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Friday December 14, 2018 vol. CXLII no. 119
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BEYOND THE BUBBLE
ON CAMPUS
COURTESY OF WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
COURTESY OF MPALA RESEARCH CENTRE
The Mpala Research Centre started hosting University undergraduates in 2005 and has been hosting students ever since.
In her lecture on Thursday, Davis described U.S. history as a “history of broken promises.”
U. researchers in Kenya Davis associates see land drama firsthand prison, capitalism By Sarah Warman Hirschfield, Asad Hussein, and Rebecca Han Associate News and Video Editor and Contributors
The Mpala Research Centre is a world of its own. Great research comes out of the center — its reserves boast a wealth of environmental, scientific, and human resources which researchers draw upon. The subjects of the study — livestock and land, mainly — are contentious political issues in Kenya as well. In early 2017, for instance, famed conservationist Kuki Gallmann, author of “I Dreamed of Africa,” was shot in the abdomen in Laikipia, where Mpala is located. Despite this,
the center will soon be celebrating its 25th anniversary, and Princeton students will continue to benefit from access to Mpala’s 48,000 acres of diverse ecosystems and wildlife. Mpala began hosting University undergraduates in the summer of 2005 and has hosted researchers since 1994, according to Mpala Wildlife Foundation trustee Laurel Harvey. “We have people from over 50 different countries that come and work at Mpala,” said Dino J. Martins, executive director of Mpala and lecturer in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (EEB). Researchers come from the Americas, Europe, and Africa.
“It’s an incredible place where people get to connect with the wild in a way that’s unique, because they’re not only unraveling problems and solving them, but they’re actually also working with people to do the science and apply the science to improve their resource management, their protection of biodiversity, and enhance their livelihood,” said Daniel Rubenstein, a member of the Board of Trustees of Mpala Research Centre and director of the Program in Environmental Studies. “Courses in the field program touch on all of that.” Mpala promotes research that improves ecosystem funcSee KENYA page 3
STUDENT LIFE
By Oliver Effron Contributor
For radical activist Angela Davis, Ph.D., the criminal justice system and capitalism are one and the same. In a fiery lecture hosted by the Whig-Cliosophic Society, Davis — two-time Communist Party USA Vice-Presidential candidate and former FBI 10 Most Wanted fugitive — spoke about her activism around social equality and her experience in the California criminal justice system. Thursday’s talk represented the third occasion in as many years in which Davis has spoken on campus. After a brief introduction
from Whig-Clio co-presidents Lena Hu ’19 and Justin Wittekind ’21, Davis took the stage to a standing ovation, remarking on the demographic make-up of the crowd. In the 1950’s, “a gathering such as this would have been impossible,” she said, “especially at Princeton University.” The election of Donald Trump in 2016, according to Davis, was “an unexpected low” for those who “wished for a better future.” “I don’t know a single event that created such a collective despondency,” she said. Still, she said the election was only one of many events fraught with racial injustice throughout See DAVIS page 2
ON CAMPUS
The Daily Princetonian elects Jean- Herzog-Arbeitman ’19 Jacques ’20 as next business manager mixes improv, physics
CLAIRE THORNTON :: PRINCETONIAN HEAD NEWS EDITOR
“She’s shown a lot of initiative,” said Gizzie ’19, the current business manager.
By Josephine de La Bruyere Contributor
On Wednesday, Taylor JeanJacques ’20 was elected business manager of The Daily Princetonian for the 143rd Managing Board. A psychology major from Greenwich, Conn., she will begin her tenure in February. “I’m very excited,” Jean-Jacques said. “It’s exciting to take on more and play a bigger role on the busi-
ness side of things.” Jean-Jacques joined the business team her first year, working with online advertising for the ‘Prince’ website, after which she served as head of operations for one year. In her new role as business manager, Jean-Jacques will be in charge of all the business operations of the ‘Prince.’ These duties include making sure that the paper is producing revenue and that the ‘Prince’ has enough financial backing to contin-
By Benjamin Ball Senior Writer
Jonah Herzog-Arbeitman ’19 very possibly won his Marshall Scholarship because his reviewers liked the fact that he can perform skits about the cosmos. On campus, Herzog-Arbeitman is known for his study of physics and his involvement in the improv comedy troupe Quipfire!. This year, he also threw poetry into his mix of passions, working on a creative thesis with professor Michael Dickman. On Thursday, along with associate professor of theater Brian Herrera, Herzog-Arbeitman gave a talk about his research passions as part of the Creative Intellect Series, sponsored by the Lewis Center for the Arts. He led his audience in a series of four interactive exercises: an improv skit in which he explained his thesis, a poetry reading, and two wordplay games. “Creativity is part of every intellectual practice. Every creative practice has an intellectual dimension,” Herrera said on Thursday. Each Creative Intellect Series talk serves as what Herrera called a “public facing work-demo,” the culminating exercise of a student’s independent work with him.
