November 8, 2000

Notebook

Faculty File: Stepchild research

Oxford joins Princeton's distance-learning alliance

Clinton comes to campus
Media vs. media dust-up ensues

Graduate alumnus wins Nobel

Green Party candidate Ralph Nader '55 speaks on campus

Two tiger skeletons moved to Frist from Guyot

Talks on Campus

Tech Notes: All on the same Web page

Search committee finalized

High schoolers taste Princeton's humanities offerings

Faculty File:
Stepchild research

After economics professor Anne Case *83 published in August the results of her research on stepfamilies, stepmothers in particular, hundreds of people wrote to Case taking exception to her findings. "There are a lot of angry stepmothers who let me know they thought that I was making them sound like wicked stepmothers, which is not at all what the results were saying," said Case.

Case, who worked on this project with another professor of economics, Christina Paxson, said that it was true the data showed that children raised in households with stepmothers received less health care, less education, and less money spent on their food than children raised by their biological mothers.

But she added that the newspapers that published accounts of her and Paxson's findings, downplayed the role of the father. "They underplayed the role the fathers are not playing. Is the dad thinking, This woman is going to take care of the doctor's appointment? And is the woman thinking that maybe dad should do it?" In the surveys when the father was the respondent, the fathers tended not to remember if the children ever had an earache or a sore throat or ever had to go to the doctor. "If you believe what they report," said Case, "their children are just superhuman children. It's because that's not their beat; that's not what they see."

The findings were taken from two national surveys of American households that publish numerous data, including income, spending, and health habits.

Case, who is on leave this year, teaches a one-semester Ph.D. course on economic development and a one-semester course on domestic policy for the Wilson School M.P.A.s.

By L.O.

For more about Case and her other research, click here.

Oxford joins Princeton's distance-learning alliance

Last spring, the university announced that it was creating, along with Stanford and Yale Universities, a new consortium focusing on distance learning. In September, Oxford University joined the new Big Three to form what is being called, in these beginning months, the University Alliance for Life-Long Learning. However, according to Associate Provost Georgia Nugent '73, who will oversee Princeton's participation, the final name will be something more distinctive than UAFLLL.

For the success of the alliance, these four academic heavy-hitters are betting on many elements: new technology, a willingness on the part of faculty to create courses and take part in this new venture, an enthusiasm on the part of the combined 500,000 alumni to take online courses, and the availability among the proposed audience of the necessary hardware.

The ante is $3 million per university. At the end of September, it was announced that Herbert M. Allison, Jr., former president of Merrill Lynch and a 1965 graduate of Yale, will be the president and CEO of the nonprofit educational enterprise. The board of directors comprises eight people, two from each institution. They are: John Etchemendy, provost of Stanford University (Stanford); Srinija Srinivasan, vice president and editor in chief of Yahoo! Inc. (Stanford); Edward Barry, former director of Oxford University Press (Oxford); Colin Lucas, vice chancellor of Oxford University (Oxford); Richard C. Levin, president of Yale University (Yale); G. Leonard Baker, the managing director of Sutter Hill Ventures (Yale); Jeremiah Ostriker, provost of Princeton (Princeton); and Heidi Miller '74, CFO of Priceline.com (Princeton).

PAW reported in April that it was hoped that some courses would be ready this fall for the alumni of Princeton, Yale, and Stanford, but the goal now is to have courses ready for the fall of 2001. It is still not clear how it will all work. According to Nugent, at the moment the idea is to have an alliance Web site, where alumni can view and download materials, and they will also be able to use their individual universities as portals.

"Essentially the alliance is seen as a way of aggregating what is produced by the university, and marketing and distributing it," Nugent said. "The universities will have the major production and mission. When the universities got together to create this entity, they saw it as a federation where they are coming together where there is some advantage to being joined."

