On the Campus - February 24, 1999
Website Exclusives...
A hypothetical
Princeton
How a few students would choose to change the
university
by Nancy Smith '00
The last page of every issue of George
magazine is devoted to the hypothetical side of politics, asking popular
celebrities like Kate Moss, Pamela Anderson, or Maya Angelou what they would
do if they were President. The column is always a favorite of mine, as it
reveals either the shallowness of the guest or the shortcomings of the political
establishment. But I find it more interesting in the latter case. So in
the spirit of finding astuteness in unexpected voices, I'll devote my column
to the hypothetical side of Princeton. In proposing changes to the academic,
social, and especially structural aspects of the university, rarely does
the administration look to students for initial suggestions of what could
be improved. One afternoon during exam periodprobably the most opportune
time to solicit student complaintsI found an opportune placethe vestibule
of Firestone Libraryto take the microphone to the masses. The answers I
jotted down drew on every conceivable aspect of Princeton, some proposals
echoing the sentiments of many generations, others no doubt inspired by
groggy pontification in the wee hours of Dean's Date.
I'll start with the obvious: "They should
re-evaluate having exams after break. Or at least tell the students whybecause
I don't think students really know" the reasoning behind the policy,
offered one senior, himself struggling with the logic of the two papers
and two exams that made his winter vacation "miserable." However
if I may insert an editorial comment under the guise of civic journalism
I think the fact that this response was so common should underscore, not
undermine, its relevance. (Hint, hint, Hal.)
Other ideas in the academic category included making
it more feasible to study abroad and tailoring language courses more toward
conversation instead of to the analysis of literature. This student, who
would like to have gone to Spain, felt confined to this side of the Atlantic
by the dreaded Junior Paper.
ANOTHER TWO WEEKS AND FACULTY MENTORS
One sophomore would like to have at least two weeks
added to the academic year. "If you're going to a top-name university,
you should get the most out of your academic experience," he said.
As an engineer, he could use a couple of extra weeks to either cover more
material in his courses or to cover the material more thoroughly.
Another sophomore, pondering the upcoming deadline
for declaring her major, wished she could have had a stronger academic advising
program during her first two years, starting with a faculty mentor in her
area of interest.
Several students commented on Princeton's menu
of upperclass eating options. A sophomore woman, who faces the all-important
dining decision next month, wishes there were an upperclass dining hall.
One junior, though herself a member of Terrace,
was "not too fond of the eating clubs in general, and how all social
life on campus is centered around them." As an alternative, she suggested
the university experiment with four-year residential colleges. "I'm
not sure if it would be a good thing or a bad thing," she conceded,
"but it would definitely bring about a different social dynamic"
and would be worth trying.
On the other hand, one Ivy Club member thinks the
university "should leave the eating clubs alone." The administration
should not be so concerned about the liabilities associated with alcohol
consumption at the "Street," she said, because the clubs are a
relatively safe environment, eliminating the possibility of drunk driving.
"The clubs are such an incredible part of this school, with dedicated
alumni, and I think [the administration] is interfering too much,"
she said.
PUB AND DINER
In the realm of structural additions, a couple
of library patrons had some suggestions for the new Frist Campus Center,
scheduled for completion in the fall of 2000. At the top of the wish list
were a pub and a 24-hour diner. Many students would like to see the campus
made more accessible for pedestrians, bicycles, and cars. "They should
increase the number of blue-light [emergency] phones, especially in secluded
areas," suggested one woman. She would also like to see the student
parking lotscurrently a 20-minute hike from most dormsmade more convenient,
perhaps with a more frequent or predictable shuttle route. Another student
wished the campus landscape could be made more bicycle-friendly. Gravel,
narrow, and crowded paths, blind corners and stairs now make commuting from
class to class a danger and a hassle. Students would also like more "concrete"
support from the university for their extracurricular activities. One sophomore,
who is active in drama, finds it "sad that a school like this with
so many talented people has nothing to work with" in the form of theater
space. She found the lacking theater to be the symptom of a larger problem:
"The arts get no respect."
Another student, who does not play a varsity sport
but still uses the gym in his free time, wishes Princeton could provide
nicer weight-training facilities for its "amateur" athletes. Ice
and winter slush also elicited a few weather-related responses. One student,
already thinking of spring, wished there were more places on campus where
students could gather outside. Another victim of the winter blues--my roommate,
who'd seen too many angst-ridden days at her computer in pajamas--wished
the entire campus could be relocated to California. I reminded her that
she should be used to New Jersey winters by now, having grown up near Atlantic
City, and that she might want to consider something more feasible for the
suggestion box.
