Nassau notes
Jordan’s King Abdullah to speak
King Abdullah II
King Abdullah II, the reigning monarch of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, will deliver a policy address at Princeton at noon Friday, Feb. 29, sponsored by the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. The event will take place in Richardson Auditorium, Alexander Hall, and is free and open to the public.
King Abdullah will address the future of Arab-American relations in the context of the Middle East’s current challenges, particularly how to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, which Jordan views as the most significant issue facing the region.
Tickets for the event are available to members of the University community on a first-come, first-served basis. Distribution began Tuesday, Feb. 19, and will continue while supplies last through Wednesday, Feb. 27, during normal business hours at the Frist Campus Center Ticket Office. A Princeton University ID is required to receive a ticket, and up to two tickets will be allotted per PUID.
Tickets also will be available to members of the public at the Richardson box office from noon to 2 p.m. on Feb. 27 until supplies last. Two tickets will be allotted per person, and all individuals must bring a photo ID to receive a ticket.
All ticket holders also will be required to bring a photo ID to gain entry to the event. For security reasons, no umbrellas, cameras or backpacks will be allowed inside the venue.
The Woodrow Wilson School will host a live video simulcast of the event in Dodds Auditorium, Robertson Hall; the simulcast is open to the general public and does not require a ticket. This event also will be webcast live at www.wws.princeton.edu/webmedia.
NPR political correspondent to discuss elections
Mara Liasson, a national political correspondent for National Public Radio, will present a talk on “The 2008 Elections” at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 28, in 16 Robertson Hall.
Liasson appears regularly on NPR’s “All Things Considered” and “Morning Edition.” She covers politics and policy from Washington, D.C., focusing on the White House and Congress, and reports on political trends beyond the Beltway. Now covering her fifth presidential election, Liasson tracks candidates and issues in both presidential and congressional races.
This talk is sponsored by the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.
Education policy subject of lecture
Two prominent scholars of public policy will discuss “The Sandbox Investment: Kids-First Politics” at 4:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 25, in 16 Robertson Hall.
The speakers are David Kirp, a professor of public policy at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California-Berkeley, and Princeton’s Stanley Katz, a lecturer with rank of professor of public and international affairs.
Kirp is a former newspaper editor whose scholarly interests range widely across social policy. His current focus is on the nationwide movement for universal preschool and its larger political implications. Kirp is the author of “The Sandbox Investment: The Preschool Movement and Kids-First Politics.”
Katz is a scholar of American legal and constitutional history whose interests also include philanthropy and nonprofit institutions and higher education policy.
The talk is sponsored by the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.
Prokofiev’s classic ballet “Romeo and Juliet” coming to McCarter (photo: Sergei Mershin)
Tchaikovsky Ballet and Orchestra coming to McCarter
Two years after its stunning performance of “Swan Lake” at the McCarter Theatre Center, the Tchaikovsky Ballet and Orchestra — one of Russia’s most distinguished artistic companies — returns with its production of Prokofiev’s classic ballet, “Romeo and Juliet,” on Saturday, March 1. For ticket information, call the McCarter box office at 258-2787 or visit www.mccarter.org.
Talk kicks off religion, politics series
Author Frank Schaeffer, whose recent memoir chronicles his family’s history in the conservative evangelical movement, will kick off this spring’s “Crossroads of Religion and Politics” lecture series at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 26, in 16 Robertson Hall.
Schaeffer’s talk shares the title of his bestselling 2007 memoir, “Crazy for God: How I Grew Up as One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right and Lived to Take All (or Almost All) of It Back.”
Schaeffer’s parents, Francis and Edith Schaeffer, achieved fame as bestselling evangelical authors and speakers. He eventually joined his father on the evangelical circuit, becoming a well-known filmmaker and author, before undergoing a crisis of faith and leaving the movement.
Schaeffer has written several novels and nonfiction works and also has contributed to many news outlets. His writing ranges from a critique of American right-wing fundamentalism to his experiences as a military parent and novelist.
The Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and the Center for the Study of Religion sponsor the lecture series.
Campus plan panel discussion, exhibition set
The University will mark the conclusion of its two-year effort to develop a comprehensive plan to guide development through 2016 and beyond with a scholarly panel discussion at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 26, in Betts Auditorium, School of Architecture.
The event is titled “The Open Campus: A Conversation About the Changing Nature of Campuses and Campus Planning.” In connection with the discussion, the Campus Plan model and display boards will be on view in the Firestone Library lobby Sunday through Friday, Feb. 24-29.
Making up the panel will be: Henry Cobb, founding partner of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners of New York, who has completed a number of projects at Princeton and at many other institutions; Robert Geddes, the first dean of Princeton’s School of Architecture, who served in that role from 1965 to 1982; Frances Halsband, founding partner of R.M. Kliment & Frances Halsband Architects of New York, who completed a campus plan for Brown and has worked at Princeton and many other institutions; Guy Nordenson, professor of architecture at Princeton and founder of Guy Nordenson and Associates of New York; and Denise Scott Brown, principal of Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates of Philadelphia, a leader in planning for colleges and universities who has completed various projects at Princeton.
The moderator will be Neil Kittredge, partner of Beyer Blinder Belle Architects & Planners of New York, the firm that led the development of Princeton’s Campus Plan as well as numerous other planning efforts. The panel will discuss planning trends in general and how the Princeton effort fits into a larger pattern.
Alumni Doar, Katzenbach recall roles in historic civil rights event
The integration of the University of Alabama — a historic moment in the civil rights movement — will be commemorated with a program titled “The Opportunity of Crisis: Integrating the University of Alabama” from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 29, in McCosh 50.
The event will feature a discussion with Princeton alumni John Doar and Nicholas Katzenbach, who played key roles in the event as members of the Kennedy administration’s Justice Department.
Hosted by the Program in American Studies, the Center for African American Studies and the Program in Law and Public Affairs, the program will feature a screening of the documentary “Crisis: The Making of a Presidential Commitment,” followed by two panels that will reflect on the events of June 1963 and their enduring legacy.
Alabama’s segregationist governor George Wallace stood in the doorway of the University of Alabama’s Foster Auditorium to try and halt the admission of two African American students, Vivian Malone and James Hood — and was turned aside by the federal government. That same night, President Kennedy delivered a speech to the nation that offered an eloquent plea for racial justice.
The events were the subject of the film “Crisis,” directed by Robert Drew. With camera crews in Montgomery and Tuscaloosa, Ala., and Washington, D.C., Drew captured the tension that lay behind the confrontation. The film includes candid footage of the key participants, including Malone, Hood, Wallace and Kennedy, as well as officials working at the Justice Department under Attorney General Robert Kennedy. Those officials included Doar, a 1944 Princeton graduate, and Katzenbach, a 1945 alumnus, who served as assistant U.S. attorneys general in the 1960s.
In the first panel on Feb. 29, director Drew, along with one of his cameramen, the distinguished filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker, will discuss the making of the film and its place in the history of American cinema as well as American politics.
In the second session, Doar and Katzenbach will discuss the events and the lessons they hold for the present.
The discussions will be moderated by Valerie Smith, the Woodrow Wilson Professor of Literature and director of the Center for African American Studies, and Sean Wilentz, the Sidney and Ruth Lapidus Professor in the American Revolutionary Era.
Passport Day planned at Frist
Faculty, staff and students can get their passport photos taken, apply for first-time or renewal passports, or expedite their applications during a Passport Day from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 26, on the 100 level of the Frist Campus Center.
Representatives of the U.S. Postal Service will be on hand to help people fill out the required forms and process applications. Those attending can have passport photos taken at Frist or bring their own.
For a complete list of required documents, fees and application forms visit www.usps.com/passport or call (800) 275-8777. Some fees are payable only by check or money order.
The event is sponsored by the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students. Those with questions should contact Devon Wessman-Smerdon at dwessman@princeton.edu.
