THE WEEKLY BLOG

Remembering Robert Goheen ’40 *48

President emeritus Robert Goheen ’40 *48, whose association with Princeton spanned more than 70 years, died March 31 at age 88. The University’s president from 1957 to 1972, Goheen guided Princeton through a transformative period, captured in Merrell Noden ’78’s 2006 PAW feature, “A life at Princeton,” and outlined in this week’s obituaries from The New York Times, the Associated Press, and others. He led the University’s move to coeducation in 1969, the recruitment of its first African-American professors and administrators as well as the first female full professor, a diversification the student body, and a vast physical expansion that included the construction of 25 campus buildings.
But generations of alumni also will remember Goheen from personal interactions in the classroom, where he was a distinguished student and later a professor classics; in service to his country, as a soldier in World War II and, after his presidency, as the U.S. ambassador to India; in his time as a University leader and campus peacemaker in the turbulent Vietnam War era (he expressed his thoughts eloquently in his 1970 Baccalaureate Address); or in retirement, as an active alumnus who communed with old friends at Reunions.
In 2006, PAW online columnist Gregg Lange ’70 recalled that “students comfortably referred to [Goheen] as ‘Bogo,’ while freely admitting he was as bright a person as they had ever met.” Stan Pieringer ’70, who covered Goheen for The Daily Princetonian during a time of great dissent on college campuses, summarized one view of Goheen’s term in a remembrance published this week: “Elegance of thought, moral courage, openness to all viewpoints, dedication to the life of the mind — yes,” Pieringer wrote. “But more than that — always working for progress.”
Goheen also had a sense of humor, evident during his presidency and after he retired. In 1997, a PAW story erroneously indicated that daughters of Robert Stockton, Class of 1813, had attended Princeton. Goheen, in a letter to the editor, quipped, “Too bad that precedent took so many years to materialize!”
When questioned about his legacy, Goheen was modest. He told archivist Daniel Linke, who led the Goheen oral history project at Mudd Library: “I was able to start a process of change at the University — creative change — which has been carried forward by each one of my successors. I don’t know if that’s a legacy or not, but anyhow it’s very gratifying to see that the University’s not stopped.”

To share your stories and memories of Robert Goheen ’40 *48, e-mail PAW at paw@princeton.edu.

More Goheen links:
The University’s In Memoriam blog
A video from the Goheen Oral History Project
The Daily Princetonian’s memorial section
Professor Stan Katz remembers Goheen and Professor Robert Fagels, who also died last week

Photos, from left: Goheen appeared on PAW’s cover several times, including in 1940, when he was awarded the Pyne Prize with classmate J.H. Worth; in 1957, at his inauguration as Princeton’s president; and in 2006, 70 years after he arrived on campus as a freshman.

Programming note: Spotlight on health care

The April 15 edition of PBS’ Frontline will feature reporter T.R. Reid ’66, author of the forthcoming book Quest for a Cure, and economist Uwe Reinhardt, the James Madison Professor of Political Economy at Princeton. The show will look at health care systems in other industrialized democracies, including England, France, Germany, Japan, and Switzerland, and ask what the United States can learn from them. The answer, Reid writes: “a lot.”

PAW Web Exclusive: Gregg Lange ’70’s “Rally ’Round the Cannon”

The fight of the century

While you were devouring in meticulous detail the colorful, beautifully illustrated booklet on the current campus development plan that you received with your issue of PAW in January - and which magically coincides with the Aspire capital campaign - you may have realized that there’s an assumption that is literally central to the concept.
The Current Big Glossy Planning Idea is that Frist Campus Center is anointed as the center of the campus. Distances are measured from there, presumably everybody knows where it is, you can meet other folks there without fuss, there’s expensive pizza, it providentially has the word “center” right in it. In fact, it’s such a natural that Woodrow Wilson 1879 figured it out a hundred years ago. … Click here to read more

