Sept. 28 installation

At Princeton Weekly Bulletin press time, facilities employees Mark Pecaric (left) and Glenn Perrine were busy setting up chairs on the front lawn of Nassau Hall for the Sept. 28 installation of President Tilghman. For full coverage of the event, visit the University home page at <princeton.edu> and see the Oct. 8 Weekly Bulletin.

Local leader shares views on U.N. event

A Princeton area community leader will present her views on the recent United Nations World Conference Against Racism on Monday, Oct. 1.
    Darlene McKnight, a member and the former chair of the Coalition for Peace Action Steering Committee, will present a public lecture at 4:30 p.m. in Dodds Auditorium, Robertson Hall. Her address is titled "The Durban Conference on Racism: The View from New Jersey."
    McKnight will offer a first-hand account of the conference, which took place Aug. 31-Sept. 7 in Durban, South Africa, from the perspective of a New Jersey citizen, community leader and activist. She attended the conference under the banner of the International Citizens Diplomacy Committee of the Coalition for Peace Action.
    McKnight is known locally for her work on civil and human rights. In May 1999, she took part in the Hague Appeal for Peace Conference as part of the Coalition for Peace Action delegation. She has served on many civil rights task forces and presently devotes her energies to the statewide Coalition for Justice, endeavoring to end racial profiling in New Jersey.
    The Coalition for Peace Action supports local and international work against racism, and its primary goals are nuclear disarmament, ending weapons trafficking and reducing military spending.
    The lecture is sponsored by the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs' Office of External Affairs.

Li Shamomin to discuss arrest

Li Shaomin, a Princeton graduate alumnus who was imprisoned in China earlier this year, will speak on "Chinese Legality and My Experience Under Arrest" at 4:45 p.m. Monday, Oct. 1, in 302 Frist Campus Center.
    Li, an associate professor of business at the City University of Hong Kong and a scholar of Chinese business management strategy, was detained in February during a visit to China. He was held until he was charged, quickly tried and sent abroad after his conviction in July.
    When news of his detention was made public in April, many in the Princeton community and beyond rallied to Li's support. Nearly 400 members of the international community of China scholars signed a petition calling for his release or a fair trial. Former President Harold T. Shapiro wrote a letter to the president of China protesting Li's treatment and its potential effect on academic exchanges. New Jersey's congressional representatives and President Bush came to Li's defense. A rally was held on his behalf during Reunions weekend, and speakers included U.S. Rep. Rush Holt and members of the University community.
    Since his release, Li has stressed his innocence of the espionage charges against him, while distinguishing himself as a voice for political and legal reform in China. He also has called for more active support in Hong Kong for those who work in China.
    An American citizen, Li received his bachelor's degree in economics at Peking University in 1982 and his Ph.D in sociology at Princeton in 1988. Following a post-doctoral fellowship at Harvard, he worked at AT&T for five years before going to Hong Kong to teach. He has written or edited nine books in English and Chinese.
    The event is being sponsored by the East Asian Studies Program.

Bangarra Dance Theatre

The Bangarra Dance Theatre of Australia, which performed in the opening ceremony of the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, will take the stage at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 2, in McCarter Theatre. The company fuses the traditional aspects of Aboriginal and Islander life with contemporary movement. For more information, visit <mccarter.org>.

Diplomat speaks on Security Council

Bangladeshi diplomat Anwarul Karim Chowdhury will present a public lecture titled "The U.N. Security Council: A Third World Perspective" at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 2, in Dodds Auditorium, Robertson Hall.
    Chowdhury was the permanent representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations from 1996 until recently, when he was transferred to the Bangladeshi ministry. A career diplomat, he specializes in U.N. and multilateral affairs, with special focus on economic, development and social issues.
    He chaired the Administrative and Budgetary Committee of the 52nd Session of the U.N. General Assembly as well as the Preparatory Committee for the five-year review of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development at the 1999 Special Session of the U.N. General Assembly. He also served two terms as vice president of the U.N.'s Economic and Social Council.
    Chowdhury is the immediate past president of the UNICEF executive board and is a recipient of the U Thant Peace Award and the UNESCO Gandhi Gold Medal.
    The lecture is sponsored by the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs' Office of External Affairs.

