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July 4, 2001 Notebook Faculty file: Balkans illuminated Oxford Tigers or Princeton Blues? Faculty
file: When Professor of Near Eastern Studies Norman Itzkowitz *59 agreed to teach the university's first online course, Demonization of the Other: Ethnic Conflict in the Balkans, it was a leap into cyberspace. A faculty member since 1958, Itzkowitz has taught Ottoman history, diplomatic history, Turkish language, and psychobiography. Few printed images, and certainly no digitized images, had entered his classroom prior to the 1998 "Demonization." However, continued involvement in the online course ("We review 2,000 years of Balkan history, right up to Slobodan Milosevic") has "profoundly" influenced Itzkowitz's teaching and thinking. "It has made me much more aware of the importance of visual images and imagery in making history accessible," he says. Now, when his Princeton classes study the 1934 assassination of King Alexander of Yugoslavia, Itzkowitz refers them to an online series of photographs that show the assassin jumping up on the running board, shooting the king, a police officer attacking the assassin with a saber, and the dead man lying in the street. "In a textbook you might have one picture," he says, "but online, you can show many pictures." And Itzkowitz says that, were he writing today his psychobiography of Kemal Ataturk, first president of the Turkish republic (The Immortal Ataturk, 1984), "I would put in more imagery, more description. I'd spend more time describing Ataturk's clothes, as a clue to his narcissism." Current projects include "the university's first interactive online precept," a follow-up to "Demonization," which is due to go live this summer. Says Itzkowitz, "I'm
proof that you can teach an old dog new tricks." By Caroline Moseley
Steps taken to improve salaries for low-wage workers Pictured: WROC organizers David Tannenbaum '01, left, and Nicholas Guyatt GS (photo by Frank Wojciechowski) One of the final financial decisions President Shapiro made before his presidency ended in June was to allocate nearly $400,000 - the remainder of his discretionary fund - to the salary pool for members of the biweekly staff who are being paid at or below market rates. This reallocation of money was made in response to the Priorities Committee, which recommended in a report at the Council of the Princeton University Community (CPUC) meeting on May 16 that the "University should adopt as a stated goal a policy that the total compensation of its biweekly staff be at rates which are at or slightly above those of their peer groups outside the University." It further recommended that the improvements be made over the course of several years. The estimated cost is $1.5 million. President Shapiro's fund will take care of about one-third of that. The reconvening this spring of the Priorities Committee, which usually wraps up its business by January, was prompted by members of the student-led Workers' Rights Organizing Committee (WROC) who brought to light the pay disparities and other problems with the wage structure of Princeton's low-wage workers. WROC, which held three major rallies this year, asked for cost of living adjustments (COLAs), improved pay and benefits for casual workers, a ban on outsourcing, and differential pay for night and weekend staff. In March the university announced it would move several casual workers to benefits-eligible term appointments or permanent staff positions. With the re-allocation of the president's discretionary fund, the university hoped to bring the issue to a conclusion before the summer break - and to avert more protests. At Harvard this spring, students held a 26-day sit-in to protest similar workers' rights issues. Richard Spies *72, vice president for finance and administration, said, "I would hope that this isn't the first thing that the new president has to deal with. So I think that it is important to get to a concluding point." While noting the significance of the additional funding for biweekly salaries, WROC is not satisfied with the university's response to its proposals. Nicholas Guyatt GS, one of WROC's organizers, explains, "In terms of absolute wage levels, the university has recognized that some workers are behind the market. . . . A more significant victory is the university's concession that it should not base salary increases mainly on the flawed and unfair pay-for-performance system. "The bad news, however, is that the Priorities Committee completely ignored the central issue of WROC's campaign - a COLA for all low-wage workers. Presently we're planning
to step up our operations in the fall. . . . Obviously we've been
watching Harvard, and it's clear that the kind of action taken by
Harvard's students may be the only recourse if administrators ignore
or dismiss crucial worker issues in the coming year." By M.G.