(illustration by Chris Brooks)
Press club days
Remembrances of typewriters, telegrams, and mountain bikes
By Daniel A. Grech '99
Harold Shapiro has announced he will step down as Princeton University
president after having been implicated in a satanic cult," a group
of scribbling reporters were informed. "Shapiro led a frenzied mob
of students in a ritual sacrifice of an engineering student in the basement
of Tiger Inn. The victim clubbed his way free with a beer bottle and reported
the incident to Princeton Borough police. He has now been charged with possession
of alcohol by a minor."
Or so we told the group -- not actual reporters, but Press Club candidates
-- at a mock press conference, organized last year as part of a semester-long,
20-article tryout. None of our current members had ever been to a real press
conference, so we planned the fake one improvising from what we had seen
on TV.
Just then, the sound of police sirens ricocheted through the Press Club
office on the third floor of Aaron Burr Hall. Cars honked, and people screamed
from below. Katherine Zoepf '00, one of the newest members of the club at
the time, ran downstairs and found a mob of people gathered across Nassau
Street. Sovereign Bank had been robbed.
Katherine ran upstairs, grabbed Josh Rosenfield '98, the stringer for
The New York Times, and the two of them sprinted down Nassau Street
to attend an impromptu press conference at Borough Hall. Now, in the middle
of our mock press conference, two members had just dashed away to attend
the real thing.
When a group of undergraduates covers a bank robbery, chaos ensues. Katherine
and Josh were practically hyperventilating -- and so were we -- when they
got back from the press conference. One gunman was dead, the other on the
loose. We began calling our papers.
"FOLLOW THAT HELICOPTER!"
I called my editor at The Star-Ledger of Newark. She told me to
find out about the search for the gunman. So I got on my bike, snuck behind
police lines, and listened to conversations among pockets of policemen.
I called my editor collect from a pay phone every 15 minutes. The police
were using a helicopter to search for the gunman; my editor told me to follow
it. She didn't know I was on a bike. So I tried to follow its spotlight
and got hopelessly lost. Close to midnight, I found a pay phone and called
Josh at the Press Club office to pick me up. He had to drive 10 miles to
find me.
While I was chasing a helicopter on a mountain bike, Katherine and Jeff
Chu '99 were writing a story for The Times of Trenton that earned
them a prize for coverage of breaking news.
The Press Club has been around since 1900 -- next year we celebrate our
centennial -- and as far as I can tell the mixture of naïveté,
enthusiasm, and talent has been one of its chief characteristics throughout.
An especially talented group of members in the late 1970s and early 1980s
would gather in Victor's pizzeria after the regular 11 p.m. Monday meetings.
These days, our discussions of the previous week's news and upcoming events
are at 7 p.m. on Sunday, a day and time that reflects the more mellowed
character of the club in the 1990s.
From the beginning, something fascinated me about the club. Perhaps it
was the dust-covered manual Remington typewriter in the corner of the office,
or the yellowed Western Union telegram, dated October 9, 1935, that read:
"Send hundred words janitor found = NY Evening Journal." When
I closed my eyes, I could smell the stale cigar smoke, I could hear the
clacking typewriters.
I sifted through materials in the University Archives for anything about
the Press Club. I studied pictures of the Press Club in turn-of-the-century
copies of the Bric-a-Brac: well-dressed men with mischievous glints
in their eyes. I began talking about the club to anyone willing to listen,
encouraging talented friends to join. I met Press Club alumni, from Princeton
economics professor Alan Blinder '67 to former Clinton press secretary Mike
McCurry '76 to New Yorker editor David Remnick '81. I spent the summer
after sophomore year wiping away decades-old dust and covering the 20-foot-high
walls of the club's office with posters.
I joined the Press Club my first semester at Princeton; a few weeks ago,
I stepped down as president at the beginning of my last. The Press Club
is the only extracurricular activity I have participated in throughout my
entire undergraduate career -- it has outlasted friendships and ideologies
-- and it will be the part of Princeton I miss most when I graduate in June.
Daniel A. Grech has at last started working on his senior thesis for
the Woodrow Wilson School. He can be reached at dangrech@princeton.edu.
For more information on the Press Club centennial, contact Regan Hunt '00
(rehunt@princeton.edu).
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