The first incident took place July 3 at approximately 12:15 p.m. A female reported that she observed a man exposing himself in a lewd manner near the stone bridge on Beebe Lake. The suspect was described as a middle-aged, white male with a stocky build.

The second reported incident occurred July 9 at approximately 3:30 p.m. when a male subject in a car pulled up to a female who was walking on campus and exposed himself. The subject called the female over to the vehicle and exposed himself. The subject was described as a tall, dark-skinned, white male, in his 20s to 30s. The car was described as an older, four-door vehicle, light in color.

The most recent incident occurred Tuesday, July 13, at approximately 4 p.m. in the Beebe Lake area. A male subject was observed exposing himself and acting in a lewd manner. The subject was described as a dark-skinned, heavy-set Hispanic or black male in his 20s to early 30s.

Five days after Princeton’s last act of lewdness, it seems we have a new competitor. Unlike the Ivy League title, however, this is one ball game we’re willing to lose.

Image source: http://www.evenbetterbasketball.com/images/basketball.jpg

the boys in blue (source: yalebulldogs.com)

Cornell may have ended its historic March Madness run last night (read the NYTimes’s take on it here), but the Ivy League still lives strong in the NCAA. Next up: Yale’s hockey team is going up against North Dakota tomorrow afternoon in the Northeast regional semifinals. Yale was ranked No. 9 in the nation after an impressive season (20-9-3), and the game will be aired live on ESPN360.com and Fox Sports Net North at 5pm ET on Saturday. So shelve that Tiger pride, take a much-needed study break, and cheer on your fellow Ivy! Enjoy the weekend, everybody.

Goofy Ivy Leaguers Celebrating

Back in early February I wrote a blog post in response to Cornell Basketball’s ascension into the top 25 in the coaches’ poll. The gist of the argument was that while Cornell may have been enjoying temporary success the glory of their program it couldn’t hold a candle to the historically decorated Princeton Tigers.

Fast forward to yesterday, when Cornell absolutely demolished the Wisconsin Badgers in the second round of the NCAA tournament. This was a different win entirely than their first round victory over Temple (considering Temple’s head coach, former Penn coach Fran Dunphy, has made in to the NCAA tournament 12 times and been knocked in out of the first round 11 times). This was a game Cornell was not meant to win. But it wasn’t even close; Cornell was up by 12 at half and won by 18.

This is the first time an Ivy League team has been to the Sweet Sixteen since Penn in 1979. And watching Cornell’s historic run has made me reconsider my earlier blog post. Traveling back to Princeton this past weekend, I noticed people gathered in bubbles outside the bars and restaurants in airports and train stations, trying to watch the tournament. Normal people cared about an Ivy League sports team.

For the first time in my life, I was jealous of Cornell.I’d gladly give up the storied past for a chance at present relevance. I’d love to watch my team on national television rather than search for streaming video of the CBI (where it looks like we won’t pull it out against the mighty Jaguars of IUPUI).

What makes Ivy League basketball so different from football is that at the end of the season, our best basketball team gets to play against the other best teams in the country. It’s fun to be an underdog. And it’s even more fun when you win as an underdog. Cornell has done that twice already, and word on the street is that they’ll give Kentucky a game.

So good luck Cornell. Enjoy it while it lasts. Because while we might have an offense named after us, I’d rather see a Princeton team running a Cornell offense into the Sweet Sixteen any day.

Enjoy it, Cornell. We've been here before.

After the boys from Ithaca crushed their Crimson cousins Saturday night by a score of 86-50, Cornell moved into the top 25 in the ESPN/USA Today coaches’ poll for the top teams in college basketball.

This is a big deal for Ivy League basketball. The Ancient Eight haven’t had a ranked team since back when I was in the second grade, otherwise known as the 1997-1998 season.

(And who was that team? The Princeton Tigers of course.)

It’s been a good run for Cornell basketball. They’ve made the NCAA tournament the last two years, and it looks like they’ll be headed back to the big dance.

We’re actually  a little intimidated. Basketball used to be our thing, our defining sport. Cornell has now officially seized that mantle. And we can’t even take comfort in our new(er) sport of dominance, lacrosse, because Cornell bounced us from the NCAA tournament last year.