In Opinion
Today on Campus
Senior columnist Madeleine Marr discusses the effectiveness of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s social media campaign, while columnist Siyang Liu reminds students that the dorms don’t clean themselves. PAGE 4
8 p.m.: The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra presents Handel’s Messiah, directed by Patrick Dupré Quigley and featuring the Montclair State University singers Richardson Auditorium, Alexander Hall
Herzog-Arbeitman’s independent work with Herrera began last spring, after the first creative intellect conversation, which was with Tessa Albertson ’20. “He approached me,” Herrera recalled, “and said, ‘I’m trying to bridge my work in physics with my work in comedy and my work in poetry — and I haven’t found a space on campus. Could we do something together?” Together, Herrera and Herzog-Arbeitman selected books drawing from four particular fields: the history of comedy, the theories of comedy, tactics of popular science, and performance study and theory. Herzog-Arbeitman completed those readings during his spare time while studying physics in Germany — he and Herrera then turned their attention to the interplay between physics and performance studies. Then, midway through the fall semester, Herzog-Arbeitman started receiving invitations to participate as a finalist in what Herrera laughingly called “fancy British scholarships.” He discovered that the bridge between physics and improv greatly interested his interviewers. See IMPORV page 2
WEATHER
ue to produce a print copy every day. Jean-Jacques said that, in the coming year, there are “a lot of opportunities” and “new ways of making money.” She mentioned specifically looking beyond just advertising, such as focusing on sponsored content or special issues of the ‘Prince’ that a particular business or group of businesses could support. Sarah Hirschfield ’20, associate news editor and head video editor for the ‘Prince,’ expressed enthusiasm at the news of Jean-Jacques’s new elected position. “She’s good-hearted, and will undoubtedly be the best leader in this position,” Hirschfeld said. “She is consistent in her performance and a hard worker in every aspect of her life.” Jean-Jacques is preceded by current business manager Ryan Gizzie ’19. Gizzie praised Jean-Jacques’s work as head of operations and said he’s looking forward to her coming tenure as business manager. “She’s shown a lot of initiative and been a great part of our business team,” Gizzie said. “She’ll have some good ideas going forward.” Those ideas, according to Gizzie, also include furthering and continuing to modernize the online presence of the ‘Prince.’ “That’s something the ‘Prince’ has done really well, and that’s something she’ll continue to push the envelope on next year,” Gizzie said.
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Friday December 14, 2018
Herzog-Arbeitman ’19: I’m always Davis advised economics looking for things smarter than me majors to read Marx IMPROV Continued from page 1
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Herzog-Arbeitman had largely prepared answers for deep physics questions in anticipation of his fellowship interviews. But instead, he said, “I was asked all these oddball questions. Can you explain dark matter to my 5-year-old? Can you give us a skit about dark matter? Can you give us a skit about Brexit?” When he left the interviews, he and Herrera began to hone in on more on the link between physics and improv. “There’s a moment and feeling that accompanies a discovery in theoretical work,” Herzog-Arbeitman said. “Improv gives you a template to replicate that feeling when everything clicks.” Herzog-Arbeitman and Herrera also began to incorporate a third creative register into their discussions: poetry.
Those three disciplines — physics, improv, and poetry — might not seem to naturally go together. But for HerzogArbeitman, their connection is evident. “I’m always looking for things that are smarter than me,” he explained. “I’m looking to give very little and get back a lot. To write down a simple equation and have it give me a lot. To write a very brief poem — you can earn a lot in just a couplet. On stage, in two minutes, you can have a room brought together.” Herzog-Arbeitman’s trio of passions won him a Marshall Scholarship, and he sees them continuing after the end of his undergraduate career. Next year, he will attend Oxford University, where he will pursue an Master of Science in theoretical and mathematical physics, audition for the Oxford Imps, and write poetry. The following year, he will move to the University of Nottingham for an Master of
Philosophy. But the focus of his Creative Intellect talk was by no means his scholarship — it was the passion for interdisciplinary study that he and Herrera share. “These disciplines are in service of each other,” Herrera said. “As the University puts more and more focus on interdisciplinary education, the idea of a space for creative intellect becomes more and more important.” The students in the room felt the same. “Hearing Jonah’s talk was really inspiring,” Wendi Yan ’22 said. “I identify myself as a visual artist who seeks to communicate academic topics through visceral experiences to a public audience, and Jonah’s talk inspired me. He left me wondering how I can unify the topics, imageries, and disciplines I am interested in.” The talk took place at 4:30 p.m. in the Wallace Dance Building on Thursday, Dec. 13.
JOSEPHINE DE LA BRUYERE :: PRINCETONIAN CONTRIBUTOR
Herzog-Arbeitman, a member of comedy troupe Quipfire!, is combining poetry with physics for his thesis.
DAVIS
Continued from page 1
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U.S. history — a “history of broken promises.” In fact, she noted, it was former alumnus James Madison who negotiated the Three-Fifths Compromise. “He was the founder of the Whig party, correct?” she asked, pointing to Hu and Wittekind in the audience. During the second half of the lecture, she spoke about her childhood in Birmingham and how it ultimately convinced her to become an activist. She recalled a story about how her neighbors were firebombed by the Ku Klux Klan. She heard the explosion while she was cleaning her shoes for Sunday school. “People sometimes ask me why I became an activist,” she said. “I tell them I had no choice, unless I thought of myself as inferior.” Nevertheless, Davis and her brand of activism have infamously generated controversy. While a professor at UCLA, almost daily anonymous death threats convinced her to buy several guns. Fellow activist Jonathan Jackson stole her guns, taking a local courthouse hostage, eventually resulting in four deaths. She was charged with kidnapping and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, provoking protesters worldwide to demand her release from prison, and she was later acquitted. Nevertheless, she claims that it was only because of her ties to the Communist Party that the “holy triumvirate” of Richard Nixon, J. Edgar Hoover, and then-California Governor Ronald Reagan attempted so adamantly to imprison her. Even now, she maintains her Communist beliefs, arguing that “prison as a form of punishment is directly connected to capitalism.”
