment I am keeping an open mind about all options,” including retaining the University’s existing policy of non-recognition, Tilghman said in an e-mail to PAW. One way to ban Greek life, she said, would be to require matriculating students to pledge not to join fraternities or sororities, the same method used when fraternities were banned from Princeton between 1855 and World War II.

Tilghman’s comments came the week after John Burford ’12, a former Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE) pledge, described allegations of serious fraternity hazing in The Daily Princetonian’s article, a story that had been recorded for a fall journalism class and posted on The Weekly Blog at PAW Online in February.

While most fraternity and sorority alumni said they enjoyed their Greek life experience, some alumni now say they have their doubts. The founding president of Theta, Mim Stokes Brown ’85, told the PAW: ”My personal feeling is that the school doesn’t need them. Between the eating clubs and residential colleges, it just seems unnecessary… I can’t think what value is added by having fraternities and sororities.”

Read the rest of the PAW exclusive here.

(image source: Princeton Alumni Weekly)

Jun 5, 2010

IN PRINT: University to Consider Banning Frats & Sororities, Tilghman says

By
Posted in In Print Tagged , , , , , One comment

All of us are in a state of despair, with Dean’s Date looming over us, but let’s just take a quick moment to engage in some “school spirit” (I hear it’s a real thing):

kagan

President Obama will nominate Solicitor General Elena Kagan ’81 to the Supreme Court, NBC’s Pete Williams is reporting tonight. And the White House will officially announce the selection at a 11 AM event tomorrow (Monday), according to The Atlantic‘s Marc Ambinder.

Kagan, who previously served as the dean of Harvard Law, will be the third consecutive Princetonian to be picked for the nation’s high court, joining Justices Samuel Alito ’72 and Sonia Sotomayor ’76 on the bench.

Princeton will be the most represented college on the Supreme Court, assuming Kagan is confirmed. Stanford is next with two alumni (Kennedy and Breyer) on the Court. Other colleges represented are Harvard (Roberts), Georgetown (Scalia), Holy Cross (Thomas), and Cornell (Ginsburg). Retiring Justice John Paul Stevens graduated from the University of Chicago.

Kagan would be the third Jewish Supreme Court justice if confirmed, leaving exactly zero Protestants on the bench (Stevens is the only one left). She would also be the first Solicitor General to be appointed to the Court since Thurgood Marshall (for whom she clerked after graduating from Harvard Law). Marshall’s nickname for Kagan? Shorty! (She’s less than 5’3″.)

And Kagan is the second member from the Class of 1981 who has become a superstar in American politics. The other alumnus: Eliot Spitzer ’81. (We will refrain from making any prostitute jokes.)

Oddly, it might be liberals who will be more upset with Kagan, who has supported a more expansive view of executive power than many on the Left find palatable. Still, expect Republicans to mount a large effort against Kagan by arguing that she’s “radical” and too gay rights-friendly. In particular, they cite Kagan’s criticism of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy during her time as dean of Harvard Law as particularly troublesome:

I believe that policy is profoundly wrong — both unwise and unjust…and I look forward to the day when all our students, regardless of sexual orientation, will be able to serve and defend this country in the armed services.

Last year, the Senate voted to confirm Kagan 61-31, including seven Republicans, when she was nominated Solicitor General, so chances are she’ll be hanging with our girl Sonia (and maybe our homeboy Sam? Probably not…) when the Supreme Court begins its new term in October.

See our previous posts on Kagan here, here, and here.

And you can find our past coverage of Justice Sotomayor and her time at Princeton here, here, and here.

May 9, 2010

It’s official: Kagan ’81 makes it three in a row

By
Posted in Alumni, In the news, Politics Tagged , , , , Leave a comment

twitter_birdDo you want to follow us on Twitter?

You should follow us on Twitter.

Click here.

You could use a distraction.

