Study in Chile whets appetite for return visit under Dale awardBy Karin Dienst Princeton NJ -- Exploring an interest sparked by studying abroad in Chile, Princeton senior Daniel Pastor will spend next year in that country examining the legacies of the Pinochet dictatorship and the role historical memory plays in Chilean politics. Pastor is the winner of this year's Martin Dale '53 Fellowship, a $25,000 award that enables an outstanding senior to devote the year following graduation to an independent project.
"I want to examine a fundamental paradox of contemporary Chilean democracy: popularly elected governments operating under a constitution crafted by a military dictatorship," said Pastor. "Specifically, I am interested in the origins of the authoritarian enclaves, a set of institutions in the 1980 constitution, which have given military authorities and their civilian allies a de facto veto over the decisions of the democratically elected governments since 1990." Pastor said that he "plans to interview all of the members of the dictatorship's Advisory Commission on Constitutional Laws and other key political figures in the military government who designed the new political order to better understand their motives and objectives." Pastor's research will be aided by the contacts he made while studying in Santiago, Chile, the first semester of his junior year. He said that experience had a "transformative effect" on him, crediting a wonderful host family, good friends and excellent Chilean universities. He remarked that spending a semester abroad was "one of the best decisions I have made at Princeton." Another fruitful outcome of Pastor's time in South America is that it led him this year to found Princeton in Latin America (www.princeton.edu/pila), a postgraduate program modeled after Princeton-in-Africa. Working with his roommate, Allen Taylor, who is majoring in German, Pastor established the program to "seek to impact the lives of young Princeton graduates by placing them in yearlong fellowships with public service, humanitarian and governmental organizations in Latin America." After the Dale fellowship, Pastor will use the Truman scholarship he received last year, which provides $27,000 for graduate school in preparation for a career in public service, toward an advanced degree in political science. Ultimately, he hopes to pursue a career with the U.S. foreign service or with an international organization. Pastor's dedication to public service carries over to his extracurricular activities. He was an elected member of the Council of the Princeton University Community and of the Undergraduate Student Senate, and he has volunteered as a Spanish translator at the Princeton Medical Center's Low-Income Clinic. He has served as a research assistant to Princeton President Emeritus Harold T. Shapiro and was an intern with President Bill Clinton's National Bioethics Advisory Commission, which Shapiro chaired. In the summer of 2001, Pastor interned with Fundación Acceso, a nongovernmental organization focusing on economic development that is based in Costa Rica. Pastor's international experience also extends to Europe; he has studied in Madrid, Spain, and Munich, Germany. |
 
March 31, 2003 Contents Page one Inside People Sections The Bulletin is published weekly during the academic year, except during University breaks and exam weeks, by the Office of Communications. Second class postage paid at Princeton. Postmaster: Send address changes to Princeton Weekly Bulletin, Office of Communications, Princeton University, 22 Chambers St., Suite 201, Princeton, NJ 08542. Permission is given to adapt, reprint or excerpt material from the Bulletin for use in other media. 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, Princeton University, 22 Chambers St., Suite 201, Princeton, NJ 08542. 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 April 14-20 is Friday, April 4. A complete publication schedule is available at deadlines or by calling (609) 258-3601. Editor: Ruth Stevens Calendar editor: Carolyn Geller Staff writers: Jennifer Greenstein Altmann, Steven Schultz Contributing writers: Karin Dienst, Eric Quinones, Evelyn Tu Photographer: Denise Applewhite Design: Mahlon Lovett, Laurel Masten Cantor, Margaret Westergaard Web edition: Mahlon Lovett |
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