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Thursday December 13, 2018 vol. CXLII no. 118
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STUDENT LIFE
Opinion
Anscombe Society claims they are not a religious group Senior Writer
Supporting pro-life positions on abortion, chastity, and traditional family values, the Anscombe Society has all the hallmarks of a traditional conservative religious organization, save one: the religion. “We seem religious because it seems like the majority of the institutions promoting these ideas are religious institutions,” said Thomas Martinson ’21, the group’s vice president. “There are religious arguments for
holding these ideals, but we don’t think they’re the only sufficient arguments available.” According to co-president William Nolan ’19, the Anscombe Society is not religious in and of itself, although it attracts many religious members. Instead, the group backs its arguments through secular means: by focusing on the philosophical and scientific. In this way, Nolan said, the arguments use a “common language” that is “accessible to all.” “We want to provide a plat-
Liam O’Connor
Senior Columnist
Two years ago, Leila Clark ’18 proposed a referendum that would require the Undergraduate Student Government (USG) to create a committee with the Interclub Council (ICC) that would collect demographics of eating clubs’ memberships. It passed with 69 percent of votes. In the wake of the referendum’s approval, USG dragged its feet, and the ICC claimed this information would threaten individuals’ privacy if it were made public. Meanwhile, the administration — who
had this data the entire time — kept quiet. Over the course of six months, I conducted an empirical investigation into the demographic composition of Princeton’s eating clubs’ members. I utilized publically accessible information to estimate patterns of income, gender, major, varsity status, hometown and home state. The findings reveal a pattern wherein people join clubs that have members similar to themselves. Ivy is indeed the most international club. Colonial is mostly engineers and science majors. Cottage has the highest percent of athletes, with Cannon a close second. Through Tigerbook, I found members’ hometowns and
STUDENT LIFE
Staff Writers
ONE OF THE ANSCOMBE SOCIETY’S TABLING EVENTS
STUDENT LIFE
Third PSIP location to open in Shanghai By Kris Hristov Staff Writer
University Ph.D. alumnus Yi Wang ‘09 created an English language-teaching company, Liulishuo, which now has 50 million users. Wang has since used his entrepreneurship expertise to collaborate with another Princeton Ph.D. recipient, Arvid Wang GS ‘11 and the Keller Center for Innovation in Engineering Education to create a third location for the Princeton Startup Immersion Program (PSIP): Shanghai. PSIP is a 10-week long summer internship program that provides University undergraduate and graduate students of all majors with real-world experience at emerging startups in a city of their choice. Since 2016, students have interned at New York and Tel Aviv through this internship. Starting in 2019, the program will also be available in Shanghai. “Yi Wang is offering Princeton students the experience of a lifetime — a chance to experience entrepreneurship first hand in the exciting area of artificial intelligence and in the rapidly growing innovation ecosystem in China,” said Jennifer Rexford ’91, engineering professor and Wang’s Ph.D. advisor. Victoria Scott ’18 completed both PSIP programs in 2016 and 2017, in New York and Jerusalem
In Opinion
respectively. She explained that the unique thing about PSIP is that the small companies that participate in the program will throw you directly into the fray. Scott now works as a technical solutions specialist at International Business Machines Corporation (IBM), an American multinational information technology company. “There is no formula you can follow,” she said. Avthar Sewrathan ’18 interned in New York City at Andela, an American company that specializes in training software developers. He said that the PSIP internship taught him about the systems and processes that are used to grow a company. “The [PSIP] experience has been invaluable as I’ve now cofounded and am running my own startup full time,” Sewrathan said. Sewrathan’s startup, Afari, provides a social network that helps people better control their data and privacy, monetize their production and consumption of social media, and have more authentic connections with other social media users. The 2019 PSIP programs will run from June 10 to Aug. 16. Applications for the 2019 summer ended on Dec. 1. Undergraduates can apply for the 2020 program through the Keller Center. See PSIP page 5
Senior Columnist Ryan Chavez comments on the recent social media tension between Joe Biden and Donald Trump and Guest Contributor Carter Flaig calls for student to be more conscientious of the campus staff. PAGE 6
See CLUBS page 6
U . A F FA I R S
Marshall Scholars discuss U. admits passions, plans in Q&A 13.9 percent of early applicants to Class of 2023 By Yael Marans , Hannah Wang, & Oliver Effron
One of the Anscombe Society’s tabling events.