“Sometimes we think we can speak about racism separately from capitalism,” she said. “But because of the impulses to build capital through slavery and colonialism, people all over the world suffer from the burden of capitalism today.” She repeated this sentiment during the Q&A section. In response to an audience member’s request that Davis speak directly to the economics majors in the room, the activist responded that they should read Karl Marx’s “Das Kapital.” Finally, she ended the lecture with an impassioned defense of the “Boycott, Divest, Sanction” movement, a controversial political movement founded 13 years ago that has taken on an increasingly messy role in the Israel-Palestine conflict, according to The Guardian. “I’m surprised that politicians have convinced so many people to equate the struggle for Palestine as a form of anti-Semitism,” she said, to audience applause. Audience member Zeytun West ’22 thought that Davis was “wonderful” and had “great ideas.” West is a staff photographer for The Daily Princetonian. “I find that people really pay attention to her when she speaks,” West said. “When she took a break to gather her thoughts, the room was silent. Everybody was hanging on her last word.” The lecture was held in McCosh 50 at 5:30 p.m. on Dec. 13. It was co-sponsored by the WhigCliosophic Society, Women*s Center, the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students (ODUS), the Carl A. Fields Center, the Pace Center, the LGBT Center, the Undergraduate Student Government (USG) Projects Board, the Program in Gender and Sexuality Studies, the Wilson School, the Department of African American Studies, and the Department of Politics.
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Friday December 14, 2018
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Harvey: Mpala Centre has become a transformative experience KENYA
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tions, preserves biodiversity, and enhances the livelihood of pastoralists. When research is not the centerpiece, though, another debate emerges: land ownership. Mpala Research Centre is located in Laikipia County in Kenya, where land and politics have been intertwined since the country gained independence from Britain in 1963. Though the exact size of the land in the area owned by white settlers is unclear, it is estimated to be nearly a million acres, and politicians have often promised the local Kenyans that they would get the land from the rangers and used this as a bargaining chip in campaigns, according to David Hewett, the ranch manager. From 2016 to 2017, in the leadup to the elections in Kenya, members of the local communities started to drive their cattle into privately owned ranges, among them Mpala, and this turned violent. In March 2017, for instance, the co-owner of the Sossian Range, Tristan Voorspuy, was killed. Mathew Lempurkel, the member of parliament for Laikipia at the time, was one of the politicians who made the land issue part of his campaign, and he was even implicated in the murder, though later acquitted, losing his bid in the 2017 elections. At the time, Lempurkel argued that the Maasai signed a lease for the land with the British administration in 1904, and as it has since expired — it was supposed to last only 99 years — the land now belongs to the local community. “The former MP was focused on generating conditions that wouldn’t have helped him get re-elected. The land was a promise. If they [the people] voted for him, they would get the land. And he never had to explain how he would give them the land. That was his platform in 2013 and he remained standing on the same platform in 2017, and tried to encourage a number of communities to basically create their own law and order,” Hewett said. The local communities — the Maasai, Samburu, and Pokot — have been evicted from the land by the colonial admin-
istration, Lempurkel argued, and they deserve to get it back. This has led to tensions in the region regarding land. The University’s involvement For a reserve situated in a region rife with tension, Mpala’s origins and acquisition are relatively cut-and-dry. Sam Small purchased the Mpala property in 1952 and bequeathed it to his brother George Small ’43 in 1969. “He wanted to set it aside and preserve it for the people, [for] the herders that used it, and for the elephants,” Rubenstein said. So, in 1989, Small created the Mpala Wildlife Foundation and the Mpala Research Trust to fund the projects. In 2014, the Mpala Board of Trustees proposed to Provost David Lee that the University take a more active leadership role in overseeing the site. The board suggested that instead of the current structure, in which trustees made annual visits to the site, they should have “one partner oversee the hiring of the executive director” and the priorities of the position, such as working with the Smithsonian Institution and the National Museums of Kenya, according to Harvey. She said that the center has gone “from just a few buildings where scientists would pitch tents to providing a really transformative experience for undergrads.” She also said that Martins has increased collaborative outreach efforts with U.S. and Kenyan universities. One project works specifically with Kenyan graduate students in researching and trapping spiny mice. In the future, she said she saw potential for the center to be less a “Princeton satellite” and more of a “Kenyan nonprofit that is meaningful to Kenya and the continent of Africa.” According to Rubenstein, the University said, “if it was worth it for our students and worth it for our scientists do to their research there, then we’ll certainly be involved.” Mpala Wildlife Foundation, the University, the Smithsonian Institution, the Kenya Wildlife Service, and the National Museums of Kenya are responsible for obtaining the resources to support Mpala’s activities. There are currently around 100 employees at Mpala, about
half of which are employed as research assistants who check on and provide updates for experiments in the field. Harvey said that she has seen many students arrive on the site with no expectation but have “benefited enormously in their career paths.” Current projects and research “One of the things you can do in Mpala that you can’t do elsewhere is experimental manipulation,” Martins said. “It makes the science done down there very robust.” One famous ecological experiment conducted in Mpala is the Kenya Long-term Exclosure Experiment, which started in 1995 to measure the effects of savanna ecology on the wildlife. Other research projects with University-associated principal investigators include the Grevy’s Zebra Project, a study tracking the numbers, movement patterns, and health of the endangered Grevy’s zebra population. Another project, involving associate professor of EEB Rob Pringle, is Ungulate Herbivory Under Rainfall Uncertainty (UHURU), which uses plots and electric fences to simulate large mammal extinctions with rainfall as a variable. Pringle and associate EEB professor Corina Tarnita measure the impact on certain communities if one species’ abundance changes. Assistant EEB professor Julien Ayroles studies the genomes of certain people in Kenya and how natural selection shapes genetic variation. He studies the Turkana, a seminomadic tribe that lives in northern Kenya, one of the hottest and driest environments on the planet. “The Turkan provide a rare opportunity to connect ecological pressures to how natural selection has shaped their genomes,” Ayroles wrote in an email. “Very recently, the development of roads have facilitated the transition of many Turkana to urban centers. There, these desert dwellers experience a radically different environment, from their diet, to water available or pathogenic environment to list a few.” Harvey said that all scientists are allowed inside the exclosures as part of a requirement by the National Science Foundation, which has awarded over
