Volume LXXIX, Number 22
Spotlight on Hightstown and The Windsors Pages 17-19 Renée Fleming to Perform with PSO at Princeton Festival . . . . 5 SAVE Animal Shelter At Full Capacity as Adoption/Foster Rates Decline . . . . . . 10 Experience Princeton Wins $150K Grant. . . 11 Developing into an All-American for PU Open Crew, Senior George Primed for Big Finish at NCAA Regatta . . . . . 24 Lee Enjoys Special Senior Day for Stuart Lacrosse, Scoring 5 Goals To Help Tartans Edge Lawrence 12-11 . . . . 29
On Walker Percy’s Birthday: Moviegoers, Love, and Life . . . . . . 16 Art . . . . . . . . . . . . 21, 22 Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Classifieds. . . . . . . . . . 33 Mailbox. . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Obituaries . . . . . . . 31, 32 Performing Arts. . . . . . . . 20 Police Blotter . . . . . . . . . . 9 Real Estate . . . . . . . . . 33 Sports. . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Summer Arts. . . . . . . . . 13 Summer Celebrations. . . 3 Topics of the Town . . . . . 5 Town Talk . . . . . . . . . . . 6
www.towntopics.com
Council Considers Resolution For Design Competition Of Vandeventer Kiosk Among the items on the agenda for Princeton Council’s meeting on Tuesday evening, May 27 (after Town Topics’ press time) was a resolution related to the future of one of the two kiosks on Nassau Street. The governing body was to discuss a resolution authorizing the acceptance of donations to finance a $10,000 prize for a design competition for a new kiosk at Nassau Street and Vandeventer Avenue. The other kiosk is at Nassau and Witherspoon streets. According to the agenda, the American Institute of Architects of New Jersey (AIANJ) “wishes to administer/oversee/ hold a competition for the design of the new kiosk in which a local business is providing the funds for prize amounts.” The business is not named in the resolution. Since Council heard a report on the future of the kiosks this past March, there has been much discussion and public comment about their fate. While some find the kiosks, on which anyone can post flyers and papers, to be an eyesore, others say they should be retained because they provide an outlet for free speech and community engagement. Both kiosks need to be removed for a capital improvements project replacing the sidewalks on Nassau Street. What happens to them once the project is finished has not been decided. A report at the March meeting recommended permanently removing the kiosk at Witherspoon Street, and transforming the one at Vandeventer Avenue into a combination of new electronic signage and the existing, informal surfaces. Members of the public were invited to submit suggestions for their fate. “Whereas, the community has expressed interest in the design of the new kiosk,” the resolution begins, continuing, “AIANJ intends to donate the winning and other kiosk designs to Princeton for potential use for a new kiosk design” and “the kiosk design competition administered by the AIANJ shall not support a for-profit organization or purpose.” In appreciation for the donation of the $10,000 prize amount, the town will recognize the donor on a placard “that will be installed on the kiosk if and when it is constructed,” the resolution reads. Continued on Page 12
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“Stand Boldly,” Eisgruber Urges PU Graduates “In this tender and pivotal moment, we must stand boldly for the freedoms and principles that define this and other great universities,” Princeton University President Christopher L. Eisgruber told his audience of 1293 members of the Class of 2025 receiving undergraduate degrees, 663 graduate degree recipients, faculty, and staff, surrounded by thousands of students’ family members and friends in the stands of Princeton Stadium for the University’s 278th commencement on Tuesday. In the current climate of continuing conflict between institutions of higher education and the federal government, it’s not surprising that Eisgruber, who has been an outspoken voice among university leaders, should eschew “institutional neutrality” and embrace speaking up in resistance to administration policies that would curtail universities’ research funding, threaten academic freedom, and encroach on the independence of universities. “Great universities must have a Socratic spirit,” being willing to challenge the norms of society, to create discontent, to upset the status quo, Eisgruber said — and students should too. “At the heart of Princeton’s undergraduate and graduate degree programs is a
commitment to inculcate a fierce independence of mind,” he emphasized. “We want you to have the skill and the courage to ask questions that are unsettling and uncomfortable to the world, and, indeed, to you.” His full speech is printed below. The University also presented six honorary degrees, four secondary school teaching prizes to New Jersey teachers, and four distinguished teaching awards to Princeton University professors. The honorary degree recipients
included Vertex Pharmaceuticals founder Joshua Boger, for his biotechnology leadership which has “transformed the lives of countless individuals suffering from chronic illnesses,” according to the official University proclamation; Lex Frieden, “an architect of the Americans with Disabilities Act and a pioneer of the independent living movement;” Sherrilyn Ifill, “a leader of the modern civil rights movement,” a leader of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and founding director Continued on Page 8
Princeton Pride Flag Raising on Friday Will Launch Month of Pride Activities
Princeton will raise the Pride flag on Friday at noon at Monument Hall to celebrate Pride Month and to kick off a series of events featuring a Pride in the Plaza disco dance party in Hinds Plaza on June 6 and the eighth annual Princeton Pride Parade on June 14, marching from the Municipal Building on Witherspoon Street to the YWCA on Paul Robeson Place, where the Pride After-Party will take place. “Princeton’s Pride Flag Raising and Pride Month’s events are all part of our year-round actions that show that Princeton is a community that welcomes and celebrates everyone,” Princeton Mayor Mark Freda wrote in an email. “People
do not need to fit a narrow and pre-determined label to come here and enjoy visiting and/or living ere. We are all people, we all deserve to be treated the same, respected the same.” Sara Wasserman, local community organizer and queer educator at the Bayard Rustin Center for Social Justice (BRCSJ), that is organizing many of the Princeton Pride Month 2025 events, observed, “I think we’re going to have an even stronger, bigger, better and brighter celebration of queer joy than ever before because this is a time when we need it.” Citing difficult times with the federal Continued on Page 12
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ALL IN THE FAMILY: Members of the Princeton University Class of 2000 and their families and friends were among the participants in the 2025 P-rade on Saturday afternoon. (Photo by Sarah Teo)
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