then pulled such locations’ median incomes from U.S. Census data. Bicker club members who live in the United States are from towns with median household incomes that are $2,832 greater than those of sign-in club members. Athletes tend to follow other athletes. Three clubs — Cottage, Cloister, and Cannon — have 75 percent of all varsity athletes on the Street. Of the international students in eating clubs, 73 percent are in Bicker clubs. Students from public schools are a minority in at least one eating club’s class. Fifty-eight percent of Tiger Inn’s Class of 2019 attended an independent day, indepen-
Two University seniors, Jonah Herzog-Arbeitman ’19 and Myrial Holbrook ’19, as well as Ararat Gocmen, a 2017 Princeton alumnus, have been named 2019 Marshall Scholars. The Marshall Scholarship pays for recipients to study for two years at the U.K. institution(s) of their choice. Herzog-Arbeitman is concentrating in physics with certificates in applied and computational mathematics and creative writing. He will work toward a Master of Science in theoretical and mathematical physics at the University of Oxford and then move to the University of Nottingham to pursue a Master of Philosophy after his first year. On campus, Herzog-Arbeitman also participates in Quipfire, the University’s oldest improv comedy group. Q&A with Jonah HerzogArbeitman ’19 The Daily Princetonian: What were some highlights of the application process for you? Jonah Herzog-Arbeitman: I initially had not planned to apply for the Rhodes or the Marshall [fellowships]. I had gone in anticipating to apply to more science focused scholarships but [I] was convinced by [Director of Fellowship Advising] Dr. [Deirdre] Moloney that my poetry interests and improv interests would make me interesting for the more general fellowships. It was cool to see that people actually cared about these things. Now I’ve been thinking a lot about how to keep them going at Oxford and after my education. DP: What were the best moments of the process? JH-A: Highlights in the application process probably center around asking my advisors for letters of recommendation, in particular because I’d ask a lot of them, and I was always
sort of tickled by how willing they were to do it. I had a great team behind me, both the professors and Office of Fellowships. DP: Were there any difficult moments in the process? JH-A: It’s like anything where you start from scratch. My first essay drafts were unfocused and not that good. My initial feedback confirmed my thoughts on that, and then I had to get my editing hat back on. They got much better. I think the line through this whole process is that the whole thing took a decent amount of work, and I got a lot of help, and I’m really glad that it all paid off. DP: How did you incorporate improv into your interviews? JH-A: I got a lot of feedback throughout the process that stage presence would help in the interviews, especially to calm your nerves. These [interviews] are 20 minute slots that matter a lot. And to be able to get up there and stay calm and roll with the punches, improvise as they say, would be very important. Then, more intellectually, we thought about what core tenets of improv would be helpful in the interview process, because it’s not a stage, you can’t make things up. But there’s certainly tools in improv that let you pivot from questions that would not fit as well into the candidate’s story into ones that do better [fit with the story], moments to create laughter after maybe botched questions, to always salvage and make those spontaneous connections that improv of course thrives on. I’ve been working with Brian Herrera this semester, a professor at the Lewis Center, and we thought about this from a performance viewpoint and from a performance studies viewpoint. DP: Can you tell me a little bit about why you’re interested in physics and poetry and what See MARSHALL page 4
Today on Campus 12:30 p.m.:Experience world-class music more personally than ever before during a meditation to live music by clarinetist Martin Fröst and pianist Henrik Måwe. Richardson Auditorium
By Mallory Williamson Staff Writer
At 7 p.m. Wednesday, 743 students will become the first individuals admitted to the University’s Class of 2023. They were selected from a Single Choice Early Action (SCEA) pool of 5,335 applicants, making for a 13.9 percent acceptance rate in the early round — representing the most competitive SCEA application process in the history of the University. “It is an exceptionally strong pool,” said deputy dean of the college and acting director of admission Elizabeth Colagiuri. “We were really quite impressed with the strength of the students,” she said. Students admitted hail from 49 U.S. states, as well as Washington, D.C., and U.S. territories. Thirty-six countries are represented in the admitted group, and prospective international students make up 10 percent of those selected. Fifty-one percent of the selected students are female, and 49 percent are male. Twenty-one percent of the admitted students indicated interest in pursuing a B.S.E. degree, in keeping with last year. Fifty percent of admits are domestic students of color, a 6 percent increase from last year’s percentage of domestic students of color. Seventeen percent of the cohort would be first-generation college students. “We’re very proud of the range of students admitted,” dean of the college and acting dean of admissions Jill Dolan See 2023 page 3
WEATHER
By Ben Ball
HIGH
41˚
LOW
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Scattered Showers chance of rain:
50 percent
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Society itself is not religious, although it attracts religious members ANSCOMBE Continued from page 1
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form for the philosophical discussion of these issues so we can reach anyone, regardless of where they come from, mainly through the use of reason,” Nolan said. Since 2005, the Anscombe Society has sought to advocate for and promote dialogue on campus around what Nolan calls issues “close to the person,” taking often-controversial stances on sexuality and relationships. The group
seeks to balance advocacy and discourse through non-theological means. According to its mission statement, the group is “dedicated to affirming the importance of the family, marriage, and a proper understanding [of] the role of sex and sexuality.” More specifically, the group advocates for stable families, a concept that encourages motherhood, chastity, and the definition of marriage as an “exclusive, monogamous union of a man and a woman.” Nolan added that another
