<p>"It is obvious they were not trying to be offensive in any way."</p>
<p>I give them more "credit" than that.</p>
<p>"My high school newspaper does better."</p>
<p>(My point exactly.) :)</p>
<p>They weren't trying to be offensive. They were trying to be funny. Joke issue. They failed. Badly.</p>
<p>Alumother- any school with students like that worries me- it may not be official policy, but for anyone to be so racist/insensitive and get published reflects poorly on the university- they chose to admit people who would write that. I'm responding to your response to my first post. So much for the Ivy league schools being any better than others if their student journalism is a reflection of the student body. These schools are put on a pedestal, they have further to fall when their students do such things.</p>
<p>And one more takes that fateful dive off their mole hill...</p>
<p>Far too much is being made of this nonsense, Alumother is absolutely right.</p>
<p>Irony is that, Prince's editor in chief is an Asian - Indian.</p>
<p>And a member of another minority in the US - he's Canadian:). And an absolutely wonderful person apparently.</p>
<p>Kids make mistakes. This is a bad one. Give them the benefit of the doubt. They will have learned an enormous amount. But this doesn't mean that Princeton is full of egregious racists. That would be like saying that Harvard is full of plagiarists from the one girl. But, we do all like to see the mighty fall etc.</p>
<p>" they chose to admit people who would write that..... So much for the Ivy league schools being any better than others if their student journalism is a reflection of the student body. "</p>
<p>Their application materials would not necessarily have foreshadowed future submissions to a campus newspaper.</p>
<p>The student journalism is not necessarily a reflection of the student body's <em>opinions</em>. It is a mirror of the hasty judgments, inappropriate assumptions that this age group often makes -- including about each other. As I said in the Admissions Forum, college students too often project from the personal to the universal, announcing that "all" or "most" students feel or believe "X" -- even when such generalizations are way off.</p>
<br>
<blockquote> <p>That would be like saying that Harvard is full of plagiarists from the one girl.<<</p> </blockquote>
<br>
<p>Well back when it was Harvard's turn on the hot seat, some people actually said that.</p>
<p>Well people do say silly things sometimes, don't they:).</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Not all find it amusing. The quote below is from another forum. Some of the posts are too nasty to repeat here, calling some of the CC posters (by name) racists for their posts in response to the Jian Li case. The "Lian Ji" of the article above obviously refers to Jian Li.</p>
<p>"Read what the racist hypocrite white, as well as black parents (on collegeconfidential.com), are saying against Jian Li."</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>My point exactly. :)</p>
<p>"Kids make mistakes. This is a bad one. Give them the benefit of the doubt. They will have learned an enormous amount. But this doesn't mean that Princeton is full of egregious racists."</p>
<p>I don't think anyone has suggested anything of the sort. What I do think is that the editors of the Princetonian - rightly or wrongly - thought there was a significant portion of their readership that would find it funny, appropriate, and non-offensive. (I find it hard to believe that they didn't think ANYONE would not find it offensive - and I think it perfectly appropriate for newspapers to offend some of its readers some of the time - so I don't fault them for that.)</p>
<p>I agree with mini. Moreover, if the subjects of the "joke" edition was URM's or gay-lesbian students, there would be demonstrations on campus, and the NYT would be editorializing every day. This "joke" is just inexcusable, IMO, and, at a minimum, I'd suspend everyone involved.</p>
<p>Let me throw myself on my sword here. Let's presume, for a moment, that where there is smoke there is fire. After all, that's all that matters. You can be absolutely sure that if this is just a case of some kids making a mistake in a position of authority without supervision, those kids have been adequately punished by the public outcry and that President Tilghman will deal with the campus short-term situation appropriately.</p>
<p>But, if, just let's imagine, this does indicate something about Princeton, then what? I would submit that in fact Princeton is the least cosmopolitan of HYPSM. It is the most conservative. Why? Harvard, MIT and Yale are in cities, Stanford is in California. Princeton sits in a wealthy East Coast suburb. It has a long tradition of taking the scions of the wealthy South. It has the eating club system. I am an alumna and a Princeton parent, so you know which side my partisan bread is buttered on, but I would like to suggest that in fact this incident doesn't mean that these kids are horrible racists or that the administration is lax or that those little privileged creatures think they can get away with anything. But, that it may mean that Princeton needs to continue on its current path to welcome the green-haired, to increase minority enrollment and to extend the international outreach even futher. </p>
<p>I guess that upon reflection I think that the plagiarism at Harvard didn't mean that all kids are plagiarists, but was the smoke to the fire of the highly competitive ambitious environment there. I think this article in the Princetonian is the smoke to a somewhat conservative, non-urban environment at Princeton. </p>
<p>However I continue to believe that the faculty and the education and the facilities at Princeton, and the president of the university, are unparalleled in this country as resources for undergraduate education and undergraduate community building. So as a deep supporter I hope that President Tilghman uses this event to continue to improve the place.</p>
<p>Alu, well said. "This too shall pass. "</p>
<p>Dang it. It won't let me edit. Grrrrr.</p>
<p>O.K. If I could edit I would add. "Just hang in there, kiddo. At least no one has called YOU a heretic this week. Not yet, anyway.;) "</p>
<p>Yeah. Not this week at least:). If anyone calls you a heretic, just lemme know and I will go fall on my second sword in that direction...</p>
<p>Alumother,
Possibly. But to me, the student-body-composition question is not necessarily the heart of the matter. And, according to various student CC forums over the last 2+ yrs., a number of the green-haired variety have been accepted to P, but found Yale, Columbia, or Berkeley more to their liking. The town itself of Princeton, the subdued environment, is not necessarily going to appeal to an edgy urban type. </p>
<p>Can't get more green-haired than Berkeley, yet The Daily Californian has offended year after year, differently than The Prince just did. I.m.o., much more adult oversight is warranted when it comes to "student-run" publications that are published on campus & which bear that University's name. It's not the (limited) range of opinions that bother me, in any campus publication -- whether those are pro- or anti-PC, btw. It is mainly the failure to distinguish between news & opinion. This is Intro to Journalism 1A, yet college publications fail miserably at this, much more often than high school rags do, due to supervision of the latter. Many college newspapers are simply one long Op-Ed piece. I appreciate the need for independence, & especially the importance of the opportunity for independence at age 18, but this is problematic when it comes to controversial issues and the impulse to forget self-control. </p>
<p>Students need a way to exercise their independence. In serious publications they can do so, with ultimate University oversight to review tone (as opposed to suggesting censorship). It's a matter of delivery & appropriate vehicles for the message. In <em>alternate</em> rags, on that same campus, they can publish a competing "newspaper" which offers venting, ranting, comedic, & opinionated options without adult oversight. JMO, which I'm sure is not the majority opinion.</p>
<p>It is interesting to note that the long time advisor to the Prince died just over the Christmas holidays. Not at all the tweed-clothed type one might have imagined for Princeton...</p>