40 grants and over $8 million to projects at Mpala from 1992 to 2017. “They all say this collaborative spirit is what makes Mpala special,” she said. “They talk to one another, they publish together.” She said that unique to the University was a clause in the beginning of the trust agreement stipulating that they had to use their best efforts to fundraise for and support Mpala. Day-to-day life While there are significant conflicts over land in Kenya, for University student researchers, such conflict is at most peripheral — and almost nonexistent. In fact, many of the students said being at the center was a great opportunity, which enabled them to dedicate their time to their work instead of dealing with other problems endemic to fieldwork. “The logic we created in Mpala is to take away the onerous aspects of trying to run a field camp,” Rubenstein said. Because food, electricity, vehicles, and laboratories are provided, researchers do not have to worry about managing these essentials themselves. McKenna Brownell ’20 worked at Mpala this past summer through a Princeton Environmental Institute internship. Through fieldwork, she assisted researchers in a project on the effects of parasites on gene behavior in zebras. “I like the scientific community of people that are passionate about whatever they’re researching,” she said. Brownell said she also enjoyed the unique opportunity to interact with the local community at Mpala, as many locals were hired as research assistants. Many of her most memorable relationships, she said, were formed with the field assistants, many of whom were from local villages. Apart from driving the researchers to and from and sites, she said that their extensive knowledge of the region served as a valuable resource when conducting research. “They help you out with everything,” she said. “They are really knowledgeable about the grass … a lot of them are fantastic animal trackers, so they know where the zebras will be at 10 a.m. in the morning, because they know their grazing patterns.” “Mpala has a very strong
staff,” Brownell said. “They do everything from managing local schools, to fundraising nationally, to managing the rangeland, to working with researchers.” Joanna Zhang ’19 was also at Mpala in the summer, doing research for her senior thesis, a study of livestock-wildlife interactions in a savanna ecosystem. She, along with a research team of another intern and two local research assistants, tracked four herds of cattle, two from Mpala, and two from the pastoralists, native residents who herd livestock on the land. “We tracked where the cattle grazed everyday, and that’s going to let us see where do they graze, and how far do they walk,” she said. “And then the next piece was looking at how that grazing affects the vegetation.” Like Brownell, she enjoyed the opportunity to conduct fieldwork, and said she hoped to be able to do more for her senior thesis. Akash Kushwaha ’21, who came to Kenya along with Sarah Varghese ’19 and Rev. Theresa S. Thames, associate dean of religious life and the chapel, to teach at local schools as part of an ORL project, also stayed at the research center. “We would spend our free time at the research center,” he explained. He and Varghese would prepare for lessons at the primary school or the high school at which they taught. They also learned Swahili from a local in their spare time. “The program was based around connecting Mpala with the people who live there,” Kushwaha said. “The entire internship was about interaction. I’m now taking Swahili at the University so I can go back and talk to the friends I made over there in a language that resonates more with them.” In the future Kenya’s population is growing rapidly and is expected to reach 85 million by 2050, according to a 2010 World Bank report, and the researchers at Mpala hope to come up with solutions to the issues concerning natural resources and wildlife. To that end, Rubenstein hopes to make the Mpala experience open to more people, noting that they are increasing the number of vehicles. “We’ve never had to turn anyone away,” he added.
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Opinion
Friday December 14, 2018
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Ocasio-Cortez: The social media politician Madeleine Marr
Contributing Columnist
O
n Thursday, Nov. 29, Cong ress wom a nElect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez began livestreaming on her Instagram Live Feed. She showed her 978,000 followers one of the many rooms in the Congressional office buildings, nondescript except the fact that most citizens would never have seen it otherwise. She and Congresswoman-elect Ilhan Omar leaned into the camera and discussed how cold it was. “The AC is set to man!” Ocasio-Cortez quipped, while Omar agreed, pulling her hijab around her face. The next day, the same Instagram Feed showed the process by which Congressional representatives pick their offices. She joked, “Someone light a vela and someone palo santo for me.” If this had been a description of a Princeton student’s Instagram or Snapchat Story, nothing would be amiss. Every
day, hundreds of students upload videos and images to their social media accounts, sharing their day-to-day experiences. However, an elected official with a national presence participating in social media in this manner is unprecedented and shocking. Ocasio-Cortez’s social media presence represents a fulfillment of her political ideology: Bring the people back into politics. It is also the best way to engage with the forgotten and ignored in the U.S. political process. While some politicos have predicted the unsustainability of this tactic, this manner of social media politicking is the only viable way for candidates and politicians to effectively reach and excite the greater population. A look at other politicians’ social media presences reveals curated, impersonal PR tools. Nancy Pelosi’s Twitter features a series of sound bites and press releases, all carefully selected by a staffer and likely not by Pelosi herself. While they do state in brief Congresswoman Pelosi’s positions, they don’t engage or teach. The same is true for former Speaker Paul Ryan, whose tweets are only interesting for dedicated politicos — nobody who isn’t extremely
keyed in to the political process would find these feeds informative or engaging. But Ocasio-Cortez has defied this norm. She posts videos while she is cooking in her apartment, explaining environmental policy in a genuine and digestible way. She posts videos of her nieces and nephews alongside her rousing political speeches. She tweets back passionate and personal responses to those who support her, as well as to those who try to mock or belittle her. Her content is highly relatable, especially for younger generations who grew up using social media instinctually. Her posts are natural, as if one of your friends were to wander into the Capital. Her method of engaging with the public is extremely effective, more so than traditional means of outreach, because it resonates with people who might not otherwise think that politics is for them. When she posted job applications for her office, the website reported “heavy traffic warnings.” Her posts get up to 100,000 likes, while other Congresspeople receive a few thousand. Even after she banned press from some of her campaign events, she was able to post footage sent to her
by constituents. She is making politics more transparent by sharing her dayto-day activities as a Congresswoman-elect. Her method of engaging through social media allows her to talk directly to people who don’t necessarily listen when the average politician speaks. By posting cartoons people draw of her and unplanned photos of her in Capital building, she is developing a feed that is entertaining to watch — which only draws more people in to hear about her policies. The growing buzz around her Green Deal, which already has the support of 15 House Democrats before she has even been sworn in, is evidence that her tactics result in real political payoffs. While some have warned that this “can’t last forever,” I disagree: Ocasio-Cortez’s social media style is the only viable future of political engagement. If we want more people who have felt forgotten by the political elite to participate, we need more politicians like Ocasio-Cortez. Madeleine Marr is a sophomore from Newtown Square, P.A. She can be reached atmmarr@princeton.edu.
