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“Forbes”

Hey 2015! If you’ve been spending your last days of summer freaking out in the shower caddy aisle of the Container Store or worried that you won’t be able to find the washing machines in your dorm, The Ink is here for you. In preparation for your arrival, we’ve compiled reviews of each of the six residential colleges to help give you a better sense of what to expect on the big move-in day.

So here it is: the first installment The Ink’s Residential College Review, in which we examine that much-maligned abode, Forbes College.


IMG_5105Most would argue that Forbes is at once the most hated and most beloved of the residential colleges. Depending on who you talk to, Forbes is either that sad, cinder-blocked building in a distant zip code or, alternatively, the best thing that ever happened to them.  For every mainland critic who argues that Forbes is socially removed from the main-campus scene, there are steadfast Forbesians who contend that their residential remoteness actually forges a more “close-knit community.” After two years of living in the 08540, it’s become clear to me that, polarized views aside, Forbes is what you make of it. Here are the facts—we’ll let you be the final judge.

The résumé:

Laundry: There are two laundry rooms, located on the lower levels of the Main Inn and in the Addition. A reasonable number of machines, but there’s often a wait at peak hours (i.e. never, ever attempt to launder on Sunday afternoons).

Kitchens: One kitchen in the Main Inn, one in the Addition. But beware—a tragedy of the commons-type situation developed this past year, which involved mountains of unwashed pots and pans, increasingly threatening e-mails from college administrators, and ultimately, a lock on the door.

Computers: There’s a cluster with about a dozen computers in the basement of the Main Inn. And one (cross-your-fingers, maybe, just maybe) functioning printer.

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Princeton is all about minor luxuries–those things that happen to you on campus that make you stop and exclaim “Hey! This is not what college should be like! Where is my cold pizza and my lumpy futon? My beer-stained floors and that one poster of two girls kissing?”

For example, I seriously suggest that you figure out a way to have a free dinner at Prospect House before you have to graduate. And if you’re a junior, you should be thinking about all those free massage study breaks you were too busy studying to attend. And in general, take a moment to reflect on all those times you went on a free trip to Bermuda, or attended a fancy alumni-sponsored dinner, or um, lived in a castle (Sorry, Forbes).

So imagine my lack of surprise when I checked my email last week and found an invitation to a “traditional Viennese champagne breakfast” from the Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination! Oh, Princeton. You spoil us so–a small, but significant reason why we love you.

Picture 10

(I’ve redacted some of the information because, well, I don’t know who exactly is invited.)

Nerds: It’s time.

Time to dust off those swords and shields.  Time to say those final prayers.  Time to kiss those families goodbye.  ’Cause ResCol Quiz Bowl?  It’s a-comin’.

First up in this intramural Battle of the Brains?  Mathey v. Whitman, 10 pm Tuesday in the Mathey Common Room.  This is just the opening salvo, though — the tournament continues all year until one college is named the ultimate Titan of Trivia.

I’ve got my money on defending champ Forbes.  I was able to see them in practice yesterday — and let me tell you, those buzzer thumbs were in fine form.  Fine form.  Little weak on the science categories, though (You’re seriously gonna go with Europa as Jupiter’s third largest moon?  Embarrassing.)  So you never know.

Judging by the official video, most of these Soldiers of Sporcle seem quick to predict their own victory – with the exception of Wilsonians and Rockyites, who declined to participate in the trash-talking.  Maybe they were just too busy cramming world capitals?  (”Moroni is the capital of Comoros because you’d have to be a moron to want to live on this out-of-the-way African island!”  Mnemonic Devices : High School David :: Friends : Well-Adjusted Young People)

There’s nothing like coming back to Princeton: a fresh blanket of snow on ivy gates, final exams, and roaring fireplaces.

But for some, homecoming looks more like this.

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Sadness

This is the wall behind my bed in the Forbes Addition.  Home, sweet home. It turns out no amount of sticky tack can actually cling to cinder block walls.  So, cool White Album poster.

But at least the Forbes Addition provides architecture grad students with a first project.  Every September, armed with T-squares, first year students in the graduate program hunch over their desks (in the equally miserable architecture building) and redesign the Forbes Addition

Here are some of their design ideas (click on the pictures for full sized images):

Christine Chang

Christine Chang (above)

Kuan Tsu

Kuan Tsu (above)

More photos and thoughts from the designers after the jump….

