Letters: February 5, 1997
CLINTON'S VISIT (REDUX)
After bearing witness to the vitriol from both sides of the spectrum regarding Clinton's visit to Princeton last June, I decided to throw in my two cents. As a loyal Republican and product of the Reagan era, I neither agree with President Clinton's politics nor condone his dubious behavior in and out of office. I disagree, however, with those alumni who resent the university for inviting him to speak. Having the President of the United States deliver an address to our undergraduate and graduate students on the day of their commencement is an experience they will not soon forget and one I would like to have had as a student. Clinton's visit does not and should not suggest that Princeton is a blanket proponent of the ideologies of Clinton or his administration. What it should demonstrate (despite our individual political leanings) is that as a democracy we respect the presidency and the man that we ourselves elected (and reelected) to the highest office in the land.
I would hope and expect that, if Princeton invited the Pope to speak on campus, Muslims, Jews, and members of other religions would not chastise the decision as being tantamount to the university's endorsing Catholicism over other religions. A visit to our campus by the President does nothing but bestow honor and prestige upon the university and its faculty, students, and alumni. I thank President Clinton for accepting our invitation to speak, and ask those alumni that feel differently to take a step back and appreciate it in a broader sense: namely, the leader of our country addressing the future leaders of our country.
Sean G. Edwards '92
La Jolla, Calif.
BICENQUINQUAGENARY
This old alumnus wishes to go on record with high praise for the wonderful birthday party celebrating Princeton's 250 years (paw, November 27). Convocation Day was the climax of a year that included a fine book of celebration by Don Oberdorfer '52 and J. T. Miller '70 and a splendid movie by filmmaker Gerard Puglia. To Dorothy Bedford '78, who orchestrated this year of grand events, many thanks.
Henry Martin '48
Princeton, N.J.
Thank you for the fine account, with the great photography and narrative, of the celebration of Princeton's 250th anniversary. It stirred memories of the university's Bicentennial, when my class arrived on the campus and enjoyed a full year of highlights associated with Princeton's 200th birthday.
As I read your account, I kept looking for news of activity in the Chapel, but found none. Surely this is an oversight. We had such excellent Chapel convocations in 1946-outstanding preaching and stunning music. As a member of Carl Weinrich's "reserve" choir, I recall being pressed into service to sing a special anthem written for the occasion. The Chapel was filled with elegant sound, despite my limited vocal talent.
Please let the "righteous remnant" know that religion still plays a part in any celebration of Princeton's illustrious history.
S. Spencer Edmunds '50
Roanoke, Va.
Editor's note: The Chapel was the venue for three Charter Day weekend events: a production of The Phantom of the Opera with organ accompaniment, an organ and University Orchestra concert, and an interfaith celebration.
I teethed on things orange and black and have worshipped the tiger and his colors these many years. When the Princeton Club of New Mexico received its boxful of 250th anniversary buttons, we sent them back, convinced that the insipid yellow chevron dominating the 250th logo was a manufacturer's mistake. Sadly, this was not the case, and the university continues to push this neutered yellow design. The advertisement on the back cover of the November 27 PAW shoves the distasteful concoction in our faces with the heading "It's Not Over Yet!" How much longer must we suffer? Let's get rid of this pablum-feed us orange!
Hervey S. Stockman '44
Albuquerque, N.M.
NEW STADIUM
The more I look at pictures of the proposed new stadium (Notebook, September 11), the greater my feelings of sadness and unease. Soaring public spaces, light-filled concourses, and vaulted ceilings are fine indeed, but no one goes to a stadium to see such architectural features, impressive as they may be. The attraction is seeing the game played on the field. In this regard, the new structure will compare very unfavorably with Palmer Stadium, whose stands are steeply pitched so that the higher your seat the better your view of the game. In Palmer Stadium, almost every seat is a good, or at least decent. Palmer offers an intimacy and closeness to the action that will be lacking in the new facility. Don't architects ever go to football games? The new stadium is too flat-like the Yale Bowl, where higher means farther from the field. Why can't Mr. Viñoly, the architect, pitch the angle of the stands higher?
Eugene M. Friedman '48
Spring Valley, N.Y.
BRAINS UNDER GLASS
In the November 6 cover story on athletics, several faculty members expressed their opinion that Division I intercollegiate sports are inappropriate for an institution with an academic reputation such as Princeton's. Their attitude reminds me of the original Star Trek episode "The Gamesters of Triskelion." In this story, the beings known as the Providers, through eons of devoting themselves exclusively to intellectual pursuits, had become the physically simple, mentally superior entities that captured Kirk and the Enterprise's crew. Instead of humanoids in an ivory tower, these beings resembled brains under a glass dome. Ironically, since they had solved all the mysteries of the universe and no longer had any intellectual challenges to occupy them, the Providers devoted themselves exclusively to staging and wagering on "thralls"-gladiator-style athletic contests for which they recruited other creatures in the galaxy.
Rich Clarvit '83
Pittsburgh, Penn.
P.U. RESOURCES
I don't read U.S. News & World Report, but I must assume that the statement in the November 27 Notebook was correct-that Princeton ranked 13th in financial resources in that magazine's annual college rankings. Given the university's massive endowment and support for Annual Giving, how can this be?
Robert Givey '58
Bethlehem, Penn.
Editor's note: U.S. News states that it determines a school's financial resources by adding expenditures for its education program (instruction, student services, and academic and institutional support, including libraries, computers, and administration), then dividing the sum by full-time-equivalent enrollment. All other spending, including research and financial aid, is counted separately.