May 8, 2010

Social Media: So Hot Right Now

By
Posted in The INKternet Tagged Leave a comment

Stevens (left) and Brown are known ballers

Stevens (left) and Brown are known ballers

IVY LEAGUE CHAMPIONS CHERYL STEVENS ’10 and TANI BROWN ’10 — CO-CAPTAINS of the BEST WOMEN’S BASKETBALL TEAM in PROGRAM HISTORY — SURF, SWAG, AND LIVE THE DREAM

Name: Cheryl Stevens / Tani Brown
 Age: 22 / 21
 Major: History / Religion
 Hometown: Canyon Country, CA / Los Angeles, CA
 Eating club/residential college/affiliation: Cottage, Mathey, Women’s Basketball Team / Cottage

Who’s your favorite Princetonian, living or dead, real or fictional?
 STEVENS: Carlton Banks. Most of my dance moves are inspired in some way or another by him.
 BROWN: My girl Meesh, a.k.a. Michelle Obama.

What’s the best meal you’ve eaten in Princeton?
 S: Frist pizza at 3:30 AM post-the Street is pretty hard to beat.
 B: Every Wednesday at Cottage… Member’s Night baby! Steak and a chocolate fountain for dessert.

In one sentence, what do you actually do all day?
S: Now that my thesis is in, I LIVE THE DREAM.
B: I surf and I swag.

Continue reading…

21 Questions with… Cheryl Stevens ’10 & Tani Brown ’10

By
Posted in 21 Questions, Sports Tagged , , , , , One comment
It's always a party in the Supreme Court lobby

It's always a party in the Supreme Court lobby

Earlier this week, we gave you some helpful advice on what not to do if you plan on becoming a Supreme Court justice. But what sorts of things should you do as a Princeton student if you want a lifetime appointment to the nation’s high court?

An exhaustive (i.e. cursory, superficial, dumb) examination of the Princeton careers of both Justice Sonia Sotomayor ’76 and leading contender (and Solicitor General) Elena Kagan ’81 reveals some startling similarities between the two. (We, um, conveniently ignored Justice Samuel Alito ’72 because he was just too different.)

Here are some important steps to take before you walk out of FitzRandolph Gate:

Continue reading…

So you want to be a Supreme Court justice (PART 2)

By
Posted in Alumni, In the news, Musings, Politics Tagged , , , Leave a comment

Screen shot 2010-04-26 at 12.26.31 AMSotomayoralitoObama

[from left to right: Kagan '81, Sotomayor '76, Alito '72, and Obama '85]

Do you plan on becoming a Supreme Court justice? Do you plan on becoming famous?

If so, do yourself a favor: Write your thesis on the most mundane, non-controversial topic possible.

Specifically, don’t write about:

  • Scary foreign lands (i.e. Puerto Rico)
    • Last year, Justice Sonia Sotomayor ’76 got a lot of flack for some of the views she espoused in her thesis, La Historia Ciclica de Puerto Rico. The Impact of the Life of Luis Munoz Marin on the Political and Economic History of Puerto Rico, 1930-1975, which came in at a whopping 178 pages.
    • And if you think you’re out of the woods after getting your final thesis grade, think twice. The National Journal had another professor regrade Sotomayor’s thesis 33 years later! The professor’s conclusion?: “the thesis would probably receive an A/A minus or an A minus.”
  • Scary topics Americans are scared of (i.e. socialism)
    • As we mentioned last week, Solicitor General (and leading Supreme Court nominee contender) Elena Kagan ’81 is also getting criticized for her senior thesis, To the Final Conflict: Socialism in New York City, 1900-1933. The Weekly Standard stated last summer, “Her political sympathies (at the time) seem quite clear — and radical.” Uh oh!
    • No word yet whether anyone will regrade Kagan’s thesis, but then again, she hasn’t been nominated yet.
  • Minority groups (i.e. Princeton-educated blacks)
    • And don’t you remember the media storm over the thesis First Lady Michelle Obama ’85 wrote? (Full text here.) Her thesis, Princeton Educated Blacks and the Black Community, compared black Princetonians’ identification with the black community while at Princeton and afterwards as alumni.
    • While Obama’s thesis wasn’t regraded, some pundits criticized her writing anyway. Slate.com’s Christopher Hitchens wrote, “To describe it as hard to read would be a mistake; the thesis cannot be ‘read’ at all, in the strict sense of the verb. This is because it wasn’t written in any known language.” Ouch.