A beta site for the alliance may be ready in the spring, said Nugent, but she added that Princeton continues to post online courses on its own Web site. The newest offerings include a course on animal behavior, created by James Gould, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology; a course on the sociology of war, by Miguel Centeno, associate professor of sociology; and an introductory course in cosmology.

Nugent said it was entirely possible that other institutions might join in the future. "This is not intended to be a closed deal," she said.

By L.O.

Clinton comes to campus
Media vs. media dust-up ensues

On October 5, President Clinton came to campus to deliver the keynote address at a two-day academic conference on the Progressive Era. In his speech, which strayed from the academic into the political, Clinton praised the Progressive Era, which began with Theodore Roosevelt and continued under Woodrow Wilson 1879. He likened the time we're living in now to the beginning of the 20th century. "Their time had much in common with ours," he said. "Therefore, our responsibilities have much in common with theirs: To preserve what is enduring, but to adapt our nation, time and again, to what is new."

The audience - students, administrators, staff, faculty, and scholars - began to assemble in Richardson Auditorium at noon for security reasons, and a little after 1 p.m. a pianist entertained the crowd with rag-time music until it was announced around 2 p.m. that the president was late. Around 3 p.m., "Hail to the Chief" aired over the public-address system, and Clinton strode in with President Shapiro and Sean Wilentz, professor of history and the conference organizer, to warm applause.

Before Clinton stepped to the lectern to speak, Katharine Strong Gilbert '02 presented him with the James Madison Award for Distinguished Public Service, given by the American Whig-Cliosophic Society, the university's largest student organization. Past honorees have included Earl Warren, Golda Meir, Jesse Jackson, and Adlai Stevenson '22.

The last time President Clinton was on campus was for Commencement in 1996, when he received an honorary degree and delivered the commencement address in conjunction with the university's bicenquinquagenary.

This year, the crowd inside Alexander Hall was enthusiastic, but two groups, the Democratic Left of Princeton and the Palestinian Right to Return, staged small protests outside in a holding area that had been erected on Cannon Green.

Media vs. media

One way to stage a protest is to congregate on campus and make your voice heard. Another is to withhold your voice, making your silence heard. This is the form of protest that Wilentz took when the editors of the Daily Princetonian planned to publish two articles on the day of the president's visit.

Richard Just '01, editor in chief of the Prince, had hoped on the day of the president's visit to run on the newspaper's editorial page two articles about Clinton in a point-counterpoint format. Just planned on an article by Wilentz, a well-known supporter of the president, and an article by Professor of Politics Robert George, a vehement critic of Clinton.

But when Wilentz, the conference organizer, learned of the point-counterpoint format a few days before publication, he objected and told the Prince that he would withdraw his story were it to run next to George's. He said that his piece was historical and academic, and was unsuited to ideological debate. Without Wilentz's article, Just decided not to run either piece. He later said that he had "tried to set up a debate between two professors of substantial fame and stature in the academic world. When that debate fell apart, it was my decision to cancel the whole thing."

George, unlike Wilentz, had no objection to the planned format, and when he learned from the Prince that his article would not run, he e-mailed editors at the Prince to confirm the reason for their decision. George, in an interview, said that he learned from an editor at the Prince who was also on the conference planning committee that conference planners had been upset that opinion pieces about the president were being planned for October 5. George also said that this student told him there was "banging on the table" about the issue. George, who saved his e-mail correspondence, wrote to the Prince and asked the editors to correct this version of events if it was wrong. He received no reply. The editor in question declined to comment to PAW, referring all questions to Just, who was not able to confirm or deny the account.

George found another place for his piece, which he lengthened from 750 words to 1,000. The Wall Street Journal ran it on Friday, October 6, the day after the president's visit, with an introductory statement that said conference planners "prevailed upon the editors of the Daily Princetonian not to publish" George's piece on the day of the president's visit. (In the article, George said that he disapproves "of Mr. Clinton, and I suspect other conservatives do too, because he is an unprincipled and deeply dishonorable man.")

Neither Wilentz nor Just knew about George's article in the Journal until the day of publication, and both were outraged by the Journal's introduction.