It’s not magic Siyang Liu
Contributing Columnist
C
ollege students are just so clean and tidy!” said no one ever. Just take one peek at any shared bathroom on a Sunday morning — there are crumpled paper towels overflowing trash bins and many on the floor as a result of poor aim. There’s hair on the shower walls, paint from last night’s big party splattered on the ground, and weird gunk in the sink that you really shouldn’t think too much about. That’s not even the worst: Butler, Forbes, and Rocky Colleges struggle with keeping human waste contained in the toilet — having personally lived in Campbell Hall last year where the “Campbell Crapper” reigned,
I can attest that the whole situation was ludicrous. Even though college students aren’t generally known for their cleanliness, students using shared amenities must still be mindful of their actions and take initiative to clean up after themselves as much as possible. Facilities works hard to keep our spaces clean, and making such a mess in the bathrooms is disrespectful, to say the least. Furthermore, it contributes to a campus culture of failing to hold oneself accountable when no one is watching. It’s easy to toss a used paper towel in the garbage but have it miss instead, bouncing off the rim and onto the ground. It’s even easier to just leave it there. Who’s going to know, after all? It’ll disappear anyway the next day with the rest of the trash. But no matter what, when you leave that paper towel on the floor, somebody has to pick it up. When you leave your hair on
the wall, someone has to pick it off. Someone has to scrape the paint off the ground and wipe the gunk off the sink. Yes, it is the job of Facilities to clean the bathrooms and take out the trash, but it should not have to deal with the aftermath of laziness. Leaving a mess does not show Facilities how much we appreciate what it does. In our busy lives, it’s easy to forget that clean bathrooms and full paper towel dispensers don’t just happen on their own. Real people are working behind the scenes; it’s not magic. Perhaps one way to approach this problem on a broader scale is to educate students on how Facilities works so that the process and people involved seem more real. How are the huge amounts of trash taken away each day? Who does what job? And specifically, who works in your building? If you had a name and face associated with the person who would have to
clean up after you, it would be much harder on your conscience to leave a mess. Of course, not everyone who uses shared bathrooms and spaces makes a mess. In fact, many students are very respectful. But for the subset of the population who consistently neglect to clean up after themselves, it’s time to think hard about the effects of your actions and understand that someone will eventually have to pick that garbage off the ground. The next time your paper towel doesn’t land in the bin, make it a point to pick it up and toss it inside the garbage. Doing so will not only show respect for facilities workers, but also contribute toward promoting a campus culture of accountability and responsibility, even when no one’s looking. Siyang Liu is a sophomore from Princeton, N.J. She can be reached at siyangl@princeton. edu.
vol. cxlii
editor-in-chief
Marcia Brown ’19 business manager
Ryan Gizzie ’19
BOARD OF TRUSTEES president Thomas E. Weber ’89 vice president Craig Bloom ’88 secretary Betsy L. Minkin ’77 treasurer Douglas J. Widmann ’90 trustees Francesca Barber David Baumgarten ’06 Kathleen Crown Gabriel Debenedetti ’12 Stephen Fuzesi ’00 Zachary A. Goldfarb ’05 Michael Grabell ’03 John Horan ’74 Joshua Katz Rick Klein ’98 James T. MacGregor ’66 Alexia Quadrani Marcelo Rochabrun ’15 Kavita Saini ’09 Richard W. Thaler, Jr. ’73 Abigail Williams ’14 trustees emeriti Gregory L. Diskant ’70 William R. Elfers ’71 Kathleen Kiely ’77 Jerry Raymond ’73 Michael E. Seger ’71 Annalyn Swan ’73 trustees ex officio Marcia Brown ’19 Ryan Gizzie ’19
142ND MANAGING BOARD managing editors Isabel Hsu ’19 Sam Parsons ’19 head news editor Claire Thornton ’19 associate news editors Allie Spensley ’20 Ariel Chen ’20 Ivy Truong ’21 associate news and film editor Sarah Warman Hirschfield ’20 head opinion editor Emily Erdos ’19 associate opinion editors Jon Ort ’21 Cy Watsky ’21 head sports editors David Xin ’19 Chris Murphy ’20 associate sports editors Miranda Hasty ’19 Jack Graham ’20 associate street editors Danielle Hoffman ’20 Lyric Perot ’20 digital operations manager Sarah Bowen ’20 chief copy editors Marina Latif ’19 Arthur Mateos ’19 Catherine Benedict ’20 head design editor Rachel Brill ’19 associate design editor Charlotte Adamo ’21 cartoons editor Tashi Treadway ’19 head photo editor Risa Gelles-Watnick ’21
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Learning outside the classroom: the importance of reading Shannon Chaffers
Contributing Columnist
E
very month or so during the past couple years of high school, my dad would take my sister and me on a 20-minute drive from our home in Wellesley, Mass., to the Harvard bookstore in Cambridge. As soon as he unleashed us in the vast expanse of the store, we would scour the shelves to look for the perfect book to hold us over until the next trip. I remember the thrill of discovering all the possible books I could read, the painful process of deciding which book to get — “All the Light We Cannot See,” “Evicted,” or “Stamped from the Beginning”? — and the joy I felt walking out of the store with a new challenge to tackle. Somewhere along my
journey at Princeton, between the whirlwind of Orientation, the rush of my first classes, and the stress of the daily grind, I forgot about this feeling — this feeling of self-discovery, of learning on my own. As college students, we should always be seeking to learn about the world we live in. Reading is one of the best avenues for this endeavor because of its ability not only to educate, but also to inspire. What sparked this realization was a recent assignment for my SOC 101: Introduction to Sociology class, in which I had to choose an outside book about a sociological topic and write a book review. I chose “Coming of Age in the Other America,” which examined the lives of young adults in low-income neighborhoods in Baltimore, seeking to discover what factors and policies prevented them from achieving upward mobility. As I read, I realized I was learning so much more
about the topic that interested me — racial inequality in the United States — than I ever could have by just reading the textbook or going to lecture. Reading that book reminded me that, throughout my life, it hasn’t been the in-class schoolwork driving my passion for academic studies, but rather the independent work I have done for my classes, or the totally unrelated outside reading. I’m sure all of us have a story about that one book we read on our own that sparked a passion for something that we carry with us to this day. For me, that book was James Baldwin’s “The Fire Next Time,” which I read my sophomore year of high school for an independent English project. Baldwin’s essays sparked my passion for the study of racial issues in the United States, a passion that drives my path of study here at Princeton. If I had not read this book, where would I be? You see, reading is about self-
