Ralph Nader ’55 has been many things in his five decades of public life — a consumer advocate, an environmental activist, a best-selling author of nonfiction, and a frequent presidential candidate. This month, he added “novelist” to the list. Nader’s fiction debut is a 733-page story of “practical utopia,” titled Only the Super-Rich Can Save Us, in which a cadre of wealthy individuals sets out to solve America’s problems, from big business to the federal government.

The novel, published by Seven Stories Press, has earned kudos from a few high-profile readers. Warren Beatty (in the book, a California gubernatorial candidate) said the story “shows us how good [Nader] thinks things could be,” and Princeton professor Cornel West *80 hailed the book’s “moral substance.” Ted Turner, one of the novel’s super-rich heroes, said he was happy to be included, according to the Washington Post.

Victor Navasky, publisher emeritus of The Nation, told the Associated Press that he was skeptical about the chances of seeing Nader’s vision in the real world. “But Ralph is a prophet,” Navasky added. “He has been right about so many things the rest of us couldn’t imagine.”

(Photo courtesy Seven Stories Press)

Do you have a nominee for Tiger of the Week? Let us know. All alumni qualify. PAW’s Tiger of the Week is selected by our staff, with help from readers like you.

Princeton’s endowment declined by 23.7 percent to $12.6 billion in the year ending June 30, according to Andrew Golden, president of the Princeton University Investment Co. (Princo). The news came in a Sept. 29 letter to the University community from President Tilghman, who said that Princeton continues to face “significant challenges, but we have made excellent progress this past year.” She said the University has reached its savings goal of $88 million for the current academic year and is “well on our way” to identifying an additional $82 million in cuts from the 2010-11 budget. With 145 staff members accepting a retirement incentive program, layoffs still will be required, she said, but the number will be “significantly less” than at some of Princeton’s peers.

Tilghman said that while some have criticized the University’s investments as too risky, a “more traditional approach” would have led to an endowment about half its current size and would have prevented a number of “critical” initiatives. “In other words, our pre-eminence has depended upon the risk/reward profile that Princo has adopted,” she said. While the investment strategy is being reviewed, she said, “the University is weathering this economic storm with its commitment to excellence in teaching and research intact.” By W. Raymond Ollwerther ’71

Oct. 3 marks the beginning of the Alumni Association’s annual Fall Football Lectures, which will be held before Princeton football’s home dates against Columbia, Cornell, and Yale.

History professor Paul Miles begins the series Oct. 3, speaking about Woodrow Wilson 1879’s role as commander-in-chief during World War I (11 a.m. at the Lewis Library, room 120). On Oct. 31, Halloween morning, psychology professor Bart Hoebel will discuss the neurochemical evidence for sugar addiction (10 a.m. at the Lewis Library, room 120). And the Woodrow Wilson School’s Harold Feiveson will draw on his popular freshman seminar when he speaks about dilemmas in athletics in the final lecture Nov. 14 (10 a.m. at Guyot Hall, room 10).

For alumni who cannot make it back to campus, the Alumni Association archives the Fall Football Lectures online.

In October 1919, a group of students posted an advertisement in The Daily Princetonian urging “any man who can play any band instrument at all” to join a new University band. A few weeks later, the Princeton University Band led triumphant Tiger fans through the streets of New Haven after the football team topped Yale, and the band has been marching (and scrambling) its way around the Ivy League ever since.

The Friends of Tiger Band will celebrate the band’s 90th anniversary with a reception for alumni and friends on the front lawn of Campus Club after the football team’s Oct. 3 game against Columbia. Alumni also are encouraged to play with the band in the halftime show and in the stands during the game.

By Brittany Urick ’10

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan presented his vision of a new global order in a Sept. 23 address at Richardson Auditorium. Erdogan carried an air of charisma as he outlined the political, economic, and cultural changes required to construct global solutions to some of the world’s most pressing issues, including wars, the financial crisis, alternative energy sources, climate change, and terrorism.

Erdogan placed special emphasis on the importance of upholding universal norms through the implementation of international law, staking a claim that certain documents, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, are wonderful in theory but ultimately meaningless unless their principles are enforced.

Jordan Culbreath ’10 (© Beverly Schaefer)

Princeton (0-1, 0-0 Ivy) at Lehigh (0-2, 0-0 Patriot) Sept. 26, 12:30 p.m. Goodman Stadium Bethlehem, Pa.

Princeton and Lehigh are each aiming for their first win of the 2009 season. The Tigers dropped a 38-7 contest to The Citadel last weekend. The Mountain Hawks, who did not play last week, lost their first two games to Central Connecticut State and Villanova.