Just was not able to publish a reply in the Prince until the following Monday. In a half-page, large-type editorial he castigated the Journal for not contacting anyone at the Prince to ascertain the truth. The accusation that the Prince had bowed to outside pressure in refusing to run George's column on that particular day was false, the editorial said. It went on to accuse the Journal of irresponsibility.

Wilentz also tried to clarify his position in a letter to the Prince published the day after Just's editorial. It was in that letter that he said his article had been unsuited to an ideological debate. He also took a swipe at George by saying that George "chose to tell a false story to the Wall Street Journal." He went on to criticize the Journal for not contacting him about the story.

Wilentz said later in an interview that it was entirely possible that George told the Journal what he thought to be true, and he added, "The real villain is the Wall Street Journal because they didn't check with us. By putting in that little teaser, they turned it into a news story."

The debate between two ideologically opposed academics that never took place on an editorial page instead was happening in letters columns.

George, upset that Wilentz said he had made a false statement to the Journal, wrote a letter to the Prince that appeared on Thursday, October 12. In it he said that Wilentz's statement that he had made a false statement to the Journal was itself false, adding that Wilentz had provided no evidence for the allegation. He then laid out in detail a chronicle of his interactions with the Prince editors, which he said he would make available to anyone in the Princeton community. It included the correspondence to the editors that was never answered.

Just, in his earlier editorial, said he had tried to "correct the Journal's half-truths in print," but was unable to do so. A much-edited letter of his was finally published in the Journal on October 12. In it he said, "With Prof. Wilentz trying to dictate the terms of how his column would be presented - and facing the prospect of having only one article to run in what we had planned to be a carefully balanced debate - I made what I felt was the only acceptable decision: I refused to run either column."

One point that both Wilentz and George agree on: Neither professor understood from the editors at the Prince until late in the game that their columns were to be published in a point-counterpoint format.

In the end, neither column was published in the Prince. Instead, Just, who had hoped for "a carefully balanced debate" in his newspaper, ended up publishing an editorial written by Jason Brownlee GS suggesting that President Clinton would make the ideal 19th president for the university.

By L.O.

Graduate alumnus wins Nobel

James J. Heckman *71 was the cowinner of the Nobel Prize in economics this year. Heckman, a professor of economics at the University of Chicago, shares the prize with Daniel L. McFadden of the University of California at Berkeley for his work in developing "theory and methods that are widely used in the empirical analysis of individual and household behavior, within economics as well as other social sciences," said the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which awards the prize.

Heckman's research evaluates the impact of a variety of social programs on the economy and on society at large. He has written on the impact of civil rights and affirmative action programs, taxes, unionism, and other issues. At Princeton, Heckman was involved in the industrial relations section of the economics department.

Heckman's son, Jonathan, is a member of the Class of 2004.

Green Party candidate Ralph Nader '55 speaks on campus

Acknowledging that he didn't expect to claim the presidency on November 7, Ralph Nader '55, in a speech on campus on October 15, said that he hoped enough people would vote the Green Party so that the other two parties, especially the Democrats, would take note. He called this year's choice a "choice between a bad Democratic Party and a worse Republican Party."

The event, organized by the student group Campus Greens, took place late Sunday evening in Richardson Auditorium before a near-capacity crowd. Earlier in the day, Nader's speech at Rutgers University had been marred when, near the end, a stink bomb exploded, clearing the auditorium.

Nader, who has long been known as a consumer advocate, is a staunch critic of corporate America and a big supporter of what he called the "civic action alternative." Nader's Princeton class, 1955, started Princeton Project 55, which supports many civic projects in the U.S. and abroad.

Two tiger skeletons moved to Frist from Guyot

For the dedication of the Frist Campus Center, October 20, President Shapiro's office requested that the geology department lend two skeletons from its Natural History Museum.