educating, about discovering your passions. And it is these passions that shape our Princeton experience, both inside and outside the classroom. Moreover, by solely relying on Princeton classes to make up our educational experience, we lose so much potential growth and learning throughout our time here. Princeton can’t teach you everything, nor should it. The onus falls upon us as students to educate ourselves on our own time, to follow the passions we’ve discovered over the years, and to seek to learn more about the world we live in as we prepare to go out and try to change it. We didn’t get into Princeton solely because we excelled in the classroom, but also because we showed a love of learning outside of it. This passion for learning and self-discovery shouldn’t stop after high school. Getting into Princeton doesn’t mean we should stop seeking moments to learn on our
own. I’m not saying we shouldn’t take the time to totally escape work, to mindlessly scroll through our Facebook feeds and indulge in funny videos on YouTube, but every once in a while we should strive to pick out a book and learn on our own. So I am setting a goal for myself, and I challenge you to set a similar one. I hope to start a book over the break — it might be a work by James Baldwin, a fiction novel like “Anna Karenina,” or narrative nonfiction like “The Warmth of Other Suns” — and continue reading even as I get caught up in the swing of the next semester. Because college is about so much more than going to classes; it’s about continuing our journey of self-discovery while we still have the time to explore. Shannon Chaffers is a firstyear from Wellesley, Mass. She can be reached at sec3@princeton.edu.
Who are we really electing? Brigitte Harbers
Contributing Columnist
F
ollowing the campuswide winter election season, I think it is important to ask ourselves how much we know about the students who ran to represent us, and the actual purpose of the Undergraduate Student Government (USG) elections. This is especially relevant for the candidates who sought the Class of 2022 senate positions. When looking through the freshman candidate statements and campaign materials, there seemed to be a few common themes, which included keeping students informed, improving the overall Princeton experience, and, predictably, supporting policy changes that “reflect [our] interests.” However, none of these statements were groundbreaking or particularly informative. As a representative of the freshman class, a candidate is expected to act in the interests of their constituents. A candidate running for a student government position doesn’t have to explicitly state that they won’t be cor-
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rupt, as I highly doubt USG gives enough opportunity for there to be an individual who is trying to consolidate power for personal gain. Thus, purely based on the multitude of almost identical candidate statements, it’s hard to distinguish what makes each individual unique. I ultimately found myself asking: “Why should I vote for you?” I’m going to be honest with you. I didn’t end up voting. Not because I didn’t have time or because I forgot, but because I was uninspired by the freshmen who decided to run. As the Daily Princetonian Editorial Board stated, “The candidates [did] not distinguish their positions from those of their opponents.” Although the board did not write about the senate candidates and instead focused on the USG presidential election, I believe the point is still relevant. The freshman class boasted the largest amount of senate candidates at 15, and while the race was competitive, it was only because of the sheer number of candidates and not because of distinct platforms proposed. I do want to say that, while the three previously mentioned initiatives are important, their vague platforms reflect the simplistic and, frankly, boring attempts at pandering to all students in
order to gain a majority vote. Sure, it can seem like a savvy decision to try to create a large voter bloc through a universal platform, but as the title character of “Hamilton” stated in response to why he chose to endorse Thomas Jefferson over Aaron Burr in the election of 1800: “Jefferson has beliefs. Burr has none.” Thus, a campaign opened by a statement focused on appeasing the masses is weaker than a pointed, structured platform that addresses a couple solid goals. Our USG Senate candidates have the responsibility to provide us with an idea of what they aim to achieve if we elect them. Without a clear path, there is no incentive for voters to support them. To the candidates and those who may consider running for any elected position: If you have objectives that tell your voters exactly what you plan to do, you demonstrate a level of dedication that shows you are serious about making a difference once you have the power to do so. This lack of an organized and structured vision brings me to my second point: the real reason people decide to run for USG. I can’t help but wonder if some become candidates for the purpose of actually improving Princeton, or if they just like the idea of
seeing the words “Undergraduate Student Government” on their résumé. Because of the lack of requirements for a candidate, USG is an accessible option to add credibility to an individual’s background. Thus, while I want to assume the best of people, there is always the possibility they are only looking to elevate their status. As a voter, I want to believe that my representatives have some sort of a plan in order to make sure that their time in USG will actually accomplish something beneficial for the student body. However, other than in the officially released candidate statements, I never once saw any policy or initiative-driven materials that supported a freshman’s initial “goals.” So why should we be voting for anyone if that wasn’t the purpose of their running in the first place? Although voting in our country has recently become centered around partisan lines, politics on campus instead focuses on popularity. With no way to differentiate candidates, votes come down to how many people they friend on Facebook and the number of coffee dates they can fit in between lecture and precept. Thus, voting is not determined by candidates’ platforms, but instead by the number of likes on their cover
photos, ultimately diminishing the entire purpose of candidate statements. We need to start taking USG elections more seriously as an opportunity for people to present novel and impactful changes to the Princeton community. Consequently, I propose that USG requires senate candidates to have at least two specific objectives on which they can base their promises and actions while a part of the governing body, rather than just stating they would like to increase sustainability on campus or improve legislation within USG. I’m not saying that those interests are not important, but I think that someone running for a position from which they can impart change should have a stronger approach for doing so. I believe that, especially as a freshman, there is more drive to want to give back to a community that is still exciting and new. So if you’re willing to run, make sure you’re running on something you’re passionate about. Voters, our representatives only have so long to be in power. Let’s make sure that in the future those we select will actually be worth our support. Brigitte Harbers is a first-year from New York, N.Y. She can be reached at bharbers@princeton. edu.