reason why the group does not claim to be religious is that religion and religious views are, in his experience, immediately discounted. “The word ‘religion’ is often used in a way to discount certain points of view as irrational,” Nolan said. The group’s namesake, Elizabeth Anscombe, was a 20th-century British philosopher known for her oftencontroversial views, such as her strong opposition to gay marriage and abortion. One of her most famous essays was a strong defense of the
Catholic Church’s opposition to contraceptives. Martinson confirmed that, as an institution, the Anscombe Society shares Anscombe’s views on sexual ethics. However, Martinson and other members noted that, despite its controversial nature, the Anscombe Society has no intention of pressing its beliefs onto others. “I think one of the biggest misconceptions about Anscombe is that we’re trying to force our morals on other people,” said Aidan Hintermaier ’22, another member. “We’re trying to get people to think about the underlying morals.” Nolan emphasized that, despite the very political nature of issues such as abortion and gay marriage, calling the group “political” would not be accurate. Nolan instead said the group’s focus was less “political” and more “cultural.” Founded at Princeton, the Anscombe Society has chapters on other college campuses, such as Harvard and MIT. According to Nolan, the University chapter has a few dozen members, although the number of those who attend regularly is slightly smaller. According to Martinson, the group seeks to balance presenting its ideas to those who have not heard them and providing an insular space for those who already share its ideas. The society holds book discussions and social events, including semi-formals, which occurred earlier this year. “There’s a way to live this traditional sexual ethic that’s still fun and enjoyable, and you can have a robust social life,” Martinson said. The group has experienced its share of public controversy. Similar to the controversy surrounding Turning Point USA’s (TPUSA) advertising of an event featuring Kyle Kashuv, a survivor of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas shooting, Anscombe Society advertising has been critiqued on listservs for being vague or, according to some students, misleading. One specific incident of this was the advertising for the Anscombe Society’s “Why Feminism?” event, hosting speaker Mona Charen, a conservative political columnist and author. The email advertisement for the event, sent out on the residential college listservs, said Charen would speak on “modern day-feminism, the hookup culture, and the campus rape crisis,” but did not explicitly state
what her views on those subjects were. Charen herself is a major critic of the modern feminist movement, having previously claimed that feminism’s “endorsement” of the sexual revolution was “disastrous.” “The so-called rape culture on college campuses, hookup culture, the hostility between men and womenfeminism ― has to take some responsibility because they were cheerleaders for all of that,” Charen said in one interview with MSNBC. Martinson said that the leadership of the society took the criticism of its advertising into account and is working to improve. “The criticism doesn’t fall [on] deaf ears,” Martinson said. “We’re all human, and we’re all trying to learn how to do our jobs better.” Another recent speaker hosted by the Anscombe Society was Jill Manning, who spoke at the group’s “Porn Actually: A Research-Based and Clinical Perspective on Internet Pornography” event, in which Manning described the harms of pornography, specifically referring to the addiction to pornography. “Ten percent of the adult population has an addiction to impulsive sexual behavior,” Manning said. “Of the 11 most studied addictions in this country, this is the fifth most prevalent with the third most negative consequences.” Manning described pornography as inherently “exploitative.” She used the analogy of bottled water, comparing water to a person’s sexual desire. She said that while it was important to drink water, there are less wasteful and harmful ways of going about it than using a plastic bottle. Likewise, there are better ways to express sexual desire than through watching pornography. The pornography lecture, which was followed by a Q&A, took place in McCormick 101 at 4:30 p.m. on Dec. 6. Nolan praised Manning for the tone with which she conducted the lecture. He hoped that, as the Anscombe Society continues to advocate on campus, it does so with the same intellectual rigor and calm reason that Manning displayed. “Manning did an incredible job with her tone. It was not political, it was not ranting, it was not moralistic,” Nolan said. “It was a gentle invitation to see things differently. That is very much the type of tone we want to strike.”
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Colagiuri: We were quite impressed with the strength of students 2023
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............. said. “They are artists, athletes, they do a lot of community service. They have a commitment to service, being global citizens.” The 13.9 percent acceptance rate represents a drop from last year’s SCEA admission rate of 14.7 percent. In 2016, 15.4 percent of students were accepted through the early round, and in 2015 that figure was 18.6 percent. “The level at which most who already applied are already working in high school is extremely impressive,” Dolan said. “That’s what makes [choosing students] such a difficult task.” The early admits will join students who deferred admission to previous classes and the students admitted through Regular Decision in March to compose the Class of 2023. The SCEA process is non-binding, meaning students accepted to the University through the early admission process can apply to other schools and have until May 1 to make a final school choice. The deadline to apply to the University through the Regular Decision process is Jan. 1. Students deferred through the early round of admissions will receive a final decision from the University on the same day as the Regular Decision applicants. For the second year in a row, the University will also admit transfer students, who apply through a different process. For prospective transfers, the deadline to apply is March 1. “Regular Decision is coming up, but if this is any indication, we’re really impressed and very excited,” Dolan said.