Pictured: Liu Yingli, left, spoke on behalf of her imprisoned husband, Li Shaomin *88 (Photo by frank wojciechowski). About 50 people gathered on Firestone Plaza after the P-rade for a subdued demonstration calling for the release of Li Shaomin *88 from a Chinese prison. Shaomin, a U.S. citizen and associate professor at City University in Hong Kong, went to China to do research and was detained February 25. On May 15 he was charged with espionage. The Chinese government has refused Shaomin lawyer's counsel; U.S. consulate officials have been permitted to see him about three times. The university chapter of Amnesty International and the Friends of Li Shaomin organized the gathering. The speakers included Robert Durkee '69, university vice president for public affairs, and Professor Gilbert Rozman. "Even our State Department does not know where he is," said Shaomin's wife, Liu Yingli. "If Chinese security can get away with imprisoning my husband, they can do the same to other academics. If we protect Shaomin today, we protect others tomorrow." Among the handful present dressed in reunion gear was Bathabile Mthombeni-Njenga '97, a native of South Africa, who came because "I feel I owe it to all the people who stood up for me in standing up against apartheid to do the same in supporting others." By Maria LoBiondo Photo by Ricardo Barros Shirley Tilghman took the presidential oath of office at the Board of Trustees meeting on June 4 and assumed office June 15; an installation ceremony will take place September 28. Tilghman plans to remain in Princeton over the summer, "getting my feet on the ground, speaking with staff and faculty about their departments, setting in motion key academic and administrative searches, and thinking about the future," she said. Look for our profile of her in the September 12 issue. As President Shapiro cleaned up his desk in Nassau Hall and made way for his successor, several other top university administrators also have decided to step down. After six years as the university's second-ranking officer, Provost Jeremiah Ostriker will leave that office at the end of this summer and become the Plumian professor of astronomy and experimental philosophy at the Univer-sity of Cambridge. He will also continue to hold his faculty position at Princeton as the Charles A. Young professor of astronomy and to work with his graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. Ostriker plans to hold the Plumian professorship for three years and then return to Princeton. Dean of the Chapel Joseph Williamson retired at the end of this academic year after 12 years with the university. Williamson plans to spend more time with his family and on lifelong interests, such as the intersection of religion and politics and increasing educational opportunities for the poor. Williamson was a member of President Shapiro's cabinet and was responsible for ecumenical Christian worship in the Chapel and three university interfaith services each year. Howard Ende, a member of Princeton's legal staff for 27 years and general counsel since 1991, will leave the university at the end of this year to become president next fall of the Mpala Wildlife Foundation, the primary funding source for the Mpala Research Center, a training facility located in central Kenya that focuses on environmental and social sciences education and research. Ende became involved in the center a dozen years ago when he began working with George L. Small '43 to set up the Mpala Research Trust, which administers the center. Small wanted to dedicate 45,000 acres he owned in Kenya to advance the understanding of biodiversity and ecosystem processes. Raymond Clark, treasurer of the university for 14 years, retired in February. Now treasurer, emeritus, Clark will continue to have an office on campus and will oversee the conclusion next year of Partnership 2000, an effort to replace the university's administrative systems with cutting-edge technology. Vice President for Development Van Zandt Williams, Jr. '65 has served since 1980 and plans on retiring as soon as Princeton's new president is ready to choose his successor. "I figured it was time to let someone else have the fun," said Williams, who has managed two fundraising campaigns: the 250th Anniversary Campaign, which concluded in June 2000 with a record total of $1.14 billion; and A Campaign for Princeton, which began with a $275 million goal and ended with $410 million raised in the mid-1980s. Joan Doig, vice president for human resources since 1996, will retire at the end of this year. Doig joined the university staff in 1974 as a special collections assistant in the Astrophysical Sciences Library. Two years later she transferred to the department then known as Personnel Ser-vices as a personnel representative and subsequently took on additional responsibilities as manager of training and manager of benefits before serving seven years as general manager of the department. Oxford Tigers or Princeton Blues? Princeton and Oxford Universities announced in April a major collaboration that will create new research partnerships, increase faculty and student exchanges, and provide opportunities to share resources required for cutting-edge scientific ventures. Research partnerships will be initiated in the humanities and social sciences, as well as in the natural sciences and engineering. In addition to identifying and encouraging specific research partnerships, the universities are planning to establish a significant exchange of students, including undergraduates. "Research and learning increasingly are global endeavors, involving collaboration among faculty members and students from around the world," said President Shapiro. "This new program will create important new opportunities and synergies by drawing on the complementary strengths and perspectives of faculty and students at two of the world's leading universities." Already 12 collaborative research projects have been provisionally identified, in fields spanning nanotechnology, astrophysics, genomics, and stone and art preservation. University leaders believe the initiative will enhance research by bringing together scholars with different perspectives and approaches, and improve teaching by increasing interaction among undergraduate and graduate students from different cultures. Last year, Oxford and Princeton were among the founders of a $12-million Web-based learning venture that will provide online courses, interactive seminars, multimedia programs, topical Web sites with links to research information, and live and taped coverage of campus speakers and events. Randall Hack '69 and his wife, Mary, have endowed a chair in finance that will be named in honor of Hack's grandfather Otto A. Hack 1903. Hack, who has served as president of Princeton's investment company, Princo, is also a cofounder of Nassau Capital, which invests the university's endowment funds in alternative assets. The professorship will support the work of a distinguished scholar in the university's Bendheim Center for Finance. Since Hack's grandfather came to Princeton, two dozen members of the extended Hack family have attended Princeton. Over Reunions weekend, the university-owned Garden movie theater reopened after extensive renovations brought the 80-year-old theater up to date with stadium seating, new infrastructure, and better soundproofing. The theater opened in 1920 with a showing of Civilian Clothes, starring Thomas Meighan. John Matthews '51 and Dean of the Graduate School John Wilson were on hand for the May 17 dedication of a plaque commemorating the Merwick Rehabilitation Unit of the Medical Center at Princeton as the first residential graduate college in the U.S. From 1905-13, Merwick was known as Princeton University's "Graduate House," where 12 graduate students and a professor lived. The building was bought by the Matthews family and later donated to the medical center. Battelle, an Ohio-based concern that develops technology and products for industry and government, has announced a $3-million gift to establish a professorship in physics to honor John Archibald Wheeler, the Joseph Henry professor of physics, emeritus. The professorship recognizes his groundbreaking research in theoretical physics, his service to the nation, and his service to Battelle, where he was a trustee for 30 years. The Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) has awarded PAW a silver medal in the category of Visual Design in Print for the cover of the October 25 issue, which featured a close-up of President Shapiro. The cover was designed by Marianne Nelson, PAW's art director; the photograph was taken by Rich Tucker '01. Viewers of the June 11 episode of Weakest Link, a crafty vote-'em-off trivia show, saw David Calone '96 win $83,500 when his opponent in the final round, a middle-school teacher, flubbed the answer to the question, Who wrote Paradise Regained?
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