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Sports
Friday December 14, 2018
page 6
{ www.dailyprincetonian.com } MEN’S BASKETBALL
Men’s basketball faces Duke over break By Jack Graham Associate Sports Editor
With a game last week against undefeated St. John’s (9–0) and games over winter break against national powerhouse Duke (9–1) and No. 20 Arizona State (7–1), men’s basketball (4–4, 0–0 Ivy) has lined up a tough nonconference schedule for itself. The team should consider itself lucky. Given the caliber of this year’s Ivy League, it will need all the experience it can get against really strong teams. On Tuesday, Penn (9–2) defeated Villanova for the first time since 2002. Yale (5–3) and Penn have both beaten Atlantic Coast Conference opponent Miami. Harvard (4–5) took down NCAA tournament regular St. Mary’s despite missing arguably its three best players, Chris Lewis, former Ivy League Rookie of the Year Bryce Aiken, and last year’s Ivy League Player of the Year Seth Towns. Without a signature non-conference win, Princeton seems to be on the outside looking in on the conference’s Big Three. That said, Princeton has only played one game at full strength, with first-year guard Jaelin Llewellyn returning from a foot injury to make his collegiate debut at Madison Square
Garden in Sunday’s loss to St. John’s. Scoring 17 points in 36 minutes, the highly touted recruit gave reason to believe the hype was justified. From hitting an NBA three to driving baseline for an acrobatic dunk, Llewellyn showcased the skill and athleticism that will likely keep him a threat to Princeton’s opponents for the next four years. Now that Llewellyn is back, Princeton’s rotation is beginning to take shape. The lineup on which head coach Mitch Henderson ’98 relied most heavily against St. John’s consisted of four guards — Llewellyn, seniors Devin Cannady and Myles Stephens, and junior Jose Morales — as well as junior center Richmond Aririguzoh. Reminiscent of the guard-heavy lineups involving Cannady, Stephens, Steven Cook ’17, Spencer Weisz ’17, and Amir Bell ’18 that led Princeton undefeated through Ivy League play in 2016, the four-guard set gives Princeton a plethora of dangerous options on the offensive end. Cannady has been particularly impressive, shooting over 50 percent on the season from three despite drawing intense defensive attention on nearly every possession. The biggest concern for
Princeton as it moves closer to Ivy play will be its defense. Prior to the season, Henderson highlighted defense as the key factor to his team’s success this season, but the Tigers have seriously struggled defensively in the past few games, particularly when they go small. One mitigating factor has been the development of Aririguzoh, who provides a rim-protecting presence and has honed his offensive abilities. Nonetheless, it seems unlikely that Princeton will be able to contain Ivy teams with several physical big men, like Harvard and Penn using four-guard lineups. Sophomore forwards Sebastian Much and Jerome Desrosiers have gotten fewer minutes this season than one might have expected, so the Tigers will need their combination of size and perimeter shooting as the season progresses. The team continues its December schedule Saturday with a winnable game against Iona
lege player in at least a decade.” Of course, non-conference play is an imperfect predictor of the Ivy League games that really matter. In 2016–17, Princeton had relat ively unimpressive nonconfere n c e resu lt s before sweeping the Ivy League and earning an NCAA tournament 12seed. In 2017– 1 8 ,
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The men’s basketball team faces tough competition in December as they approach Ivy League play in January.
in Atlantic City. Then, it will travel to Cameron Indoor Stadium for a significantly less winnable game against a starstudded Duke team highlighted by Zion Williamson, a 6-foot-7inch, 285-pound singular athletic talent recently labeled by FiveThirtyEight as “the best col-
they generated hype by upsetting USC and wound up finishing fifth in the Ivy League. Still, positive results over the next few games could demonstrate that Princeton belongs in the conversation as a serious Ivy contender.