Gingrich: Technology, behavior can improve health care and health

Information technology has helped to transform industries in the United States and abroad, but according to former U.S. Rep. Newt Gingrich, U.S. health care continues to lag behind. When Hurricane Katrina destroyed the paper medical records of more than 1 million patients, the federal government funded a project to replace the paper records, instead of opting for a less vulnerable, more efficient electronic system. That sort of thinking, Gingrich told an audience of students, faculty, and community members April 2, is not conservative or liberal. “It’s just dumb,” he said. “It’s obsolete.”
Gingrich, founder of the Atlanta-based Center for Health Transformation, was on campus to meet with students from former Sen. Bill Frist ’74’s course on health care and technology. After his three-hour visit with the Woodrow Wilson School students, he spoke to a full house at Dodds Auditorium, covering some of his pet peeves in the world of health care.
Technology, Gingrich said, has the potential to cut waste from the system and save lives. Paperless prescription systems, for instance, have been proven to reduce errors in medicating patients. Paperless records can trim some of the time that doctors and their assistants spend on administrative work. Gingrich scoffed at the idea that technology is risky or difficult to adopt. By a show of hands, he surveyed the audience - which included many local retirees - on their technological literacy, noting that most had used ATMs in foreign countries, snapped photos with their cell phones, and tracked UPS or FedEx packages online.
While technology could change health care, changing health itself will require changes in behavior, Gingrich said. Personal responsibility and cultural patterns can shift to improve health (he cited seatbelts and reductions in smoking and drinking and driving as past examples). Optimizing health and minimizing illness, he added, would have economic benefits for the United States. By Brett Tomlinson

Magic carpet ride

The classic story of Aladdin earned top billing at Princyclopedia 2008, sponsored by the Cotsen Children’s Library and held in Dillon Gym March 29. Julia Solorzano ’10 got into the spirit with a ride on this “magic carpet,” a makeshift hovercraft consisting of a leaf blower and an inflated air mattress.
Photo by Frank Wojciechowski

Club sport shorts: Table tennis; Quidditch for muggles

Princeton’s table tennis club, the three-time defending champions of the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association’s mid-Atlantic division, will travel to Rochester, Minn., for the sport’s collegiate national championships April 11-13. Princeton placed second last year and returns with several of its top players, including Adam Hugh ’08, a participant in the U.S. Olympic trials.
On March 24, students from Princeton and Middlebury donned capes on their backs and straddled brooms as they faced off in a game of quidditch, the fictional game for wizards made popular by the Harry Potter novels and films. CBS Sports was on hand to cover the contest - a 100-0 Middlebury victory.

Art, from personal ads

“I Want You to Want Me,” an interactive installation by Jonathan Harris ’02 and Sep Kamvar ’99 that explores the search for love in the world of online dating, is on view at New York’s Museum of Modern Art, through May 12, as part of the museum’s exhibit Design and the Elastic Mind.
The installation, displayed on a 56-inch touch screen, periodically collects data from online dating sites. Hundreds of blue and pink balloons float on the interactive screen, and each balloon represents a dating profile. Viewers can touch any balloon, causing a sentence to appear. The sentences begin with phrases like “I am …” or “I am looking for ….”
On a Web site describing the work, Harris and Kamvar wrote that “‘I Want You to Want Me’ aims to be a mirror, in which people see reflections of themselves as they glimpse the lives of others.” By Katherine Federici Greenwood

Photo: An image of “Who I am,” the first movement of “I Want You to Want Me.” Each balloon is a real dating profile. Image courtesy of Jonathan Harris ’02 and Sep Kamvar ’99

