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Princeton Weekly Bulletin January 8, 2007, Vol. 96, No. 13 prev next current

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Deadlines. In general, the copy deadline for each issue is the Friday 10 days in advance of the Monday cover date. The deadline for the Bulletin that covers Feb. 5-11 is Friday, Jan. 26. A complete publication schedule is available at www.princeton.edu/ pr/ pwb/ deadlines.html; or by calling (609) 258-3601.

Editor: Ruth Stevens
Calendar editor: Shani Hilton
Staff writers: Jennifer Greenstein Altmann, Eric Quiñones
Contributing writers: Chad Boutin, Cass Cliatt, Hilary Parker
Photographers: Denise Applewhite, John Jameson
Design: Maggie Westergaard
Web edition: Mahlon Lovett

Lauren Hirte as Alice (photo: Tony Hernandez)

Nassau notes

“Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” – an acrobatic, percussive and playful adaptation

The McCarter Theatre Center, in association with Chicago’s Lookingglass Theatre, will present an acrobatic, percussive and playful adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” and “Through the Looking Glass” Jan. 9-28.

“Lookingglass Alice,” adapted and directed by David Catlin, is intended for audiences of all ages. Lauren Hirte plays Alice.

For ticket information, visit the McCarter website at www.mccarter.org or call the box office at 258-2787.

Palestinian diplomat to speak Jan. 15

Afif Safieh, the head of the Palestine Liberation Organization Mission to the United States, will offer his perspective on the relationship between Palestine and Israel in a lecture at 4:30 p.m. Monday, Jan. 15, in Dodds Auditorium, Robertson Hall.

Safieh, whose talk is titled “Israel/Palestine: History Is Undecided,” is one of the leading diplomats of Palestine, having represented the Palestinian state in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and now the United States, where he was appointed in 2005 to his post at the PLO Mission in Washington, D.C. The mission serves as the Palestinian embassy in the United States.

Among his other notable appointments, Safieh served from 1978 to 1981 as a staff member in the office of Yasser Arafat, former chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, in Beirut, Lebanon. He also participated in the 1988 historic meetings in Stockholm that paved the way for the U.S. recognition of the PLO.

Near Eastern studies professor Abraham Udovitch was among five Americans who participated in the Stockholm meeting and invited Safieh to Princeton for the Jan. 15 talk.

“Given the importance of the Palestine question, especially in the current troubled conditions in the Middle East, we can expect an illuminating analysis of the current situation and the prospects of some progress on this very difficult issue,” said Udovitch, the Khedouri A. Zilkha Professor of Jewish Civilization in the Near East. “For the Palestinians, this is a delicate moment both internally and in the region, and few people are as well placed as Afif Safieh to cast some light on this complex situation.”

The lecture is hosted by the Department and Program in Near Eastern Studies and co-sponsored by the Department of History, University Center for Human Values, Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies, Princeton Student Committee for Palestine, Princeton Middle East Society, and Institute for the Transregional Study of the Contemporary Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia.

‘Rare Earth’ author to deliver lectures

Peter Ward, co-author of the bestselling book “Rare Earth: Why Complex Life Is Uncommon in the Universe,” will deliver a series of lectures at 8 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, Jan. 9-11, in McCosh 50.

The talks, rescheduled from Nov. 28-30, are titled “The Undesigned Universe.” Ward is expected to argue that while bacterial life may be widespread in the universe, conditions for complex forms of life are actually hostile.

Ward, a paleontologist and professor of biology and earth and space sciences at the University of Washington-Seattle, published “Rare Earth” in 2000 with Donald Brownlee. He has appeared in public debates with proponents of intelligent design. In his Princeton address, he will explain how scientific evidence points to a finite age for life in the cosmos and why this evidence is incompatible with the theory of intelligent design.

The three individual lectures are titled: “Designs on Life,” Tuesday; “Designing a Habitable Solar System,” Wednesday; and “The Construction of the Cosmos,” Thursday.

The series, designated as the Stafford Little Lectures, is sponsored by the University Public Lecture Series and Princeton University Press.

Princeton Prize applications due Jan. 31

Applications are due Wednesday, Jan. 31, for the Princeton Prize in Race Relations, an awards program for high school students who are doing exceptional work in their schools or communities to advance the cause of race relations,

The program has expanded this year to 19 locations, including the greater metropolitan areas of Baltimore, Cincinnati, Dallas, Memphis, Nashville and Seattle, as well as in three areas of New Jersey: Princeton; the northwestern part of the state; and Essex and Hudson counties. These locations are in addition to last year’s metropolitan areas of Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Philadelphia, San Francisco, St. Louis and Washington, D.C. The program, created by alumni volunteers and sponsored by the University’s Alumni Association, was launched in 2003 with two locations.

“The success of the first three years of the Princeton Prize has been most gratifying,” said Henry Von Kohorn, chair of the Princeton Prize Committee and a 1966 graduate of the University. “This year’s expansion to a total of 19 localities puts us well on the way to achieving our ultimate objective — a prize program to which any high school age student in the country can apply. While the Princeton Prize program is principally a volunteer, alumni-driven effort, we could not have achieved success without the full-fledged support of Princeton University.”

The objective of the program is not only to recognize student initiative with cash prizes, which will be awarded this spring, but also to support and encourage young people who are working hard to foster respect and understanding among people of different backgrounds.

The awards program was developed and is administered by the Princeton Prize Committee, which consists of University alumni, administrators and students. The first-place honor for each location’s winner is $1,000. In addition, award certificates will be given to projects that are worthy of honorable mention.

Applications, which must be postmarked by Jan. 31, are available online at www.princeton.edu/PrincetonPrize. Students enrolled in grades 9 through 12 are eligible to participate. Applicants must have been engaged in their volunteer project in the past year.

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