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The scholarship covers two years of study at a university in the U.K. MARSHALL Continued from page 1
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connection you see between them? JH-A: I was interested in physics first and have been since I was five years old. I remember looking at a Wikipedia article about general relativity and just loving the math, loving the way the symbols look and thinking, I really want to understand this, and now it turns out you can. I’ve been doing physics fairly intensely for a long time at Princeton — not much before actually — and I just found it increasingly rewarding and beautiful. It boils down to the fact that we can ask really simple questions and get out very detailed and fantastical answers, and I think poetry does something similar there but focused less on atoms and the universe and much more on how we feel and how we feel about each other. At least [with] the poetry that I tend to write, you can ask these very naive, almost desperate questions and come up with answers that sometimes surprise yourself. I think that’s what drew me to poetry after doing a lot of physics: You actually can learn more about the person doing the discipline than the discipline itself. DP: What are you excited about? JH-A: I’m most excited about my advisors. I thought long and hard about whether to apply to fellowships abroad instead of going to grad school and was swayed more by the people I could work with than anything else. I’m really excited about John March-Russell, a dark matter phenomenologist at Oxford University. His work is a natural and direct continuation of some of my earlier published work. And then I’ll be working with Ed Copeland, who’s a cosmologist at Nottingham who I first heard of on the Numberphile Youtube video series in high school. I thought he seemed like a wonderful guy, and now I’m going to work with him for a year on some sort of dark matter theory. Gocmen, a history major, also earned a certificate in European cultural studies. Since graduating, he has been working as an portfolio analyst at BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager. Gocmen plans to first earn an M.Sc. in economics at University College London (UCL), then pursue a master’s in history of political thought and intellectual history, jointly administered by UCL and Queen Mary University of London. Q&A with Ararat Gocmen ’17 The Daily Princetonian: What did you study while you were at Princeton, and what have you been doing since you graduated? Ararat Gocmen: I studied history as my formal undergraduate degree. I got a minor
in European cultural studies, while also doing a heavy amount of studying economics and languages. But my focus was history — European history, specifically in the 20th century. Since then, I’ve been working at BlackRock in the portfolio analytics group, where we provide analytical support for various kinds of BlackRock clients. DP: What motivated you to take the courses of study that you did, and what motivated you to apply for a Marshall Scholarship to further your education? AG: I have always been motivated by a desire to contribute to discussions around politics, economics, and history that are happening among students, politicians, policymakers, and the general public. That was the way I approached my studies at Princeton. Whatever I studied, the idea was to learn things that impact society directly, in terms of ideas that are up in public discourse, and then contribute to that discourse. That was also my goal for the Marshall Scholarship — not having an economics degree and being able to pursue one as a graduate student will give me the skills and the voice I need to contribute to discussions around economics, not just the history of it. I will also be getting a degree in the history of political thought and intellectual history, part of which is learning about the history of ideas and ideology, and having specialized training in that area before pursuing a Ph.D. with a broad focus in 20th century political and economic history will be valuable to me in my goal of trying to contribute to and change the discourse in ways that will positively impact society. DP: What are some highlights and best moments that you care to share from your Princeton experience? AG: I would definitely say the highlights of my Princeton experience were the people I met, mostly through whatever kinds of organizations I was affiliated with or helped start up — Model UN, the Federal Reserve Challenge Team, the Princeton Armenian Society, or the Princeton Progressive magazine. I joined these organizations actively with, again, the longterm mentality of contributing to discourse in various forms, but also to meet people and make friends and build longterm relationships that I still maintain today. Outside of my studies, the best parts of Princeton were always the people. DP: And what are some regrets you have from your Princeton experience — things you wish you could have done, or done more of, or not done? AG: I don’t have regrets. I hope I don’t sound condescending, but I don’t. I’m glad I approached Princeton the way I did — I had some overkill moments with two really intense semesters and two not-so-intense semesters, but I’m glad I did it that way instead of a more
“balanced” approach. You might say I had some high volatility experiences, but I’m happy with how it turned out. DP: The press release had a quote from your personal statement that mentioned the importance of your ArmenianAmerican identity. Could you expand on that a little? AG: Well, I grew up in northern New Jersey, where there is a big Armenian-American community. People were from Turkey, Istanbul, Beirut, Aleppo, and such. Growing up there immersed me in the peculiarities of the Armenian experience. We have a history of a genocide that is still deep in our memories today; we know our family histories going back four or five generations because we have to, in order to explain things like how I ended up in Cliffside Park, N.J., or in Bergen County more generally. I had to understand a very unique history of family moves that are tied to a deeper history of the Armenian people. I think that experience is definitely a part of what makes me so interested in history: being of and from a culture of people who have a very deep history and have to tell their family histories very precisely in order to understand where they’re from — a contested history where a non-marginal part of the world claims that your people’s identifying historical moment was not even a genocide — and having to engage with people in debate about the past, instead of engaging