So instead we’ll do what we always do in these situations: hearken back to our glorious past, and remind the young up and comers who still stands dominant in the annals of Ivy League Basketball history (other than Penn).

(This also gives us the opportunity to make fun of Harvard’s impressive ZERO men’s basketball Ivy League titles. And making fun of Harvard always makes us feel better.)

Full feel-good historical standings after the jump!

Without further ado, the list of Ivy League champions in men’s basketball.

(Hat tip to stormingthefloor.net for putting these numbers together and enabling this moment of bittersweet nostalgia.)

Penn: 37 (1906, 1908, 1916, 1918-21, 1928-29, 1934-35, 1937, 1945, 1953, 1966, 1970-75, 1978-80, 1982, 1985, 1987, 1993-95, 1999-2000, 2002 (shared), 2003, 2005-07)

Princeton: 28 (1922, 1925, 1932, 1950, 1952, 1955, 1960-61, 1963-65, 1967, 1969, 1976-77, 1981, 1983-84, 1989-92, 1996-98, 2001, 2002 (shared), 2004)

Columbia: 13 (1904-05, 1911-12, 1914 (shared), 1926, 1930-31, 1936, 1947-48, 1951, 1968)

Dartmouth: 12 (1927, 1938-44, 1946, 1956, 1958-59)

Yale: 11 (1902-03, 1907, 1915, 1917, 1923, 1933, 1949, 1957, 1962, 2002 (shared))

Cornell: 7 (1913, 1914 (shared), 1924, 1954, 1988, 2008-09)

Brown: 1 (1986)

Harvard: 0

And there you have it. You may be enjoying your success now, Cornell, but it’s going to take at least four times as many championships before you can hang with us in the record books. And, as always, better luck next year, Harvard.

(image source: ivy-style.com)

You can tell this is Cornell because Harry is about to jump out that window

• IvyGate brings us our first disappointment of the week, a list of the “5 Campuses if you want the Harry Potter Experience.” Katherine Cohen, one of those newfangled college application counselors, compiled the list, and seems to have used no method or reason to make the choices she did. Yale made the list (alright), and so did Cornell (what?). Cohen’s reasoning: “Like competitors in the TriwizardChallenge, Cornellians wear their red scarves when they compete against their Ivy League rivals.” Uh, cool, I guess. This might outrage Whitman kids, what with their Harry Potter nights and all, but come on guys, this is a blessing in disguise. We hope high school students don’t seriously consider “the Harry Potter experience” when applying to colleges. Oh, wait, what’s that Ms. Cohen?

Although none of my students have listed being a “muggle” on their resumes, many students have wanted to attend a campus that is reminiscent of what they have read or seen in Rowling’s books.

Alright, Cornell, you can have those.



Dartmouth: Money, ON TAP

• So we’re not as Hogwartsy as we thought, but we still have our money, right? Not so fast Richie Rich – Payscale.com reports Princeton alums rank 6th in starting salaries when entering the workforce, behind Harvard at number 3 and ahead of Yale at 9. “According to the study, a Princeton grad will take home a median starting salary of $65,000, with $124,000 the average yearly pay for a professional mid-career.” That doesn’t sound so bad compared to the rest of the nation (Rutgers’ figures are 100 places down on the list), but you know who’s beating us? Dartmouth. Yes, the same Dartmouth that produced this (admittedly great) video, inspired scenes of Animal House, and sports Keggy the Keg as an unofficial mascot. Something’s not quite right.

• So there’s a band called “Princeton.” They’re from Los Angeles, have released a new single, and didn’t attend Princeton. Sorry, if you were expecting your own orange-and-black Vampire Weekend. But, according to their website, each track on their first EP “is lyrically focused upon a member of the influential Bloomsbury intellectual collective that existed in London during the early 20th century. Lyrical portraits of Leonard Woolf, Lytton Strachey, Virginia Woolf and John Maynard Keynes are each presented in a different musical framework with lush orchestral arrangements.” Wow. That’s sooo Princeton.

• Some researchers from Arizona State and Princeton released a study this week that finds ants are more rational than humans. That’s not to say they’re “smarter” than us, but they just make more rational decisions because of the “collective decision-making” ant colonies engage in. Derek Zoolander is reportedly regretting his hasty decision.