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In light of the repeat instances of lewdness and the increasing crime on campus as reported in the Annual Security and Fire Report, we thought it would be useful to see exactly where these crimes happen, and what kind of misdeeds are committed.

We’ve plugged in every single crime report–based on Public Safety’s Daily Crime Log–on a handy-dandy Google Map. The map shows the reported campus crimes between September 17th (when classes began) and October 23rd and where they took place. Most of the reports, as you can see by clicking on each icon, are quite minor.

One recommendation, however: avoid Forbes College like the plague. So much crime there!


View Campus Crime! in a larger map

Now I know what you’re thinking: “But Eric, almost all the dining halls on campus have been remodeled, renovated, or created in the last four years.” True. Doesn’t mean they’ve been improved.

I may not eat in the dining halls as much as I once did, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t noticed some of the big changes that have taken place since I was a freshman.

Here are a few “improvements” that have taken place in the last few years…

1. Healthier Food (Biggest Offender: Whitman)
Maybe I’m way off base here, but I thought the point of being in college was being able to clog my arteries for four years without any repercussions. Back in the day, I could have sworn that there were at least two fried options every night, in every dining hall. Delicious. I could have fried chicken, with a side of French Fries, and a fat-full bowl of ice cream. I wouldn’t need to eat again for at least another hour or two.

These days, though, fried food is frowned up. Apparently it’s “bad for you,” or some such nonsense. If it were so bad for me, then why does it taste so incredible? You really just can’t get the same sort of satisfaction out of a tofu steak or a wheatgrass burger. Don’t even get me started on the salad bar.

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Look at you guys! So carefree! Well, for the moment

Look at you guys! So carefree! Well, for the moment

Ah, Frosh Week. A bright spot in the lives of all Princeton students, the sweet collective calm before the furious academic storm of a school year. I see it now: brightly-clad freshmen wandering across campus in gaggles of eight, collectively lost despite three maps in hand; disheveled 20-somethings handing me overpriced textbooks in the basement of Labyrinth; students panting as they lug ratty couches up stairs in the God-forsaken humidity. But there really is something special in those bright and early days of a new school year, and it’s not just the wild abandon of freshmen getting drunk on the possibilities of college (and Beast, baby!).

It’s not, however, all straight-up good times for freshmen. We here at The Ink feel for you (we were freshmen once, can you imagine?) and decided to lay out some tips for new students. We know the opening week of college can be a difficult period: first time away from home, eternal awkward silences during your RCA meetings, your roommate kind of smells, what is this strangely Nazi-like salute everyone does while singing, you’re not a freshman girl so it’s impossible to get a beer anywhere.

To make transition to college a little easier, we’ve compiled a couple of tips and pointers to help you get through it all and come out on top. Not of your quintile, though; that’s pretty much impossible.

So here it is: The Ink’s Freshman Guide to Princeton* (A three-part series).

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Apparently hats are not required for the number one school in the country

Apparently hats are not required for the number one school in the country

August is upon us! Ah, the Sunday of the summer months, freedom mixed with the creeping inevitability of the school year. Personally, we’re with Dave Plotz and his zany plan to rid the world of this month once and for all! But August or not, we’re still here at The Ink summer news desk, wading through the Sea of Media to bring you the finest Princeton news. In this week’s edition: Princeton locks down another 1/9th of the Supreme Court, West Point beats us in college rankings, Robbie George still doesn’t like gay marriage, Harvard tries to recoup some of its endowment via haberdashery, and WE GET MONEY FOR FUSION!!!

  • One more time, for the people way up in the nosebleed seats: SONIA SOTOMAYOR CONFIRMED! That’s right, Princeton’s getting another Supreme Court justice. We’re tired of this story, and you probably are, too. But just in case, wise Latina t-shirts.
  • It’s not all sunshine and rainbows on Nassau Street – Forbes bumped us down to number two on its “America’s Best Colleges” list. The usurper? West Point! Seriously? Seriously. Putting us number two seems to be something of a fad for major publications, with the Forbes bump following last year’s dethroning at the hands of US News and World Report. But we were kind of hoping Steve-O (commonly known as Malcolm “Steve” Forbes ’70) would keep the homerism going longer than just the one year, but as they say up in Montreal, c’est la vie!

George, Harvard, and Fusion post-jump!

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