with the past as a series of facts. All of that gave me a historiographical understanding of the way the world works. You can’t avoid seeing history as a contested battleground, as a past that affects the present and your thoughts about the future, starting from a very young age. And I think that’s a major part of how I ended up wanting to become a history major — wanting to change and contribute to the discourse — because I saw as an Armenian how the discourse can be affected by competing visions and stories about what history was. DP: And how would you say being Armenian-American impacted your time at Princeton? AG: I went to an Armenian day school growing up, so I only knew Armenian-Americans in my life until I was fourteen years old. I experienced culture shock in high school, which was like, Oh wow, there’s an American life that I wasn’t familiar with before, because it was a very diverse high school, but everyone there still had at least one grandparent whose mother tongue was not English. I don’t think I met anyone in childhood whose grandparents all had English as a first language. And that, in turn, was another major shock when I came to Princeton: having to realize that there was an entire world of what you might call “true Americans,” or Americans whose identities are not deeply
tied to another country or part of the world. Adjusting to that was definitely tough. It wasn’t necessarily not having an Armenian-American community — in fact, senior year, I formed an Armenian-American society after I met some other Armenian Americans — but generally being in a space inhabited by people whose families have been here for many generations, many of whom have even sent people to Princeton for many generations. That was a severe culture shock, because I was not familiar with that world at all. My background did not prepare me for the kind of diversity that I experienced at Princeton. Holbrook, a comparative literature major, plans to pursue an M.Phil. in education at the University of Cambridge in her first year. She will then pursue an M.Litt. at the University of St. Andrews. On campus, Holbrook participates in Innovation science magazine and is a Writing Center fellow. Q&A with Myrial Holbrook ’19 The Daily Princetonian: How did you first hear about the Marshall Scholarship, and what convinced you to apply? Myrial Holbrook: I’ve always loved English literature, so I always thought I’d want to study in the U.K. That became clearer even more when I studied abroad with the English department in London my junior year. The museum culture really attracted me, not just the educational system — and obviously, for a comparative literature major, the literary landmarks are incredible. The fellowships office was really instrumental in getting me to apply. I knew I wanted to study abroad, and they encouraged me to cast a wide net. I applied to a bunch of different scholarships: Gates, Rhodes, Ertegun. I even considered applying for a Fulbright Scholarship in Spain — I specialize in Spanish and English literature, and I really enjoyed spending a summer abroad there after my junior year. I procrastinated a lot over the summer while I supposed to be drafting my applications. I was in Vienna with a global seminar, and then I went to London for thesis research. I was very much trying to balance those, and truth be told, it was very hard to put pen to paper. But for the Marshall, I felt the most at-home. It’s really centered around the U.K.-U.S. relationship, and I felt that ultimately I had a lot to say about that. I really liked the ability to interchange between the universities, the museums, and the cities, and the flexibility of being able to choose your own route. You can pick and choose different programs, and I decided to choose Cambridge for my first year and St. Andrews for the second. DP: You mentioned that you had some initial difficulty choosing between the different
scholarships. What were some of the other challenges? MH: I think the hardest part was that I had all these swirling interests, which made it difficult to narrow it down my major in a focused way. In addition to English and Spanish, I speak Chinese and a little bit of German, and I’ve ventured into anthropology and creative writing. The answer to my indecisiveness was Comparative Literature. You have a lot of flexibility to make your own course of study, and there’s so many different subfields. Also, it was tough reaching out to potential advisors out of nowhere, but they were all super nice and approachable. DP: What do you plan to do when you arrive in the U.K. next year? MH: At Cambridge, there’s a program called, “Critical Approaches to Children’s Literature.” I’ve taken a kiddy-lit class, and I’ve dabbled in children’s lit in my independent work, and I thought it would be really fun to take a more targeted program for my first year before I start to think about a potential Ph.D. The next year, I’m going to try to get a degree in creative writing. There’s a professor there who I’ve read a lot, and I’m going to work with her as my advisor. I like that I’ll be able to produce a deliverable project not only in an academic setting, but in a creative mode too. I’m really excited about it, especially because some of the leading scholars in children’s literature are at these two universities. I didn’t realize it at the time, but we read one of my interviewer’s books in my class. Hopefully I’ll be working with her. DP: Are you worried about anything in particular? MH: I guess it’s a different learning environment. I only have one year in each place, unlike here, where I had four years to pick and choose among classes. There’s a lot that I want to do and explore within the university and outside of it, so one of my concerns is fitting it all in. Also, it’s a quick turnaround from my thesis. I’m looking at the Spanish “picaresque” novel, which was a 16th-century genre that was the first orphan literature in all of fiction, and how it inspired Mark Twain. I want to do something different. But at the same time, I’m still really excited. I’ve never been to Scotland before, so I’ve been watching a lot of Rick Steves videos so I can figure out all of the cool places I should visit. DP: Is there anything else you want to add? MH: I’m just really thrilled and excited, and honestly, it hasn’t really sunk in yet. You see all the former applicants and you’re super intimidated when you’re in the middle of applying, but I’m really happy that it worked out.
COURTESY OF ARARAT GOCMEN ’17. MYRIAL HOLBROOK ’19, JONAH HERZOG-ARBEITMAN ’19
Ararat Gocmen ‘17, Myrial Holbrook ‘19, and Jonah Herzog-Arbeitman ‘19 were selected as Marshall Scholars.
