On Princeton’s Next Top Model (Class): I think this class will be really interesting. I wish the Soc department...
On Wild Animus Hits Princeton!: Getting free copies at ANU Canberra Australia, the folks that set up in Union Square...
On Wild Animus Hits Princeton!: I got a free copy today. Im from New Zealand.

Ivy Inn is the 48th best college bar in the U.S. Must be good because we've no recollection of ever going there. http://bit.ly/bLHVwj 1 week ago
We're intrigued -- care to share? RT @brendandaley: Roomie just texted me a picture of the newly *REPAINTED* exterior of Hoagie Haven. 2 weeks ago
Jane Randall '12 to compete in next cycle of America's Next Top Model; further saturates reality TV with Princetonians http://bit.ly/btiO5V 2 weeks ago
TIME tweeter not over rejection yet RT @TIME: Take that, Princeton: Harvard gets top-college rank by itself this year http://su.pr/32FH4Q 2 weeks ago
Hopefully that means more Evan Thomas for us -- RT @katiemcconnolly: sad news for newsweek. evan is one of the best: http://yhoo.it/c7uiBx 3 weeks ago
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Author Archives: Will Saborio

This is like OA for the real world. (via ew.com)

Remember when ex-Student Body President Connor Diemand-Yauman ‘10 got a special graduation ceremony and skipped the whole “walking across a stage” thing this past May? And then, remember when we told you CDY and best friend/Fantasticks star Jonathan Schwartz ‘10 had actually skipped graduation because they were starring on the upcoming 17th season of the CBS hit reality show The Amazing Race?

Well, that’s happening. Yes, ScwhartzDY™ (don’t try stealing that CBS) will be one of 11 teams throwing themselves into challenges around the world for the chance to win one million dollars. How’s that for your first paycheck outta college?

CBS today started promoting the event, and here are the guys introducing themselves on the Race website.

Look at that! Witty, tricky, and they got the whole “we’re best friends!” thing going on to boot. Everyone’s gonna be rooting for these tigers. (Not to mention “Relationship: Ivy League A Cappella Singers” — that’s one for the scrapbook.)

The two also answered some questions for CBS. Schwartz’s answers are particularly hilarious:

If I could switch places with someone: Yanni

Role model/hero: My parents, Mother Theresa and Kenny G (not necessarily in that order).

What are you passionate about? Tweezin’ the old unibrow

What would you do if you won the million dollars? If I were to win the million dollars I would buy a pony, but just one.

People would be surprised to learn: That my name, “Jonathan,” is translated to mean “gift from God.” Coincidence? I think not.

CDY and Schwartz ‘10: Amazin’, Racin’, and Takin’ Over the Industry

By Will Saborio

Posted in Alumni, Fun, Goings On Tagged CBS, CDY, Connor Diemand-Yauman, Jonathan Schwartz, post-graduation plans, reality tv, The Amazing Race, the job market, the real world Leave a comment

Judging your constitutions (via nytimes.com)

The Senate just voted 63 to 37 to confirm Elena Kagan ‘81 as the 67th Supreme Court Justice. The confirmation makes her the third consecutive Princetonian to be elected to the Supreme Court, along with Justices Sonia Sotomayor ‘76 and Samuel Alito ‘72. That also makes Princeton the most represented college on the Supreme Court.

For the full story, here’s the Times on the subject. Rigorous analysis and intrepid reportage forthcoming.

For our existing coverage on the Kagan nomination, confirmation battles, and her time at Princeton, check out our Elena Kagan tag.

5 weeks ago

Senate confirms Elena Kagan ‘81 for U.S. Supreme Court

By Will Saborio

Posted in Alumni, Goings On Tagged confirmation, Elena Kagan, Princeton, Senate, U.S. Supreme Court, world domination Leave a comment

"Dick Van Buren" icing Prez Shirley Tilghman

"Dick Van Buren" '10 icing Prez Shirley Tilghman

That up there is Shirley Tilghman, President of Princeton University. Opposite her is “Dick Van Buren” ‘10 (who asked we change his name for this article). In the photo, DVB is icing Shirley Tilghman. This is his story.

But, let’s backtrack for a second — if you haven’t yet heard of icing, well, I guess you’re not a bro, bro. Quoth the Times:

The premise of the game is simple: hand a friend a sugary Smirnoff Ice malt beverage and he (most participants have been men) has to drink it on one knee, all at once — unless he is carrying a bottle himself, in which case the attacker must drink both bottles of what [one bro] described as a “pretty terrible” drink.

The trend’s struck colleges across the country, and has even started to creep into everyday bro life. (Icing a bro when he gets to his office desk in the morning, icing a bro when he gets back from the gym, icing a bro coming out the bathroom — classic, all of them.) Unfortunately, the chronicler of the offline meme, BrosIcingBros.com, has stepped down. But if you stuck around for Reunions this year, you might have seen the wreckage of the beautiful game around campus — freshly downed bottles of Ice were strewn about campus much of the weekend.