Islamic political thought is topic

Fundamentalism and Modernism in Islamic Political Thought: A Historical Perspective" will be presented on Tuesday, Oct. 2, by Antony Black, a member of the politics faculty at the University of Dundee in Scotland.
    Black, the author of "The History of Islamic Political Thought: From the Prophet to the Present (Routledge, 2001)," will speak at 4:30 p.m. in Betts Auditorium, School of Architecture. In the book, he provides a full description and an interpretation of political philosophy from early Islam to the current age of Fundamentalism.
    His lecture is sponsored by the Council on Regional Studies, the politics department and the Near Eastern studies department.

Scientist talks on nuclear targeting

Dr. Strangelove Is Alive and Well: U.S. Nuclear Targeting Plans and Their Implications" is the title of a public lecture to be presented Wednesday, Oct. 3.
    Matthew McKinzie, staff scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council, will speak at 4:30 p.m. in Dodds Auditorium, Robertson Hall.
    The Natural Resources Defense Council is a national, non-profit organization of scientists, lawyers and environmental specialists dedicated to protecting public health and the environment. Founded in 1970, the organization has more than 500,000 members nationwide, served from offices in New York, Washington, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
    This lecture is the inaugural event of the Program on Science and Global Security, which focuses on developing the technical bases for new nuclear arms control and nonproliferation initiatives. McKinzie's lecture is sponsored by the program and the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs' Office of External Affairs.

Chinese poet to read from work

Chinese poet Bei Dao will read from his work at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 3, in the Stewart Film Theater, 185 Nassau St. The reading is part of the Althea Ward Clark Reading Series.
    One of China's leading contemporary poets, Bei Dao was exiled from China in 1989 and accused of helping to incite the democracy movement that led to the Tiananmen Square massacre. He is author of "Unlock" (2000), "Landscape Over Zero" (1996), "Forms of Distance" (1994) and "Old Snow" (1991), all of which have been translated into English.
    A review of his poetry by Publishers Weekly described his verse as an "exploration of existential themes and political redresses in a distinctly frantic and compressed expressionistic style that is transposed onto the structure of traditional Chinese verse."
    Since leaving China, Bei Dao has lived in Germany, Norway, Holland, Denmark and the United States. He was a visiting professor at the University of California-Davis from 1995 to 1997.
    Bei Dao will be introduced by James Lasdun, lecturer in the Council of the Humanities and creative writing. Bei Dao will read from his work in Chinese, after which literary critic and translator Eliot Weinberger will read the English translation. A question-and-answer period will follow.

Pig Iron Theatre Co. in residence

Philadelphia's Pig Iron Theatre Co. will be in residence in Princeton's Program in Theater and Dance through Oct. 6 as Short-Term Fellows of the Council of the Humanities.
    Pig Iron was founded in 1995 as "a dance-clown-theatre ensemble dedicated to the creation of new and exuberant performance works." Its work is based on "a flexible and original model of playwriting; an evolving, physical definition of character; and a commitment to style and genre."
    Pig Iron will present its most recent work, "Shut Eye," at 7:30 p.m. and 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Oct. 5-6, in the Matthews Acting Studio, 185 Nassau St. "Shut Eye" -- a collaboration with American theater director Joseph Chaikin, founder of the Open Theater -- is a lyrical exploration of the mysterious borderline between waking and sleeping.
    The company also will be visiting Princeton classes and presenting workshops for students during the residency.
    Tickets for "Shut Eye" can be purchased through the Frist box office (258-1742) or on the night of the performance at the Matthews Acting Studio.