Thursday December 13, 2018
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PSIP program now offers internships in Shanghai, Tel Aviv, New York
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Students pictured at their PSIP internship locations
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Data show self-segregation in the eating clubs CLUBS
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............. dent boarding, or religiously affiliated school, according to a newsletter from this past spring. In contrast, 41 percent of Princeton’s Class of 2019 attended these types of schools. The median cost of TI members’ private secondary education is $36,685 per year. Compared to all undergraduates, students concentrating in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and those in Bachelor of Science in Engineering (BSE) programs are overrepresented in sign-in clubs. Sixty-five percent of signin members study STEM and 35 percent are engineers. School-wide, 50 percent of undergraduates study STEM, and 26 percent are engineers. STEM concentrators are significantly underrepresented in the three oldest eating clubs. Only 24 percent of Ivy, 26 percent of Cottage, and 39 percent of TI study STEM subjects. In 1967, The Harvard Crimson’s reporter at Princeton wrote, “there is a high proportion of math and science men in the bottom clubs” compared to the “top clubs.” At that time, he considered Charter, Cloister, Terrace, and Quadrangle to be the bottom, and Ivy, TI, and Cottage to be three of the clubs at the top. Fifty-one years later, that observation still holds true despite the University’s admission of women and an increasing number of STEM students. Implications The controversy surrounding this issue doesn’t make sense. Before Stanford University’s eating clubs closed, they had been reporting their members’ demographics since the 1960s. Princeton is behind the curve by a half century. Everyone should be aware of eating clubs’ demographics — in addition to those of upperclassmen on independent and residential college meal plans — because they impact students. First, they can influence school policy. Currently, all juniors and seniors on financial aid receive a $2,000 boost each year to help pay for upperclass dining options. Although this policy is helpful, many students still fall into an awkward financial doughnut hole: They come from families that don’t make enough money to easily stroke a $10,000 (or even $3,000) check to an eating club but also don’t demonstrate enough need to receive full financial aid, which would cover their bills. Concrete data that’s published each year would show the effectiveness of administrators’ initiatives and tell officers if they should cut costs to make their clubs more accessible. Second, the Street’s divisions could greatly impact students’ futures. Earlier this year, Kevin Carey wrote in The New York Times, saying “eating clubs are where many upper-income marriages begin.” His column demonstrated that Ivy League students — including Princetonians – of lower socioeconomic status are less likely to get married than their affluent peers. But beyond marriage, membership in an eating club may provide different prospects in members’ careers, networks, earnings, charity, levels of tolerance, and more. Students could have very different futures depending upon the demographics of the eating club that they join. Ultimately, we — Princeton students — are responsible for the Street’s stratification. We are the ones who judge others based on superficial traits, segregate ourselves by socioeconomic status, and create hierarchies of social prestige. The trends in this study are startling. Each year, demo-
graphic data on eating club memberships — as well as students on independent and residential college meal plans — should be released to all undergraduates. The student body needs to look in the mirror and understand how it segregates itself. Interclub Council and University Responses My investigation also uncovered administrators’ previously unknown practice of sharing confidential demographic data with eating club presidents. In a statement and interview, ICC chair Hannah Paynter ’19 said the University provides eating club graduate boards and undergraduate presidents with “confidential information” on club demographics. Paynter said the ICC requested the data after meeting with Princeton’s Executive Director for Planning and Administration Christopher Burkmar ’00. Burkmar deferred comment to the Office of Communications. University spokesperson Ben Chang confirmed in an email that the University shares aggregate demographic data with the eating club presidents and graduate boards. “This practice, which began last year, helps the clubs better understand the demographics of their members and supports recommendations of the 2017-18 Task Force on the Relationship between the University and the Eating Clubs,” he wrote. The University regularly reviews demographic data, “to develop initiatives, enhance programs, and review student engagement.” He said data is classified as “Confidential” under the University Information Security Policy. This level permits the sharing of confidential Information when, “necessary to meet the University’s legitimate business needs.” Chang affirmed that the University did not violate any federal laws or disclose data on individual students. “We thought that we were trailblazing by trying to get that kind of data because it’s private,” Paynter said. Although she acknowledged that the presidents would eventually inform undergraduates of this development, she remains opposed to making the data available to them. Paynter noted that the ICC has already formed partnerships with the Princeton Latinos y Amigos, Freshman Scholars Institute, and Scholars Institute Fellows Program. “I think the most frustrating thing is that the clubs are already putting forth these concerted efforts to change their make-ups and ensure no one feels unwelcome,” Paynter said. * * * Full Report All Clubs Overall, eating club members hail from towns that collectively have a median household income of $76,543 and an average of $86,103. For reference, the median household income in the United States is $61,372, according to the U.S. Census. An estimated 54 percent of all eating club members are male and 46 percent are female. Slightly less than 30 percent are varsity athletes. Twelve percent are from abroad. Nearly half concentrate in STEM subjects. About a quarter are pursuing a BSE degree. For all undergraduates, the University reports that 51 percent are male and 49 percent are female. Thirteen percent are international students, 18 percent are varsity athletes. There are no major differences in the gender ratios between selective and non-selective clubs. Ivy Club (est. 1879) Members come from towns with a median household in-