BASEBALL
Chris Young ’02: From the Ivy League to MLB
By Chris Murphy and Samuel Lee Head Sports Editor and Sports Contributor
For many fans of professional sports, being able to go the championship game is a once-in-a-lifetime experience that they can only hope for. Being able to play in the championship is a pipe dream; forget about winning it. Yet for Princeton alumnus Chris Young, these experiences are all part of the job. A Class of 2002 politics major-turned MLB star, Chris Young knows what it is like to achieve at the highest level in both academics and athletics. In 2000, Young helped guide Princeton’s baseball team to its first Ivy League title in four years. That same year, he was drafted in the third round by the Pittsburgh Pirates, but opted to finish out his academic career before heading to the pros. Baseball was not the only sport that Young pursued at the collegiate level; he was also named Ivy League Player of the Year by Basketball Weekly for his performance on the hardwood with Princeton’s basketball team. When asked why he chose to pursue baseball over basketball, Young’s answer referred to powers beyond his control. “Once I signed with [the] Pirates I was ineligible to play college basketball at that point in the Ivy League, so my options were to not play or to transfer if I wanted to continue playing basketball, and I felt like, you know, I love Princeton and I want a degree from Princeton, and so I felt like I didn’t want to give that up,” he said. Many students at Princeton already relate to the dedication it takes to be a student; being a student and a two-sport athlete seems
almost unfathomable. “I felt like I was a full-time athlete and student. I felt like I had no social life,” Young said, laughing. “Really, the balance of playing two sports and going to class and balancing the academic workload — it was challenging, but it was what I had done my whole life and it was familiar to me, and so I really didn’t know what I was missing out on.” During his final two years at Princeton, Young balanced academics with his minor league career. For him, the experience was similar to that of any other student with a job. “I knew what my job was going to be,” he said, “and at that point I was just simply working to get my degree…. It was unique, but not much different than somebody going through second semester senior year, where they know what firm they have lined up.” After spending four seasons in the minors split between the Pirates’, Expos’, and Rangers’ organizations, Young made his MLB debut with the Rangers on Aug. 24, 2004, in a game against the Minnesota Twins. This was not only a significant moment for Young, but also for Princeton: Young was the first Princeton Tiger to start a major league game since Dave Sisler ’53 in 1961. The following season, Young started 31 games for the Rangers, posting a 12–7 record, 4.26 ERA, and 137 strikeouts. Despite his early success, Young said he had doubts about his ability to succeed in the MLB. “Once you get to the major leagues, you get there and you wonder, ‘Am I good enough?’ and you go through that uncertainty for a little
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“Choose excellence. It will choose you back.” Courtney Banghart (@ Coachbanghart), Head women’s basketball coach
bit of time before you start to realize that I can do this and I belong here,” he said. Traded to the Padres after the 2005 season, Young continued to build on the success of his rookie year, culminating in an appearance in the 2007 All-Star Game. That season, Young recorded a 3.12 ERA and 167 strikeouts while leading the majors in opponent batting average and hits per nine innings. A mid-season showcase of the best players in the MLB, the All-Star Game is one of the highest honors an MLB player can achieve. “It’s almost surreal looking around the locker room and being teammates with guys like Ken Griffey Jr. and Barry Bonds, and thinking ‘I’m among the best players that have ever played the game,’” Young said. “To be there, in that moment, for at least one year and one period of time, it was pretty special.” Young’s success continued into the 2008 season, but he struggled with injuries in 2009 and 2010, and his time with the Padres came to an end when he signed with the Mets before the 2011 season. Although he only started four games for the Mets in 2011, he bounced back in 2012, recording a 4.15 ERA in 20 starts. After another injury-riddled season in 2013, Young posted a 12–9 record and a 3.65 ERA pitching for the Mariners in 2014, winning the American League Comeback Player of the Year Award. Despite the individual accolades Young accrued in his career, his greatest accomplishment came in 2015, when his team, the Kansas City Royals, won the World Series. Young joined the
team in March of 2015, and knew from “the very first day of spring training” that the Royals were destined for something special. “It was very apparent the day I signed there that the club had high expectations and an inner belief that they were going to win a World Series,” he said. In the 2015 regular season, Young recorded an 11–6 record and — aside from injury-shortened seasons — a career-best 3.06 ERA, helping the Royals win the AL Central with a 95–67 record. His success continued into the postseason, in which he posted a 2.87 ERA in six games with the Royals. He recorded a win in Game 1 of the World Series, pitching three shutout innings and helping the Royals edge the Mets in 14 innings. When asked about his ability to perform in high-stress situations, Young cited his college basketball experience. “I think college basketball helped prepare me for that to an extent,” he said. “When you’re playing in big environments — and certainly pitching in the major leagues you’re going to play in big environments — I think that I was prepared for that from an earlier age by my college hoops experience.” In 2018, Young retired from baseball, joining the commissioner’s office as the Vice-President of On-field Operations and Initiatives & Strategy. Young’s department oversees everything that happens on the field, including uniforms, pace-ofplay regulations, and instant replay. Although Young is certainly well versed in baseball, making the transition from the field to the office
Stat of the Day
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Princeton is third in the Learfield Directors’ Cup standings after sending six teams to compete for an NCAA championship.
posed some challenges for him. “Just being at a desk now and understanding all aspects of the commissioner’s office and the league and seeing how they all work together to make such a great product on the field — it’s been extremely interesting and a huge learning curve for me but adjustments that I’m thankful for and have been able to make,” he said. Young’s experience as a player has also provided him with a unique viewpoint in his work with the league office. “It’s been great for me, being able to provide a player’s perspective in areas in which I’m extremely versed and familiar,” he said. “I think it’s been a good fit for the commissioner’s office to have someone who is very familiar with today’s game.” From baseball on the east side of campus, to baseball on the national stage, to administering baseball from the main office, Young has always connected his life to one of America’s national pastimes. Like a majority of Princeton students, he was able to perform at the highest level throughout his life, and acknowledges that his time at Princeton has been critical to the success he has had. At the same time, Young stressed, “Just enjoy it and take it all in, because once it’s over, the real world starts and you can never go back and get that same experience.” “Expose yourself to as many different areas and unique activities,” he said. “It’s such a special place, try to do as much and participate in as much as possible, and enjoy every minute of it.”
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