Names in the News

In an interview published April 4, Michael Aron *70, senior political correspondent for the NJN radio and television network, told The Times of Trenton that New Jersey politicians often follow a pattern of good intentions and bad timing. … Ilya Shapiro ’99, a senior fellow in constitutional studies at the Cato Institute, critiqued the U.S. policy on H-1B visas - given to skilled workers - in a National Review column. … Composer Steven Gerber *71’s new CD, Spirituals, features 10 brief compositions for string orchestra and draws on African influences. … In an NPR story about China’s public image abroad, human rights campaigner John Kamm ’72 said that Chinese officials are more concerned with the opinion of the Chinese people, which remains positive. … Woodrow Wilson School Dean Anne-Marie Slaughter ’80, who is living in Shanghai during a sabbatical year, described the contrast between Asian optimism and American pessimism in an April 14 NPR commentary. … In The Hill, Democratic pollster Mark Mellman ’78 dissected the mistakes of presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Clinton. “Clinton did have a macro-message early on — experience,” Mellman wrote. “It was just the wrong message. Every poll for two years demonstrated that Democrats prefer change over experience by 2 to 1.”

Women’s lacrosse sprints to 10-0 start

With an impressive 18-9 win over Harvard April 12, Princeton women’s lacrosse improved to 10-0, its best start since 2004, when the Tigers were a perfect 16-0 in the regular season. Princeton, ranked No. 2 in the April 14 Inside Lacrosse poll, faces three top-10 teams in its final six games: No. 6 Penn (April 16 at 7 p.m. in Class of 1952 Stadium); No. 3 Maryland (April 30 at 7 p.m. in Class of 1952 Stadium); and No. 8 Georgetown (May 3 at 1 p.m. in Washington, D.C.).
The Tigers’ attack has shown remarkable balance and accuracy in the first 10 games. Five players have scored 16 or more goals, and 52 percent of the team’s shots have reached the back of the net, best in the Ivy League.

The countdown:

Days until Reunions 2008

Letter locales: A Weekly Blog quiz

Do the letters above look familiar? Two of them should, if you spent four years on Princeton’s campus. The “A” is a new addition. Identify the campus buildings from which the three letters were lifted, e-mail your answers to PAW, and win a prize - a vintage PAW poster. Answers will be posted in the April 30 Weekly Blog.

Burnett ’93 honored for Trying Leviathan

D. Graham Burnett ’93, an associate professor of history at Princeton, has won a 2007 New York City Book Award from the New York Society Library for Trying Leviathan: The Nineteenth-Century New York Court Case That Put the Whale on Trial and Challenged the Order of Nature (Princeton University Press). Burnett will receive the award, given annually to books that capture the essence of New York City, on May 14 at the New York Society Library. Trying Leviathan explores an 1818 trial that centered on the question of whether whales are fish. (PAW wrote about Burnett’s book in the March 5, 2008 issue.)

Sports shorts

Softball | Princeton vies for division title

In an interview with PAW before the season, softball head coach Trina Salcido said she expected Kristen Schaus ’08 to bounce back from a 2007 season in which the pitcher’s earned run average crept one run higher and her confidence waned. “She’s changed her mental outlook and her whole perspective,” Salcido said. “I think she’s ready. She’s done a great job in the off-season, preparing herself physically and being a leader.”
Schaus has proved that on the field, compiling a 5-1 record and a 2.04 ERA against Ivy League opponents while striking out 47 batters in 44 2/3 innings pitched. This weekend, Schaus and the Tigers (15-1 in Ivy games) will take on Cornell (15-1) in a four-game series to determine the league’s South Division champion. The first two games will be played at Cornell April 25. The final two will be on April 27 at Princeton’s Class of 1895 Field, beginning at 12:30 p.m.

Women’s golf | Aboff ’09 tops Ivy field

Seven birdies, 11 pars, and a league-record 65 in the opening round gave Princeton women’s golf star Susannah Aboff ’09 an early lead at the Ivy League Championships April 19-20. She never looked back, winning the individual title with an 11-stroke lead over her nearest rival, 2007 champion Emily Balmert of Harvard. Princeton placed third in the team standings at the 54-hole event held at the Atlantic City Country Club.