Conferences focuses on Russian poet

A conference on Russian poet Osip Mandelstam is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 6-7, on campus.
    "The Legacy of Osip Mandelstam" commemorates the 25th anniversary of the gift of the Mandelstam papers to Firestone Library. Most events will take place in the Whig Hall Senate Chamber.
    Mandelstam, who lived from 1891 to 1938, is considered one of the greatest poets of the 20th century. "He was probably the only poet who dared to write a poem critical of Stalin (an epigram of 1933), an act that more or less sealed his already unfortunate fate," said Michael Wachtel, professor of Slavic languages and literatures and one of the conference organizers. "He was arrested soon after and a few years later swept up in the purges. He died in transit, on his way to a labor camp in Siberia."
   Clarence Brown, professor emeritus of comparative literature, wrote his dissertation and first book on Mandelstam. In the process, he befriended Mandelstam's widow, Nadezhda, who feared her husband's papers would be confiscated by the KGB. She smuggled them out of the country and, on Brown's suggestion, donated them to Firestone Library for safekeeping.
   "They are without a doubt the most important collection of Russian poetry manuscripts located outside of Russia," Wachtel said. "They are also a curator's nightmare, since Mandelstam, as a persona non grata in Soviet Russia, wrote on the cheapest paper available."
   The conference will open with a panel discussion at 9:30 a.m. Saturday on Nadezhda Mandelstam led by John Malmstad, a professor of Slavic languages and literatures at Harvard University and a 1969 Princeton Ph.D. A text by Brown, who is not able to be present, also will be read.
   One highlight will be a concert at 8 p.m. Saturday by Christopher Barnes of the University of Toronto entitled "Music by Russian Poets: A Lecture-Recital of Solo Piano" in Taplin Auditorium, Fine Hall.
   The conference will conclude following a 4 p.m. session on Sunday. For more information on the sessions, visit this Web site: <mandelstam>.
   The conference is being funded by the Kennan Institute in Washington, D.C., the Princeton Council of the Humanities and the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures.

Founding fathers' philosophy explored

Daniel Robinson, a Distinguished Research Professor of Psychology at Georgetown University and a Faculty Fellow at Oxford University, will deliver a three-part seminar on the philosophy of the American founders in October.
    Robinson is this year's Charles Test '37 Distinguished Visitor with the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions. He is the author of numerous books, including "Toward a Science of Human Nature" and "Aristotle's Psychology." He is also a featured speaker with The Teaching Co., a commercial venture that sells educational audiotapes and videotapes.
    The series will start Wednesday, Oct. 3, with a seminar on "Adams and Jefferson and the Mind/Body Problem." The second seminar, on Wednesday, Oct. 10, is titled "On the Evident and 'Self Evident.'" On Wednesday, Oct. 24, Robinson will discuss "The God of the Founders."
    All seminars will run from 4:30 to 6 p.m. in the Frist Multipurpose Room. Refreshments will be served. For more information, visit this Web site: <jmadison>.

Watercolors

"Log Pile II" is one of the watercolors by Barbara Osterman on display through Nov. 7 in the Program in the Study of Women and Gender lounge, 113 Dickinson Hall.

Roof use prohibited

University policy prohibits the use of roofs on campus for personal or social purposes. This policy exists because of the obvious hazard of falls, as well as the possibility of roof damage.
    Some roofs may be used for research and teaching with prior approval by contacting either David Blydenburgh, maintenance, at 258-6607; or Greg Cantrell, environmental health and safety, at 258-5294 or <e-mail>.

October 1, 2001 Vol. 91, No. 4 previous   archives   next Contents In the news • Tilghman establishes gender equity task force • Rabitz pioneers technique for tinkering with molecules • Hitz: World must act together to fight terrorism • Katz works to preserve Cuba's archives People • Princeton installs eight new trustees • Seamus Haney, Richard Serra among Humanities Council visitors this year • Faculty reappointed • Employee medical records available • People/Spotlight Sections • By the numbers • Nassau Notes • Calendar of events The Bulletin is published weekly during the academic year, except during University breaks and exam weeks, by the Office of Communications, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544. Permission is given to adapt, reprint or excerpt material from the Bulletin for use in other media. Deadline. In general, the copy deadline for each issue is the Friday 10 days in advance of the Monday cover date. The deadline for the Bulletin that covers Oct. 15-21 is Friday, Oct. 5. A complete publication schedule is available at deadlines or by calling (609) 258-3601. Subscriptions. The Bulletin is distributed free to faculty, staff and students. Others may subscribe to the Bulletin for $28 for the academic year (half price for current Princeton parents and people over 65). Send a check to Office of Communications, Stanhope Hall, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544. Editor: Ruth Stevens Calendar editor: Carolyn Geller Staff writers: Jennifer Greenstein Altmann, Steven Schultz Contributing writers:, Stephen Feyer, Pam Hersh, Marilyn Marks Photographer: Denise Applewhite Design: Mahlon Lovett, Laurel Masten Cantor Web edition: Mahlon Lovett

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