And one of those Ices had Shirley’s name on it. DVB tells us how things went down.

Breaking the Ice — “Shirley Tilghman: Not a Bro”

By Will Saborio

Posted in Fun, Goings On Tagged bros, bros icing prezzes, Dick Van Buren, icing, Shirley Tilghman, Shirley Tilghman is not a bro One comment

via electricityandlust.wordpress.com

Some breaking news for you this Wednesday afternoon: Even after his fainting spell last week, Gen. Petraeus, a four-star general with a master’s degree and PhD. from the Woodrow Wilson School, replaced Gen. Stanley McChrystal as the commander of American forces in Afghanistan. Politico reports:

President Barack Obama has relieved Gen. Stanley McChrystal of command of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, POLITICO has learned, and replaced him with Gen. David Petraeus – putting a general well-known throughout the world for his work in Iraq in charge of the mission in Afghanistan.

The Petraeus move is in some ways a demotion for the four-star general – who as head of U.S. Central Command was McChrystal’s boss, in charge of the whole Middle East theater. But it signaled a desire by Obama to move swiftly to cap the McChrystal situation by picking a sure-footed new commander, familiar with combat zones, counter-insurgency and how to deal with the press.

The move came in response to a very forthcoming Rolling Stone profile of McChrystal released yesterday. In it, McChrystal spoke out against high-level American officials, including Vice President Biden (who he referred to, charmingly, as “Bite Me”) and President Obama, who he found unprepared and unengaged in some meetings with him.

Petraeus, who wrote his Princeton dissertation on “The American Military and the Lessons of Vietnam,” recently spoke at Alumni Day this past March.

Hopefully al Qaeda hasn’t seen this picture already. Not very threatening.

via ivygateblog.com

Jun 23, 2010

Gen. David Petraeus 85 87 to become commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan

By Will Saborio

Posted in Alumni Tagged Afghanistan, David Petraeus, Politico, Stanley McChrystal Leave a comment

Top of the agenda this past week: World Cup. Princeton alums had a hand on all sides in the run-up to the tournament, from coaching, to hosting, to lambasting on Comedy Central. More sports on the docket too, as some Tigers got picked in the MLB drafts this past week. And other stuff: Paul Krugman made funny sounds in an unfunny movie and Meg Whitman ‘78 won an election to go to another election.

Bradley 80 led the U.S. Mens Soccer Team to a tie with England on Saturday

Don't mess: Bradley '80

Unless you’ve recently slipped into a coma, or are one of millions of Americans who are wondering why people are playing football with their feet, you’ve probably tuned into a few of the World Cup matches. The biggest news of the Cup on this side of the Atlantic has to be the unexpected tie between England and the U.S. on Saturday.

Strangely, Princeton has a hand in all this: you may have heard that the U.S. Men’s National Team trained at Princeton’s Roberts Stadium from May 17 to May 23. Not only that, but the team’s coach, Bob Bradley ‘80 earned a history degree from the University, coached soccer at Princeton for 11 years, and his brother, Scott Bradley, coaches Princeton’s baseball team. Eerie, we know.

Princeton-soccer-Comedy Central connections abounded on Thursday, as The Daily Show’s John Oliver reported from Princeton on the state of the U.S. Soccer Team. Here’s the clip, complete with tons of shots in Princeton’s rather indistinguishable stadium (save for some orange and black and Fine Hall in the distance):

But even afterwards, on the Colbert Report, Comedy Central kept on with the Princeton-soccer vibe.

Week in Review: World Cup Edition (June 7 – June 13)

By Will Saborio

Posted in Week in Review Tagged Bob Bradley, Dan Barnes, John Oliver, Marc Fisher, Meg Whitman, MLB, Paul Krugman, Scott Bradley, Sports, Stephen Colbert, US Men's Soccer Team, World Cup 2 Comments

How much would the state of California cost if it were up for auction on eBay?

In her quiet plot to take over the world, former CEO and President of eBay Meg Whitman ‘78 won yesterday the Republican candidacy in California’s gubernatorial election this fall. Whitman defeated state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner with 64% of the vote compared to his 26%. Some news sources call this a landslide. To me it sounds like California hasn’t subscribed to grade deflation.

Her win comes after she spent $80 million ($71 million of which were her own) in the race and made the primary the costliest in Californian history, which would have made it awkward if she hadn’t won, because, dude, that’s like two Whitman Colleges. The victory also makes Whitman the first woman to ever hold the Republican nomination for California’s governor position.

Oh, right, and before we forget, to save the media the trouble, we’ll just let you know now: Whitman’s senior thesis was titled The Marketing of American Consumer Products in Western Europe and was 83 pages. No word on her report card, but she graduated, says Wikipedia, with honors. So that’s fun.

