Volume LXXVI, Number 42
Rutgers Jewish Film Festival Presents In-Person and Virtual Screenings . . . . .5 WCC Organ Competition To Offer Full-Tuition Scholarships . . . . . . . 10 Homeowners Can Take Steps to Help Mitigate Runoff, Flooding . . . . 13 PSO Presents Finnish Violinist in Britten Concerto . . . . . . . . . 19 Passage Theatre Presents Blues in My Soul . . . 20 Dames Stars as PU Women’s Volleyball Tops Brown, Now 6-1 Ivy . . 33 Christopher Helps 13-0 PHS Field Hockey Make MCT Semis . . . . . . . . 35
Sir Thomas Browne (1605-1682) is This Week’s Mystery Guest . . . . . . . 18 Art . . . . . . . . . . . . 27-29 Books . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Calendar . . . . . . . . . . 30 Classifieds . . . . . . . . . 41 Fall Arts. . . . . . . . . 21-23 Hillsborough/Montgomery Spotlight . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Mailbox . . . . . . . . . . . 16 New To Us . . . . . . . . . 31 Obituaries . . . . . . . . . 40 Performing Arts . . . 24-26 Police Blotter . . . . . . . . 8 Real Estate . . . . . . . . 41 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Topics of the Town . . . . 5 Town Talk . . . . . . . . . . 6
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MacArthur Foundation Recognizes Princeton “Geniuses” at PU, IAS Princeton is always ready to show off its unusual assemblage of geniuses, and last week’s announcement of the 2022 MacArthur Fellowships, known as “genius grants,” once again gives bragging rights to Princeton University and the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS). This year’s MacArthur recipients included four scholars with local connections who, along with the 21 other recipients, have demonstrated “extraordinary originality and dedication in their creative pursuits and a marked capacity for selfdirection,” according to the MacArthur Foundation. In addition to the public acclaim, each recipient will receive a no-stringsattached grant of $800,000, increased from $625,000 last year, to be awarded over the next five years. The Foundation states that Fellowship recipients, from age 35 to 69 this year, “show exceptional creativity in their work and the prospect for still more in the future.” Princeton University Mathematics Professor June Huh, 39, Fields Medal winner earlier this year and formerly a visiting professor and fellow at IAS, was cited by the MacArthur Foundation for “discovering underlying connections between disparate areas of mathematics and proving long-standing mathematical conjectures.” “Mathematics is an exploration,” said Huh in a MacArthur website video. “There are different types of pleasure one gets by doing mathematics. And most of it is, I think, very similar to the kind of pleasure that artists get when you discover that you can actually communicate something that is so subtle and intricate.” Huh received his B.S. (2007) and M.S. (2009) from Seoul University and his Ph.D. (2014) from the University of Michigan. He served as a fellow and visiting professor for multiple stints at IAS, held an appointment at Stanford University (2020-2021), and officially joined the Princeton University faculty in 2021. “June Huh is a rare and distinctive talent with an inspiring combination of mathematical genius and creativity,” said Princeton University President Christopher L. Eisgruber. The MacArthur Foundation announcement noted, “With his innovative approach and fruitful collaborations with Continued on Page 8
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Wednesday, October 19, 2022
School Board Election Race Heats Up Three incumbents — Debbie Bronfeld, Susan Kanter, and Dafna Kendal — and two new candidates — Margarita “Rita” Rafalovsky and Lishian “Lisa” Wu — are competing for three seats on the Princeton Public Schools (PPS) Board of Education (BOE) in the upcoming November 8 election. Voters will be asked to select just three names for election to three-year terms. The five candidates, coming from a range of different backgrounds and worlds of experience, have aired their views in a number of different forums, media reports, and public statements over the past few weeks. Most striking in their communications so far has been the clash in perspectives between those who are on the Board and the challengers who are calling for change. All of the candidates have many ideas for improvement and progress for the schools in the coming months and years. All recognize the damaging effects of the pandemic and the need for increased attention to student and staff mental health needs. They all acknowledge the need for continued efforts to achieve equity and transparency. All three incumbents, seeking to continue their work on the Board, are
complimentary of school leadership, proud of the work of the Board and the district throughout the pandemic, and feel that the district is moving in the right direction towards better communication and transparency and making sure that budgets are balanced with fiscal prudence and that achievement gaps are being addressed. All five candidates were asked to respond by email to two questions that touch on concerns that have been
prominent in recent discussion and debate about the school district and its future direction: the first regarding school rankings, with some reports that Princeton’s scores have been declining; and the second about how to address mental health challenges in the schools. The questions and the candidates’ responses follow: Question No.1: Could you comment on recent concerns — fueled by rankings, test scores, etc. — that PPS might be Continued on Page 15
Theological Seminary Selects New President; Jonathan Lee Walton to Take Helm January 1 Jonathan Lee Walton says that Princeton Theological Seminary (PTS) helped to shape him, starting more than 20 years ago when he enrolled as a young divinity student, and now he will have a chance to return the favor. Walton, currently Dean of Wake Forest University’s School of Divinity in WinstonSalem, N.C., has been elected by the PTS Board of Trustees to be the Seminary’s eighth president, effective January 1, 2023, succeeding President M. Craig Barnes, who announced his retirement earlier this year. “Princeton Theological Seminary
changed my life,” said Walton in a October 17 telephone interview. “It is one of the communities that helped to shape me. It provided me the opportunity to explore intellectual worlds and traditions that I knew not of. And it expanded my horizons in many ways.” Walton, 49, who will be PTS’ first African American president and first nonPresbyterian president, is an ordained Baptist minister. He continues to serve his “two beloved alma maters” — Morehouse College, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in political science in 1996 and Continued on Page 12
FALL SPLENDOR: The Fall Family Fun Weekends continue at Terhune Orchards on Cold Soil Road through the end of October, on Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Attendees share their favorite fall activities in this week’s Town Talk on page 6. (Photo by Charles R. Plohn)