On the Campus - March 8, 2000
Website Exclusives...
Who wants an early morning class anyway?
Small changes on campus affect student life, some for the better, some maybe not
By Andrew Shtulman '01 February is usually a busy month on campus, but not necessarily a month of changes. Classes, activities, and social events start up again according to tradition, but students rarely alter their habits on the whole. Yet this semester, students have found themselves changing lots of habits-from sleeping patterns to exercise routines to television-viewing rituals.
A Schedule Improvement?
It used to be the 9 a.m. classes on Monday that struck fear into the hearts of Princeton students and were avoided like the plague. This semester, however, a more terrifying threat has emerged: the advent of the 8:30 class. The idea of replacing the 9:00 to 10:20 time slot with an 8:30 to 9:50 time slot was first proposed by Woodrow Wilson School Dean Michael Rothschild in the fall, and a mere semester later, that idea has become a reality. The new time slot, say administrators, would reduce scheduling conflicts and make better use of classroom space.
Certainly, classroom space will be utilized more efficiently, but will there be any students in the classroom? Some USG members are concerned that rather than expanding academic options, the new schedule will actually decrease them, for many students may opt to avoid 8:30 classes altogether. After all, half an hour of sleep is a precious commodity on Monday mornings. Fortunately, the new policy has affected only six classes, the majority of which are in foreign language seminars. The chemistry department, not fully concurring with the new schedule, has decided to offer Organic Chemistry II at 8:45. Chemistry students, used to a starting time from 9:00 to 9:50, must wonder if this compromise is an act of kindness or contempt.
A More Fit Facility
On January 31, students entering Dillon Gym gasped for air even before they began their workouts. The newly renovated Stephens Fitness Center took away their breath with its 52 pieces of cardiovascular equipment, 29 strength machines, and more than six tons of free weights. A second floor had been added, and the smell of fresh paint and new carpet lingered in the air.
The six-month renovation project began as a simple request for new mirrors made by USG president P. J. Kim '01 (then USG's vice president). Once the mirrors were in, Kim drafted a proposal for more cardiovascular equipment, which then spurred discussion about the gym's general inadequacy. Committees were formed, donors were found (Mr. and Mrs. Paul Stephens and their son Bart Stephens '97), plans were drafted, and construction began. Yet with the opening of the new center the last day of January, there was still one piece of equipment conspicuously absent: a clock. Gym administrators are working to solve this problem; naturally, they wouldn't want students to miss their 8:30 classes.
News You Can Use
Tigervision, a television channel telecast from the university to the local Princeton community, has never been known for its quality programming. Featuring a bulletin board of campus events occasionally interrupted by crude footage of guest speakers and USG candidates' forums, Tigervision offers little in the way of entertainment. U-Council members Jim DeRose '01 and Dok Harris '01 hope this situation will change after they introduce a weekly student-produced news-magazine show, Princeton Week. With 45 people involved, including 15 correspondents, Princeton Week plans to cover campus news and events in either a 30- or 45-minute broadcast.
Princeton Week marks Princeton's first student-initiated broadcast journalism endeavor, yet it is not the first student-produced program to be featured on Tigervision. In the fall, Harris organized the production of a late-night talk show, featuring himself as the host. The show's success led the USG to undertake a more comprehensive, and more serious, multimedia project. Technologically, however, Princeton Week lacks sophistication. Correspondents will be using Harris's personal digital camera to shoot on-site footage and his computer editing equipment to polish the final product-at least until more funding is found. The first episode of Princeton Week, planned to air sometime at the end of the February, will cover campus theater, Princeton basketball, and the opening of the soon-to-be-complete Frist Student Center. Surely ABC's Charles Gibson '65 would be proud.
Andrew Shtulman is a psychology major from Poquoson, Virginia. He can
be reached at shtulman@princeton.edu.
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