Also fun: If Whitman wins, she will be the one one of two Princeton-educated governors in the United States, and will be head of a state that is severely screwed and running a $20 billion deficit. So hopefully Whitman can market some Californian products to Western Europe, which also slowly collapses under the heavy weight of its debt.

At any rate, Whitman will face Democratic ex-governor and California Attorney General Jerry Brown in the gubernatorial election. Good luck Meg, and cheers — here’s to having another Princetonian be important.

(image via solidprinciples.com)

(Ed.: An earlier version of this post stated Whitman’s victory in the fall would make her the one governor from Princeton, but we forgot Mitch Daniels from Indiana.)

Jun 9, 2010

Meg Whitman ‘78 wins California Republican primary

By Will Saborio

Posted in Alumni Tagged California, eBay, governor's race, Meg Whitman Leave a comment

Since it’s summer and we know you’re busy at your super-important [insert bank here]/[insert NGO here]/[insert research institution here] internship or backpacking across Europe or voraciously watching back episodes of Gossip Girl, we here at The Ink round up the week’s news so you don’t have to. Today we’ve got some graduations stuff, some art crime stuff, some reality TV show stuff, some fratty stuff, and generally, stuff.

First up this week: Alumni swarmed Princeton this weekend, as you might have guessed, for Reunions. There was debauchery, there was dunko (as per the Wall Street Journal), and good times had by old people. God reportedly attempted to smite the revelers, but only knocked out a few trees. Fun!

A tree near Dillon Gym faced the wrath of nature

Also, graduation happened, which is weird to think because that means a quarter of the student body has moved on into the real world. At Baccalaureate on Sunday, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos ‘86 told the Class of 2010 about his grandmother and to be kind.

And then NBC news anchor Charlie Gibson ‘65 cracked some jokes, along with Class Day speakers Zach Zimmerman ‘10 and Becca Foresman ‘10. Reports indicate everybody had a good time. Too bad superstar student body commander-in-chief CDY wasn’t there, because he was racing with Jonathan Schwartz ‘10 while filming an episode of the CBS reality show The Amazing Race.

The Class of 2010 marched on anyway, and 1,166 seniors passed through FitzRandolph Gates, with some special guests. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was given an honorary degree for a bunch of stuff, among them being a trailblazer for women’s rights and being pretty old.

Valedictorian David Karp (who had 29 A’s and A+’s!?) spoke, along with salutatorian Marguerite Colson, who gave her address in Latin to a bunch of people who couldn’t understand her:

Because few students today know Latin, the new graduates follow along using printed copies of the remarks. These include footnotes telling when to applaud (plaudite) and laugh (ridete). Guests and other audience members do not have the annotated copies, a practice dictated by tradition because the salute is directed to the members of the class.

Here’s a slick video Princeton made of the happenings. Money shot’s near the end, with the Class of 2010 on the steps of Blair Arch, doing the creepy Heil singing “Old Nassau.”

We’ll miss you guys!

And then, that huge sucking sound you heard on Wednesday? That was campus being evacuated for the summer. News grinded to a halt, but stuff still happened, apparently:

Image via unigo.com.

This weekend, while you hop from tent to tent in the bizarre time machine that is Princeton Reunions, think about this: Probably everyone, at some point, rode the Dinky, or at least knows about it. Pretty crazy to think.

Which is why some of the reactions to the train’s possible replacement have been so vocal. You may know about the “Save the Princeton Dinky” Facebook group, or discussed the Dinky over dinner.

The Huffington Post ran a story yesterday on the debate and the discussion it’s sparked. Read it here.

May 27, 2010

IN PRINT: Speaking out for the Dinky

By Will Saborio

Posted in In Print Tagged Dinky, Huffington Post, Save the Dinky Leave a comment

Patterson: the inebriated protagonist of his Reunions tell-all

We have a good thing going here at Princeton — even years after you graduate, you can come back and be an underclassman again for a weekend in May, reveling in all the debauchery that entails, at Princeton Reunions.

But it’s relatively hush-hush, you know? Sure it’s a huge party, but we manage to keep the degree of insanity under wraps and come out looking like… well, like we went to Princeton. Our little secret, yeah?

Until this month’s issue of GQ came out, which features an exposé of last year’s Reunions — you may have already seen a Google Docs scan of it making rounds on a couple listservs (which we’re technically not allowed to link to here, what with copyright and all). The piece, by Troy Patterson ‘96 and titled “The Smart Man’s ‘Jersey Shore’” (cringe), makes Woodrow Wilson roll in his grave:

This month’s GQ lays bare Princeton’s reunions secrets

By Will Saborio

Posted in Goings On, In the news Tagged Alumni, drinking, GQ, reunions, things that might confirm Princeton stereotypes, things that might make Princeton look bad, Troy Patterson 3 Comments

Campus in a nutshell: Copious refuse, numerous vehicles, and tents

If you’re wondering where that vague scent of trash is coming from, or why there are so many large people carrying heavy things around campus, you might want to snap out of your post-exam stupor and pack your stuff up: it’s move-out day. Everyone’s leaving!