come of $76,082 and an average of $85,188. Twenty-nine percent have hometown household incomes over $100,000. Thirty-six percent of hometown household incomes are below the U.S. median. It is critical to keep in mind what I will call the “city effect”; large cities have a wide range of incomes, meaning that the incomes of families in the upper income range will be imprecisely represented by the median for the city overall. Given the reasonable assumption that Princeton students are generally pulled from the wealthier echelons of their hometowns, this analysis likely underestimates the family incomes of students from major cities. Students from Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City, and Washington, D.C. comprise 22 percent of Ivy’s American membership. Males and females are split 50-50. International students are 28 percent of the club. Of Ivy’s international students, 45 percent are from the United Kingdom, and 30 percent are from London alone. Thirty-three percent of Ivy members are varsity athletes. One quarter concentrate in STEM subjects, and 13 percent are engineers. Slightly more than 40 percent are Wilson School, history, economics, and politics (WHEP) concentrators. Ivy president Mimi Asom ’19 did not respond to a request for comment. Tiger Inn (est. 1890) TI members come from towns that have a median household income of $77,680 and an average of $88,533. More than 33 percent had hometown household incomes above $100,000. Thirty-eight percent had hometown household incomes below the U.S. median. Half of members are male, and half are female. Almost 7 percent are international students. Twenty-nine percent are varsity athletes. About 40 percent study STEM subjects, and 23 percent are engineers. TI president Maggie McCallister ’19 did not respond to a request for comment. Cap & Gown Club (est. 1891) Cap and Gown members come from towns that have a median household income of $75,313 and a mean of $82,943. Thirty-one percent have hometown household incomes above $100,000. Thirty-seven percent have hometown household incomes below the U.S. median. Fifty-nine percent are male, and 41 percent are female. Around 12 percent are international students. Eight percent are varsity athletes. Fifty-three percent of members study STEM subjects, and 31 percent are engineers. Cap president RJ Hernandez ’19 did not follow up on a request for comment. Colonial Club (est. 1891) Colonial members come from towns that have a median household income of $81,458 and an average of $87,809. Thirty percent have hometown household incomes over $100,000. Thirty-two percent have hometown household incomes below the U.S. median. Fifty-nine percent are male, and 41 percent are female. Onetenth are international students, of whom 33 percent are Canadian. Less than 1 percent are varsity athletes. Thirty-two percent are from towns with median household incomes below the U.S. median. Three-quarters of members study STEM subjects. About half are engineers. Outgoing Colonial president Kimberly Peterson ’19 did not follow up on a request for comment. Cannon Dial Elm Club (est. 1896; reopened 2011) Cannon Dial Elm members come from towns that have a
median household income of $77,680 and an average of $88,948. Thirty-seven percent have hometown household incomes above $100,000. Thirtysix percent have hometown household incomes below the U.S. median. The split between males and females is 47 percent and 53 percent, respectively. Eight percent are international students, of whom 63 percent are Canadian. More than three-quarters are varsity athletes. More than one-third study STEM subjects, and 16 percent are engineers. Forty percent are WHEP concentrators. Cannon president Julia Haney ’19 did not follow up on a request for comment. Charter Club (est. 1901) Charter members come from towns that have a median household income of $69,626 and an average of $82,426. A quarter have hometown household incomes over $100,000. Thirty-five percent have hometown household incomes below the U.S. median. Sixty-five percent are male, and 35 percent are female. Four percent are international students. One member is a varsity athlete. Eighty-eight percent study STEM, and 65 percent are engineers. Outgoing Charter president Conor O’Brien ’19 did not follow up on a request for comment. Quadrangle Club (est. 1901) Quadrangle members come from towns that have a median household income of $71,830 and an average of $81,256. Twenty-nine percent have hometown household incomes above $100,000. Forty-two percent have hometown incomes below the U.S. median. Fifty-three percent are male, and 47 percent are female. Fourteen percent come from abroad. Seventy percent study STEM subjects. One-third are engineers. Outgoing Quadrangle president Sarah Spergel ’19 did not follow up on a request for comment. Tower Club (est. 1902) Tower members come from towns that have a median household income of $83,205 and an average of $89,256. Forty-five percent have hometown household incomes over $100,000. Forty-three percent have hometown household incomes below the U.S. median. Fifty-three percent are male, and 47 percent are female. Seventeen percent are international students, of whom 66 percent hailed from South or East Asian countries. Three-and-a-half percent are varsity athletes. Sixty-one percent study STEM subjects, and 35 percent are engineers. Twenty-seven percent are WHEP concentrators. Tower president and ICC cochair Rachel Macaulay ’19 declined to comment. Terrace Club (est. 1904) Terrace members come from towns that have a median household income $68,304 and an average of $81,352. Twentythree percent have hometown household incomes over $100,000. Thirty-six percent have hometown household incomes below the U.S. median. Fifty-one percent are male, and 49 percent are female. Thirteen percent are international students. Two percent are varsity athletes. Fifty percent study STEM subjects. Nineteen percent are engineers. Outgoing Terrace president Elizabeth Yu ’19 did not respond to a request for comment. Cottage Club (est. 1906) Like Ivy, Cottage’s income estimate is also probably an underestimate. Twenty-three percent of American members of Cottage reside in cities with a population over 300,000. Cottage members come
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CHARLOTTE ADAMO :: PRINCETONIAN ASSOCIATE DESIGN EDITOR
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Some demographics underepresented in certain clubs from towns that have a median household income $75,260 and an average of $87,494. Thirtyfour percent have hometown household incomes above $100,000. Forty-one percent have hometown household incomes below the U.S. median. Males are 58 percent of the club, and 43 percent are female. International students compose 14 percent of members, of whom 54 percent are Canadian. Seventy-eight percent are varsity athletes. Twenty-six percent study STEM subjects, but only 12 percent are engineers. Fifty-five percent are WHEP concentrators. Cottage president Casey Swezey ’19 did not respond to a request for comment. Cloister Inn (est. 1912; reopened 1977) Cloister members come from towns that have a median household income of $83,958 and an average of $87,390. Thir-