Seriously, after all the flack Obama ’85, Sotomayor ’76, and now Kagan ’81 have received for their theses, it just doesn’t seem worth the trouble! So I implore you future-famous Princetonians: Write about really boring stuff.

Just look at the nomination (and confirmation) of Justice Samuel Alito ’72. His thesis, An Introduction to the Italian Constitutional Court, was apparently sufficiently boring enough to preclude any media circus in 2005. Of course, there was that whole CAP (Concerned Alumni of Princeton) thing. So if you want to become a Supreme Court justice, try not to join any racist/sexist organizations, too.

Click here for Part 2.

(image source: princeton.edu; nytimes.com; dailyprincetonian.com)

Apr 26, 2010

So you want to be a Supreme Court justice…

By
Posted in Alumni, Open Letter, Politics Tagged , , , , , , Leave a comment
toilet-paper

source: poo-news.com

As our own David Walter declared last week, if it’s April, it’s, um, Excretory Month here on The Ink. But, really, we’re just reflecting what seems to be a campus-wide airing of excretory-related issues–it’s not just us!

Case in point:

  • the Prince ran an editorial cartoon on the 14th about the cartoonist’s traumatic experience with a rogue 5 AM urinator
  • and PrincetonFML‘s poll last week asked the community “How do you wipe?”

I wanted to discuss the PrincetonFML “How do you wipe?” poll in particular because I was stunned (and horrified) by the apparent diversity of wiping methods out there. The poll is no longer up, sadly, but in case you missed it over 500(!) people responded to it. As of April 20th:

  • a plurality (41%) answered “Crumpled, front to back”
  • in close second (38%) was “Folded, front to back”
  • 13% replied “Folded, back to front”
  • and just 8% said “Crumpled, back to front”

For the past 22 years of my life, I believed in one supreme being (I think) and one butt-wiping method, but this poll caused me to question some of my core beliefs–who knew so many people wiped in so many different ways? The poll also seemed to spur wiping experimentation on campus, which, according to this PrincetonFML post, went terribly awry.

I’ll admit that I’m biased and prejudiced on this matter as I have my own preference, but was anyone else slightly horrified at the idea of butt-wiping “Crumpled, back to front”? Or rather, just “back to front” wiping in general? Wouldn’t such deeds–for both males and females–conceivably cause unspeakable havoc?

The authoritative-seeming HowToWipeYourButt.com (yes, it really exists) says the proper way is “from front to back.” So how do the 21% of Princeton folks who do the opposite explain themselves? (Seriously, I’d like to know.) Perhaps we can think of this post (and the comments section) as our own “Sustained Dialogue” on the sensitive, taboo subject of butt-wiping.

I know that I’ve recently had my own beliefs challenged on this issue. One friend informed me that he subscribes to the “back to front” school of wiping. When I questioned his ways, he retorted, “How is it horrifying if you are male?”

This gave me pause. Is it okay for men and women to wipe in different ways? Do the concerns of “back to front” butt-wiping not apply to men? Please. Let’s discuss this.

(N.B. This will be the last time I ever write about Excretory Month, rest assured!)

Apr 25, 2010

PrincetonFML asks “How do you wipe?” and 500 of us respond

By
Posted in Musings, Open Letter, The INKternet Tagged , , , , , Leave a comment

Modeled after a "Florentine palace," Brown was last desirable in the 1890s, when this picture was taken.

Although modeled after a "Florentine palace," Brown Hall was probably last desirable as a dorm in the 1890s, when this picture was taken.

There are a couple universal truths about Brown Hall:

  1. It is a fiery tragedy waiting to happen. (There is ONE means of egress for the ENTIRE building! Can Fire Safety fine itself?)
  2. It is a miserable, decrepit building that provides shelter for the lower caste of draw times and non-existent people who revel in early-20th century heating technology.

“But we’re centrally located!” sad Brown residents say to console themselves, “It’s like urban living–Princeton’s south-central L.A., if you will. We like not having modern facilities and not having a laundry room in our building.”

While some Brown residents decided against disposing their waste in the toilet, they fortunately did not substitute house pets in its stead.

While Brown residents decided against disposing their waste in the toilet, they fortunately did not substitute house pets in its stead.