The skeletons, one of a modern Bengal tiger and the other of an ice-age Smilodon from the La Brea Tar Pits, were a gift from the Class of 1927 and had been displayed together in Guyot Hall so that viewers could study the differences in their structures. The Smilodon is a distant ancestor of the Bengal.

This request from the president's office precipitated the first major change in the museum since it was officially closed September 4, and is the first major change since the closing of the museum became an issue for some members of the geology department and some alumni [see PAW's story in the October 11 issue].

According to Allen Sinisgalli, associate provost, he and vice president Thomas Wright '62 asked the geology department for the tigers because Sinisgalli said the administration needed some displays of Princeton activities in Frist. The loan was approved by the geology faculty, and one professor, William Bonini '48 *49, drew up a memo regarding the move called "Memorandum of Understanding with regard to placement in the Frist Campus Center of the Class of 1927 'Leaping Tiger' exhibit from the Guyot Hall Natural History Museum."

The seven-point memo, which was also approved by the geology faculty and signed by President Shapiro, enumerated the requirements for the move and the new display, covering such things as temperature, light, and air.

The firm of Phil Fraley executed the move. Fraley is known as one of the country's top bone movers, which satisfies point number four: "The exhibit skeletons are fragile, precariously hung from piano wire, and should only be moved and re-exhibited in Frist under the expert guidance of a professional vertebrate paleontologist." The move, including building a modernized display case in Frist, cost less than $10,000, according to Sinisgalli.

Fraley came to the attention of the department through one of its alumni, David Parris *70, curator at the New Jersey State Museum.

Bonini, who said he didn't quite understand the passion for having the Smilodon in Frist, added, "I think it will give geology some publicity, and we need it."

By L.O.

Talks on Campus

The poet Derek Walcott, winner of the 1992 Nobel Prize in literature, read from his work on September 27. Walcott's plays have been produced by the New York Shakespeare Festival, the Mark Taper Forum, and the Negro Ensemble Company. In 1981 he received a five-year fellowship from the MacArthur Foundation.

New York state attorney general Eliot Spitzer '81 gave a talk, "Gun Control: The New York Experience," on October 10. Spitzer, who has been New York's attorney general for two years, is a proponent of gun control.

Newspaperman Russell Baker, who won a Pulitzer Prize in 1982 for his autobiography, Growing Up, spoke on October 16 on "The Age of the Superstory." He discussed the evolution of journalism, touching on the hysterical coverage that is given to stories like the O. J. Simpson trial and the Monica Lewinsky affair.

Paul Kurtz, professor of philosophy, emeritus, at the State University of New York at Buffalo, lectured on "Secular Humanists: The Last Repressed Minority in America," on October 17. Kurtz is founder and chair of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal, and the Council for Secular Humanism.

The wildly popular children's book author and illustrator Maurice Sendak (left) discussed his work on October 18. In conjunction with his visit, the Cotsen Children's Collection featured Sendak's illustrations of fairy tales. They will be on exhibit until December 1.

Jerry Reiter, author and development officer for the Center for Inquiry-International, spoke on October 19 on his experience with the Christian Coalition and the pro-life movement.

Tech Notes:
All on the same Web page

Two years ago, about 100 university courses had Web sites. This fall, 950 courses do. This leap in online academic resources is a result of the collaboration between Computing and Information Technology (CIT) and Blackboard, Inc., a Washington, D.C.-based Internet development company. Provost Jeremiah Ostriker purchased Blackboard's CourseInfo v.4.0 service to provide a common online format for faculty and students.

The current version of CourseInfo not only gives faculty a basic starting point for creating their own Web sites, but it also provides each student with a personalized "My Blackboard" page, that can list current announcements, upcoming assignments, and links to all his or her classes.

"CourseInfo is a big product," said Serge Goldstein, CIT's director of academic services. "It includes a venue for real-time interactive chats, a drop box for student work, an assessment facility to build tests and quizzes, and an online grade book." Goldstein estimates that 350-400 faculty members have taken advantage of CourseInfo's integrated approach and actually used the pre-equipped Web page as part of their academic instruction -- a number that is sure to rise as the faculty becomes more familiar with the software.