(Unless you have Reunions housing, in which case Angela Hodgeman bestows you another 24 hours in your room before you have to move across the hall.)

And those big empty white tents and rows of wooden fences mean it’s officially Dead Week now, that calm before the Reunions storm. Everybody take a deep breath, catch up on your sleep, and maybe detox a little.

That’s our cue to peace for the summer. It’s been a pleasure writing for y’all, and be sure to check in again in the fall for news, musings, and everything you could possibly want and not want to know about our beloved Princestitution.

(But check back after Dead Week — we’ll be covering Reunions and commencement intermittently, as often as time and alumni partying will allow. And we’ll be covering the summer with our Weekly Updates and, of course, let you know if anything breaking happens.)

Love,

UPC

May 22, 2010

Movin’ on Out: A sign-off from UPC

By Will Saborio

Posted in Goings On, Open Letter Tagged Angela Hodgeman, commencement, Dead Week, Housing, move out, Princeton, reunions, self-referential blogging Leave a comment

DO YOU HAVE A TIP FOR US? LET US KNOW AT theinktips[at]gmail[dot]com

5:45 P.M. — My bed

After many hours of not-sleep, countless pages of top-form b.s., a sprightly walk to Robertson to hand in some papers, some McCosh kettle corn, and a sick Dean’s Date water bottle, it is time for sleep.

Wake me up when it’s time to get down.

– WAS

4:13 P.M. — Some advice from Alec Greven

May come in handy later. Like in 47 minutes or so. Or maybe not.

– ASG

4:00 P.M. — Princeton

There’s one hour left. Oh my god. Where did all those other hours go? The end is in sight…

– WAS

3:40 P.M. — The Edge

Read your papers once more through. One of my recurring nightmares is turning in a final paper that has all the profanity and gibberish that accompany first drafts.

“INSERT BULLS–T ABOUT GLOBALIZATION HERE”

My first draft calls.

– WAS

3:31 P.M. — So. Close.

But in case you were wondering, you haven’t quite hit this milestone yet (and if you have, contact the Guiness Book of World Records immediately).

– ASG

3:25 P.M. — On the Brink

Need some more Gaga for the final stretch? Mr. Christopher Walken gives you “Poker Face”:

–ECS

3:03 P.M. — It’s almost time.

No matter how hard
The task may seem
Dont give up our plans
Dont give up our dreams

No broken bridges
Can turn us around
Cause what were searchin’ for
Will soon be found

Cause we’re almost there

– AW

2:57 P.M. — My room

Just thought of one that the anagram generator didn’t come up with. (Yes, this is how I procrastinate.) This one goes out to all the freshmen (and young sophomores?) out there:

Dean’s Date = Da Sad Teen

<— teen

– GN

2:39 P.M. — I don’t even know anymore

It’s getting to be that time. Here’s some motivation.

Yes, you can do it. Let’s just all pray our professors don’t have this reaction:

–WAS

12:28 P.M. — My Nightmare on Elm Street.

4 hours and 30 minutes to go. Whatever you do, do not fall asleep.

Don’t fool yourself. Dean’s Date wants you as badly as Freddy Kruger does.

–SJP

11:37 A.M. — Hey. Stop it. Wake up.

–AW

10:00 A.M. — It’s five o’clock somewhere

In these places, more specifically: Amman, Helsinki, Istanbul, Athens, Jerusalem, Baghdad, Beirut, Kyiv, Cairo, and Minsk. I don’t think those are the places this dude had in mind when he wrote this song.

– WAS

(Keep reading below!)

LIVEBLOG: Dean’s Date, Spring 2010

By Will Saborio

Posted in Fun, Goings On, The INKternet Tagged Dean's Date 2010, deep genius, liveblogging 6 Comments

Forgot yours? (via wikimedia.org)

Ever been locked out of your room and groan when you had to call Public Safety to let you in?

At tonight’s USG Senate meeting, a Public Safety representative said just how many times students make that same call every year:

11,000.

“We know Princeton students like to overachieve,” the PSafety representative said. Laughter ensued.

Laugh now! Just wait until you get locked out in your towel.

(An earlier version of this post said 11,000 students report lock-outs, which is also absurd. 11,000 lock-outs are reported.)

May 9, 2010

An absurd number of lock-outs reported to PSafety each year

By Will Saborio

Posted in Goings On Tagged Lockout, Public Safety, USG Leave a comment