Names in the news

The Los Angeles Times profiled Jacques-André Istel ’49, a “tireless wayfarer with an insatiable curiosity and no tolerance for boredom” who founded the town of Felicity, Calif., in the 1980s. … On April 17, Anthony Shorris *79 resigned as executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey after a 16-month term in which he helped to oversee construction at the World Trade Center site, growth in the region’s ports, and upgrades to the PATH rail system that connects New York with parts of northern New Jersey. … The Harvard Crimson marked the passing of Henry C. Moses ’63, a former Harvard dean who more recently served as headmaster of Trinity School in New York City. … Princeton Professor Robert Socolow was one of several experts cited in an Earth Day story about immediate changes that could help the environment. Among his suggestions were measures that could reduce travel, including congestion pricing in cities and videoconferencing for would-be business travelers.

The Countdown:

Days until Reunions 2008

Two Tiger teams vie for Ivy titles; senior pitcher finishes on top

Softball | Tigers to face Harvard in Ivy Championship

Two dramatic come-from-behind wins against Cornell April 27 propelled Princeton softball to the Ivy League’s South Division championship, and with an 18-2 league record, the Tigers also earned the right to host this weekend’s best-of-three championship series against North Division-champ Harvard (14-6 Ivy). The winner earns a trip to the NCAA Championships.
Princeton has been explosive on offense, hitting a school-record 51 home runs this year, including 38 in Ivy games. Harvard aims to counter with strong pitching: Crimson pitchers have allowed just six home runs in 20 Ivy contests. The series will be played at Class of 1895 Field, with the first two games beginning May 3 at 12:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. The third game will be played May 4 at 12:30 p.m., if necessary.

Men’s lacrosse | Postseason hopes hinge on finale

Princeton men’s lacrosse has seen ups and downs in the last two weekends, upsetting then-No. 3 Cornell April 19 but losing at Dartmouth April 26. The Tigers still have the inside track for a share of the Ivy title and, with a tiebreaker over Cornell, the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Championships. But to claim that prize, Princeton must beat Brown May 3 in Providence. (Princeton, Brown, and Cornell each have one loss in Ivy play.)

Baseball | Miller ’08 holds Cornell hitless

Steven Miller ’08’s final start as a Princeton pitcher had a rocky beginning: Two walks, an error, a hit batsman, and another walk in the first inning gave Cornell an early 2-0 lead. But Miller settled down, striking out 10 Big Red batters in seven innings and never allowing a hit in what would be a 3-2 Princeton victory April 27.
Miller was the first Tiger pitcher to throw a complete-game no-hitter since Randy Blevins ’73 accomplished the feat against Columbia in his senior year. Miller’s win, he told The Daily Princetonian, “was probably the ugliest no-hitter that’s ever been thrown. But to do that in my last collegiate start, that was definitely special.”

Pie-eyed

Ryan Dowd ’11 takes a break from getting hit in the face with whipped-cream-and-fudge-syrup pies from a charity pie toss held April 26 at Communiversity, Princeton’s town-gown street fair.
Photo by Frank Wojciechowski

A fresh Take on modern dance

Take Dance Company, a New York group with ties to two Princeton generations, will open its spring show May 15 at Columbia University’s Miller Theater. Sharon Park ’02 and Kristen Arnold ’06 are among Take’s principal dancers, and the group’s board includes James Kraft ’57, who was instrumental in the company’s founding four years ago, Henry Bessire ’57, and Louise Bessire, Henry’s wife.
Take draws its name from Takehiro Ueyama, the company’s founding choreographer and artistic director. “Dancing today can look like an exhausting dash to the finish line,” Jennifer Dunning of The New York Times wrote in one review of Ueyama’s work. “Mr. Ueyama brings a soft and silky calm and sunny sweetness to everything he does.” For more information about Take’s May 15, 16, and 17 shows, visit the company’s Web site, takedanceny.com.

Answers to the April 23 Weekly Blog Quiz (Letter locales)

From: Frist Campus Center, which still bears the inscription of its former name, the Palmer Physical Laboratory.


From: The School of Architecture, recently renovated with a new glass entryway.


From: West College, which carries the labels “North West” and “South West” over its two entrances.

The Countdown:

Days until Reunions 2008