ty-nine percent have hometown household incomes over $100,000. Thirty-five percent have hometown household incomes below the U.S. median. Males are 60 percent of the club, and females are 40 percent. Seven percent are international students, of whom over half are from the United Kingdom. Athletes are 64 percent of club members. Fifty-seven percent study STEM subjects, and one-third are engineers. “One of Cloister’s main recruitment goals this past year was to expand recruitment to non-varsity athletes,” outgoing Cloister president and ICC chair Hannah Paynter said in an interview. She explained that the club used to be smaller and hovered around consisting of 70 percent varsity athletes before it grew this year. “I am happy to see that you found that number go down,” said Paynter, “because we found
that too.” Methodology I obtained the eating clubs’ membership rosters from the University’s meal exchange website. Paynter confirmed the list is accurate. Tigerbook — a student-produced and student-maintained database service to which only University undergraduates have access — provided members’ concentrations, hometowns, and profile pictures. I used the most recent U.S. Census Bureau data on area median household incomes (AMI) of American eating club members’ hometowns to estimate their socioeconomic levels. This proxy is most accurate when confined to a small, specific area, but of course, some members’ hometowns were listed as big cities, such as Philadelphia. The New York Times found from anonymous tax records that Princeton students have average family incomes of
$186,100. None of my income estimates came close to that of the Times’s values, so using the AMI probably significantly underestimates club members’ household incomes. The Princeton athletics website provided rosters of all varsity teams to determine whether students were athletes. I defined STEM concentrations as fields of study that the Office of the Dean of the Faculty grouped into the Natural Sciences and Engineering and Applied Science academic divisions. A spring 2017 TI newsletter included a list of names and high schools for the newly accepted members of the Class of 2019. Some private schools have day costs and higher boarding costs. In such cases, I used the boarding cost in calculations. I inferred members’ gender by their name and appearance. My crude method was, well, crude. It skipped over transgen-
der, gender non-conforming, and other individuals who identify differently than their facial appearance normatively suggests. Twitter also guesses users’ gender based on their profile information. My investigation’s gender estimates may be off by a few percentage points — though likely not by any huge margin. If this method is accurate enough for Twitter, then it is for my purposes as well. I estimated the clubs’ racial demographics by last name and appearance. I will not release the specific results at this time because they suffer from my own biases and the same pitfalls as the gender estimates. Liam O’Connor is a junior geosciences major from Wyoming, Del. He can be reached at lpo@princeton.edu.
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Women’s basketball dominates in-state rival Monmouth, extend win streak MEN’S HOCKEY
By Molly Milligan
Sports Staff Writer
Women’s basketball (4–7 overall, 0–0 Ivy) extended their win streak to three on Tuesday night at Monmouth (3–6). The Tigers bested the Hawks 79–47 in junior forward Bella Alarie’s second game back from injury. Coming into the matchup, head coach Courtney Banghart highlighted the two teams’ different styles of play. “They’re gonna play 94 feet … they’re gonna play up-tempo,” she said of the Hawks on her weekly podcast, “The Court Report.” Banghart discussed Princeton’s preparations, noting her team would focus on getting ready to face a zone
defense and containing Monmouth’s two dynamic scorers, guards Sierra Green and Emani Clough. Monmouth has struggled offensively this season, scoring just 54.9 points per game on just 33.9 percent shooting. Though the Hawks had won three of their last four games, this scoring trend continued against Princeton — they would shoot just 31 percent. Princeton put up a balanced attack with four players scoring in double figures. They jumped out to a quick lead, leading 23–9 by the end of the third quarter. Monmouth would get within six points of the Tigers in the next frame, but a threepointer from sophomore guard Carlie Littlefield and a five-point run from Alarie
opened up the scoring margin before halftime. Princeton’s defense began to take shape, too. They held Monmouth to just six points in the third quarter and forced 19 total turnovers. On the other end of the court, the Tigers connected on 46 percent of their field goals, going eight for 18 from a threepoint range and 15 for 16 from the free throw line. Alarie saw just 27 minutes of action on Tuesday after playing 36 against Quinnipiac (4–5), but still put in 16 points and seven rebounds. The junior has quickly made up for the nine games she missed at the start the season, earning Ivy League Player of the Week honors for her season debut — 16 points, a ca-
reer-high 19 rebounds, five blocks, two steals, and two assists to win the award for the tenth time. “The way she impacts the game is really fun to watch,” said Banghart. “She’s just a magnet to the ball, on both ends (of the court).” While Banghart said “everyone’s excited to have Bella back,” Banghart is just as quick to note that winning basketball games is a team effort. “We’re best when we’re at full strength,” she added. Full strength means something new for some players who had to step up in Alarie’s absence. Before the Quinnipiac game, Banghart had a conversation with her point guard Littlefield, reminding her to stay aggressive. Her message seems to have worked:
Littlefield led the way for Princeton against Monmouth, shooting 57 percent from beyond the arc and converting all three of her free throw attempts to finish with 19 points. Banghart is excited to see what her team can do through the rest of December and in the Ivy League. “To win the Ivy title you’ve gotta be deep,” she said. “And I think we will be close to full strength by the time we get to league play.” The Tigers are still awaiting the returns of junior forward Taylor Baur and senior guard Qalea Ismail. On Saturday, Princeton hosts Marist (7–2). Tip-off is set for 5 p.m., and the game will be streamed on ESPN+.
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The women’s basketball team extended their winning streak to three as junior Bella Alarie returned to action.
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Prior to last night’s win, Penn had not beaten Villanova since 2002; congrats Penn, you earned this win.