But in addition to their daily plight (and blight) that is Brown, its residents also faced a serious, pressing problem last semester–one that affected their everyday lives: people were having trouble determining the proper venue in which to take their number two business.

It was a problem so grave and urgent that it required direct intervention by then-USG President Connor Diemand-Yauman ’10 (who happens to be one of the dorm’s DAs). In a series of emails to the entire dorm, CDY laid down the law…

(And yes, we know the first email is from last semester, but who among us doesn’t enjoy toilet humor?):

————————————————————
From: Connor Diemand-Yauman
Date: Mon, Sep 28, 2009 at 7:51 PM
Subject: READ THIS IF YOU LIVE IN BROWN!

Dear Brownites,

A few reminders about living in Brown:

  • Please don’t shit in the trashcans or pee in the hallway. It might feel good when you’re doing it but you and others will most likely pay for it down the line (which is, strangely enough, a lesson learned from the story of my conception). If you do pee or poop somewhere other than a toilet, just let us know or slip an anonymous note under our door–it’s pretty shitty just to leave it there (da dum cha!).

Continue reading…

Of Poop and Men: CDY ’10 gets down to business

By
Posted in Goings On, Nostalgia Tagged , , Leave a comment
Scheeler

This is Martin, ICC President

THOUGHTS of CHEESE and BATHING CONSUME NEW INTERCLUB COUNCIL PRESIDENT MARTIN SCHEELER ’11

Name: Martin Scheeler
Age: 21
Major: Physics
Hometown: Summit, NJ
Eating club/residential college/affiliation: Tower

Who’s your favorite Princetonian, living or dead, real or fictional?
Jack Donaghy: ideas man, silver fox.

What’s the best meal you’ve eaten in Princeton?
As much as it may resemble a drug front, Carousel makes some mean cheese fries.

In one sentence, what do you actually do all day?
I spend most of the day thinking about when I’m going to be able to shower, and then I shower.

What is your greatest guilty pleasure?
Cheese. Like, seriously, I’m all about cheese.

What’s the last student performance you saw?
Company, directed by Dave Holtz ’10.

Do you know all the words to Old Nassau?
No. I’m not allowed to sing.

The hand gestures to Old Nassau: creepy or awesome?
Oh, super creepy for sure.

What do you hate most about Princeton?
You know when you’re sitting somewhere doing work, and you smell/hear someone eating a full meal or something in the same room, but the room is decidedly a non-food room? THAT. That is the worst.

Continue reading…

21 Questions with… Martin Scheeler ’11

By
Posted in 21 Questions Tagged , , , , One comment
source: law.harvard.edu

source: law.harvard.edu

On Sunday, we mentioned that Solicitor General Elena Kagan ’81 is on President Obama’s shortlist of candidates under consideration to fill retiring Justice John Paul Stevens’ seat on the Supreme Court.

But, really, if chatter among the punditry is any indication, she’s the woman to beat. (After all, everyone thought Obama would choose Sonia Sotomayor ’76 after Justice David Souter retired, and Obama did just that.)

Kagan was on the shortlist last year when fellow Princetonian Sotomayor was ultimately chosen, and now with another court vacancy, SCOTUSblog has declared Kagan “the prohibitive front-runner.” In March, CNN and New Yorker legal correspondent Jeffrey Toobin told NPR, “I think it’s going to be Elena Kagan…” Conservative Bill Kristol also thinks it’ll be her and even told Fox News, “I endorse Elena Kagan.” Senator Lindsay Graham (R-SC) added onto the praise heap saying, succinctly, “I like her.”

So much love! But such bipartisan praise for the first female Solicitor General has made liberals suspicious and has failed to assuage emboldened conservatives who are painting Kagan as a radical. In fact, the paranoia among both liberals and conservatives is pretty striking. Consider the following:

  • Last May, the conservative Weekly Standard pointed to Kagan’s 156-page senior thesis as evidence of a radical agenda (she wrote about socialism in New York City at the start of the 20th century)–a claim that her thesis adviser, Professor Sean Wilentz, later denied in an interview with Salon. The Weekly Standard was also spooked by an op-ed she’d written in the Prince, in which Kagan lamented about the conservative revolution in light of President Ronald Reagan’s 1980 election. Further, because Kagan has never been a judge, her lack of an extensive paper trail has raised eyebrows: “What little we know about her positions are distinctly out of the mainstream,” the chief counsel of the conservative Judicial Crisis Network told Bloomberg News.
  • Meanwhile, many liberals have been up in arms about Kagan as well. Salon‘s Glenn Greenwald writes that appointing Kagan to the Supreme Court would “move it further to the Right.” In particular, he says Kagan’s views are “closer to the Bush/Cheney vision of Government and the Thomas/Scalia approach to executive power and law.” Greenwald says that he fears Kagan could become the Democrats’ Justice David Souter–a George H.W. Bush-appointee who turned out to be a reliable liberal vote.

The liberal American Prospect‘s Scott Lemieux also sounded the alarm, writing:

Continue reading…

Kagan ’81: Closet Conservative? Why Some Liberals Fear Her.

By
Posted in Alumni, In the news, Politics Tagged , , Leave a comment
The Prez.

The Prez.

What’s on Shirley Tilghman’s mind these days?

Besides dealing with a $3.7 billion drop in the University’s endowment (thanks, Great Recession!), Tilghman said at this afternoon’s CPUC (Council for the Princeton University Community) meeting that moving ahead with establishing the nation’s premier neuroscience department is her biggest priority. Tilghman also said the lack of funding to renovate the soon-to-be vacant Frick Laboratory has been worrying her.

The construction of a neuroscience and psychology building below Icahn Laboratory was postponed after the economic climate turned sour, but Tilghman said she’s trying to secure enough alumni donations to break ground as soon as possible. She said the new building is “shovel-ready” and said it was urgent that the University take advantage of today’s historically low construction costs. (Basic Wall Street, y’all – buy low, sell high, you know?) Channeling Sarah Palin, Tilghman said she’s reaching out to a small group of loyal alumni benefactors “to get our ‘base’ energized,” though we’re not sure what this exactly means.

Continue reading…

On Tilghman’s Mind: Neuroscience and an Empty Frick

By
Posted in Faculty, Goings On Tagged , , , , Leave a comment

Overheard: "Yo, where my man servant at?"

Overheard in Witherspoon: "Yo, where my man servant at?"

Wouldn’t it be nice, especially during exams, if someone would just take care of life’s little things? Apparently, Princetonians of yore had just that: private servants.

The Princeton Alumni Weekly recently posted on its blog a University tuition bill from 1910 (you can see it here), and one of the expense lines reads “Private Servant”–though it appears the person to whom the bill belonged did not have a personal Jeeves.

And where did these servants reside? In the dorms! Ever wonder why Witherspoon Hall is so goddamn nice? According to a history of Princeton’s campus, the school began to draw wealthier students after the Civil War, and the existing dorms just wouldn’t do for them:

The spartan facilities of many of the college’s dormitories were simply unpalatable to this new type of undergraduate. With amenities such as waterclosets on every floor, dumbwaiters, and special corridors and rooms for servants, Witherspoon was tailored to meet the needs of these wealthy students.

Built in 1877, Witherspoon was called “the most beautiful and luxurious college dormitory in the country.” Because Princeton charged varying rents for different dorms, it soon faced a problem of another sort: where would it put students who weren’t rich?

Just two years later, the University built another dorm to solve this problem–a building with the most spartan accommodations. Ever wonder why Edwards Hall is so goddamn drab? Indeed, Edwards was considered “the poor man’s dormitory.” The Prince back then had a less-than-flattering opinion of Edwards:

…Naturally dark and dirty, the Hall is made the object on many contemelious [sic] remarks, and the general opinion is that it takes courage backed up by more or less impecunious circumstances to spend a year or more in those dark and dusty entries.

Of course, both Edwards and Witherspoon have subsequently been renovated–Witherspoon lost its servants’ quarters and Edwards lost its poverty-chic status. But despite what the University tells us, it’s clear not all Princeton dorms are equal–at least they weren’t back in the 19th century.

(image source: http://etcweb.princeton.edu/Campus/)

Jan 29, 2010

True Life circa 1880: I am a Princeton student & need quarters for my servant!

By
Posted in Musings, Nostalgia Tagged , , , , , Leave a comment