1946 PENN GAME
Rob Garver's wonderfully detailed account of the 1946 PennPrinceton football game (Sports, December 11) brought back some vivid memories of that occasion and subsequent events.
As one of the 72,000 spectators at Franklin Field, I recall the tremendous excitement and disbelief as we watched this epic battle unfold. After Princeton won, the crowd became so uncontrollable that the Philadelphia mounted police rushed in, but failed in their effort to keep the goal posts from being dismantled. Their swinging billy clubs resulted in some bruised heads and backs. I was glad I stayed in the stands and watched.
It's worth noting that the hip injury sustained by halfback Ernie Ransome '47 after he was hit by Penn's Chuck Bednarik (a future NFL Hall of Famer) caused him to miss not only the rest of the football season but also the 1947 lacrosse season, too. A leading midfielder, he would undoubtedly have been elected captain, and his presence on the team would have made a significant difference. (In the collegiate championship, we lost in overtime to Johns Hopkins, 9-7, and to West Point, 9-8.)
Henry E. Fish '48
Erie, Penn.
SAY THAT AGAIN?
I enjoyed the October 23 article about psychological research at Princeton, especially the description of Professor Anne Treisman's work on the "cocktail party problem": the attempt to understand how people can attend to one sound in the presence of competing sounds. I work as a software engineer in the Hearing Aid Research Lab of the House Ear Institute, a private hearing-research institute in Los Angeles, and the cocktail party problem is of special interest to us.
In Jay Parsons '61's letter of November 27 in response to the article, he states correctly that people with impaired hearing have difficulty at cocktail parties. Mr. Parsons's analysis of the problem, however, is flawed in several respects. He first states that "high-frequency sounds attenuate quickly over distance." He then argues that, at a cocktail party, one's conversational partner is closer than competing speakers, and that the auditory system takes advantage of this to separate the partner's words from competing sounds. In such situations, he concludes, people with high-frequency hearing loss are at a disadvantage.
In fact, highfrequency sounds attenuate rather gradually over distance. For the highest frequencies contained in speech, the attenuation is about 1 decibel per 50 meters. The overall attenuation (at all frequencies) over distance is much greater, and has a much stronger effect on one's ability to separate sounds.
Researchers have identified a number of acoustical properties that seem to be important for separating competing sounds. These include pitch differences, onset asynchronies, and differences in amplitude and frequency-modulation patterns. When the sources of competing sounds are at different angles relative to the listener, then spatial hearing cues (differences in sound level and timing between the listener's two ears) are especially helpful in sorting out sounds.
Listening at a cocktail party, which requires taking advantage of every available acoustical cue, is difficult even for people with good hearing. Impaired hearing (at any frequency) removes useful information, which makes this task even harder. Hearing aids may even exacerbate the problem by distorting spatial hearing cues.
Dan Freed '83
Los Angeles, Calif.
JIMMY STEWART '32
The December 25 cover story on actor Jimmy Stewart '32 states that his first western was Winchester 73, made in 1951. It was actually Destry Rides Again, filmed in 1939, in which he costarred with Marlene Dietrich.
James M. Crawford '54
Eldon, Mo.
JESUS' DEATH
Please permit me to make a couple of comments on the December 11 letter of Owen Daly '47 et al. re my October 23 letter, which called attention to the assertion in Professor Elaine Pagel's book The Origin of Satan that the Gospels "shift" the blame for the death of Jesus from Pilate to the Jews.
My letter was not intended to exonerate Pilate. As Mr. Daly rightly states, Pilate was a cruel man, and the Gospels bear this out. Pilate found no guilt in Jesus, yet still he ordered him to be scourged, a horrible punishment of lashing with the Roman flagrum, which often resulted in death. And there is no doubt that Pilate gave the order to crucify Jesus. But as Jesus himself said, "He who delivered me to you has the greater sin."
It is true, as Daly says, that John mentions Judas' procuring "a band of soldiers in addition to some officers from the chief priests" to arrest Jesus, but he was taken, not to the Roman, but to the Jewish authorities, and they took him early the next morning to the praetorium. Daly asks how we can know what happened at the trial. John says a disciple known to the high priest was there, possibly himself; and later, the many converts to Christianity must have included some witnesses to the trial. As to Daly's assertion that John does not mention a Jewish trial or hearing, I refer him to Chapter 18:1924.
Mr. Daly and his cosigners have my respect for trying to promote better understanding between Christians and Jews. But let us do it not by quibbling about what happened 2,000 years ago, but by acknowledging in a spirit of mutual forgiveness that we have all sinned.
William T. Galey '38
Southern Pines, N.C.
BULLETIN BOARD
The Classes of 1972 and 1992, in conjunction with the Program in Visual Arts, are calling for entries for the first Princeton Film Festival, to be held on campus May 29 and 30. The festival will include a juried competition and awards as estabished by the organizing committee cochaired by Fritz Cammerzell '72, Jason Ward '72, and Professor P. Adams Sitney. The deadline for entering is March 1. Submissions, which must be films either written or directed by students or alumni, will be reviewed by the committee prior to acceptance for entry into the competition. They must be on 16-mm film or 1/2-inch or 3/4-inch videotape. Questions should be directed to Fritz Cammerzell, 32 Nassau St., Princeton, NJ 08542.
For an article she's writing, Jan Logan, assistant to the Dean of Student Life, is seeking recollections about the Rat Wall, a graffiti wall in the old Blair Hall laundry room. She is especially interested in hearing from those who contributed graffiti to the wall. Logan can be reached at 313 West College, Princeton, NJ 08544 (janlogan@princeton.edu).
The Editors