However, there are some professors who do not find the system useful. Computer science professor Edward Felten, for example, has decided to stick with his own Web page, a decision made in part due to administrative problems. "Not only have I had trouble accessing my page," said Felten, "but I took an informal survey in the computer science department and found that only one professor knew he had a CourseInfo Web page already set up for him."

By Andrew Shtulman '01

Search committee finalized

The final members of the 18-person committee that will recommend a new university president to the Board of Trustees were named the week of October 16.

The faculty representatives are: Alan B. Krueger, professor in economics and public affairs in the Woodrow Wilson School (social sciences division), Shirley M. Tilghman, professor of molecular biology (natural sciences), James C. Sturm '79, professor of electrical engineering (engineering), Mark Johnston, professor of philosophy (humanities), and Jeffrey D. Carbeck, assistant professor of chemical engineering, who represents the untenured faculty.

Kathleen Deignan, dean of undergraduate students, will represent university staff.

The trustees and the students who are serving on the committee had been announced earlier. They are: trustees Brent L. Henry '69, Dennis J. Keller '63, Spencer B. Merriweather '00, Heidi G. Miller '74, Robert S. Murley '72, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk '72, Robert H. Rawson '66 (chair), John O. Wynne '67, and Paul M. Wythes '55 (vice chair); and students P. J. Kim '01, Lauren Hale GS, and Lisa Lazarus '02.

The university's vice president and secretary, Thomas Wright '62, who is the committee's secretary as well, is handling the comments and suggestions that come in from alumni. At press time, the committee had received around sixty. Wright said that he is answering each one individually on behalf of the committee and that copies of all of the suggestions and comments are being indexed, cross-referenced, and made available to all committee members.

High schoolers taste Princeton's humanities offerings

Princeton tried to bury any remnants of an elitist reputation in the minds of 65 high school seniors when it invited them to campus for a humanities and arts symposium the weekend of October 5.

The seniors, chosen for their artistic and creative abilities, gathered at Princeton's expense to participate in an unprecedented and altogether original event: a humanities symposium designed to recognize their talents and show them what Princeton has to offer by way of the arts.

"To the best of my knowledge, this is unique," said Dean of the College Nancy Weiss Malkiel. "There are many forms of recognition for high school students who are talented in math and science. But there are not as many for students talented in the humanities and creative arts."

The two-day symposium combined a lecture, a foreign film, miniature precepts, workshops in photography, creative writing, and theater, and a final dinner with writer A. Scott Berg '71 around a single theme: Berlin in the 1920s. The students loved it.

"I thought I would be overwhelmed, but they made everything fit together so it made sense," said Kereese Gayle, a high school senior from New Orleans. "If tonight is any indication of how Princeton approaches learning, then that's what I really like about this school."

The symposium began as the brainchild of Dean of Admission Fred Hargadon last fall as a way to recognize the achievements of talented seniors and introduce them to Princeton. According to Hargadon, the invitation to the symposium neither commits the seniors to applying to Princeton nor guarantees their acceptance to the university.

The symposium program itself, developed by professors Michael Jennings, Anthony Grafton, and Michael Cadden in conjunction with Hargadon and Malkiel, emphasized what Princeton has to offer in the humanities on an undergraduate level.

"We may not be as well known as an arts place, but the opportunities here are just terrific," said Malkiel. "When students actually come here and look around, what they discover is that for undergraduate creative arts the programs here are superb."

The chance to meet other equally talented and diverse high school students also went a long way toward showing the seniors that college in general and Princeton in particular would be a place of cultural interaction.

"Coming here on the shuttle bus there were so many cultures and so many areas of the U.S.," said Gayle. "And that was only nine people out of 65 here."

By Anne Ruderman '01

Anne Ruderman, a history major, is a columnist for PAW.