For the Tigers, every positive from last week’s loss comes with a caveat. The Princeton offense converted 11 of 19 third-down plays, but the Tigers stalled as they neared the end zone. Quarterback Tommy Wornham ’12 completed 24 of 41 passes for 198 yards, but he also threw two fourth-quarter interceptions that led to Citadel touchdowns.

Head coach Roger Hughes said that the Tigers are eager to improve on offense and clean up their mistakes in the kicking game. Princeton’s defense, he said, was most effective when pressuring Citadel’s quarterback last week. Expect the Tigers to try the same approach against Lehigh.

History

This year’s game is the 53rd between Princeton and Lehigh, and while the Mountain Hawks have held the upper hand in recent years, the Tigers earned a victory last season. Connor Louden ’09 kicked a 32-yard field goal as time expired, propelling Princeton to a 10-7 win. Jordan Culbreath ’10 ran for 126 yards in the game, the first of five 100-yard outings last season.

(Courtesy The Rockefeller University)

After earning her Ph.D. in biochemical sciences from Princeton in 1977, Elaine Fuchs embarked on a remarkable career in cell biology and molecular genetics. Her work has probed the properties of stem cells and enhanced our understanding of inherited diseases and cancers. She explained her most significant work, on the human skin, in a commencement address at the University of Chicago:

“I explore how [skin] functions at a molecular level to keep microbes out, to keep our body fluids in so we don’t dehydrate, and to protect us from the mechanical and physical stresses of our environment. Through elucidating the normal functions of the skin, my laboratory has been guided to the genetic bases of different types of inherited and acquired disorders of the skin, ranging from severe blistering disorders to skin cancers.”

Fuchs, a Rockefeller University professor, has collected a long list of honors and honorary degrees, and last week, she received word of another: Fuchs will be one of nine recipients of the National Medal of Science, the nation’s highest scientific award. She will be honored Oct. 7 at a White House ceremony led by President Barack Obama.

In a news release, Obama called the honorees “national icons, embodying the very best of American ingenuity and inspiring a new generation of thinkers and innovators.”

Fuchs is not the only National Medal of Science winner with Princeton ties. Astronomy professor James Gunn, best known for mapping the heavens with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, also will be honored this year.

Do you have a nominee for Tiger of the Week? Let us know. All alumni qualify. PAW’s Tiger of the Week is selected by our staff, with help from readers like you.

New book: Best Friends Forever, By Jennifer Weiner ’91 (Atria)

The author: Weiner, whose chick lit has made her a best-selling novelist, also has written Good in Bed, In Her Shoes (which was made into a film), and Certain Girls. After majoring in English at Princeton, she worked as a feature writer for The Philadelphia Inquirer before turning to fiction full time. She started her blog, A Moment of Jen, in 2002.

The story: When Valerie Adler moves across the street from Addie Downs, they are both 9 years old, and Addie thinks they will be best friends forever. But they become estranged during their teenage years, as the beautiful Valerie joins the popular crowd and mousy Addie becomes the butt of jokes and pranks. They reunite 15 years later when Valerie, now a weather-girl on TV, shows up at Addie’s house in a Chicago suburb — with a terrified look on her face and blood on her coat. After getting revenge on an old boyfriend, something’s gone wrong and Valerie looks to her old friend for help.

Opening lines: “Dan Swansea came awake in the darkness, not knowing, for a minute, who he was, or where. He lifted one hand to his head and groaned when it came away sticky with blood. Slowly (or at least it felt that way), things returned to him. His name. That he was outside, in a parking lot, on his back in the gravel, and he was freezing. Also, except for his shoes and socks, he was naked.”

Reviews: Publishers Weekly said the chick-lit genre “thrives with this clever, sad, and sweet turn on Thelma and Louise-style rage.” Booklist called it “a hilarious caper, resplendent in charm and poignancy.” By Katherine Federici Greenwood

Brittany Urick ’10 interviewed three Rwandans at a reconciliation village. The two women are genocide survivors; the man is a former perpetrator who was permitted to move to this village to live among his former friends and neighbors after finishing a sentence handed down by the country’s Gacaca court. (Courtesy Brittany Urick ’10)

By Brittany Urick ’10

Woodrow Wilson School major and Weekly Blog contributor Brittany Urick ’10 visited Rwanda in August to conduct research for her senior thesis. In the following post, she describes some of what she discovered during her trip.

Bloodstained pillars, pews draped in piles of tattered clothing, and an altar bearing a machete are all that remain to represent the slaughter that occurred in the church at Nyamata in April 1994. Inside, the silence is deafening.

A few miles down the road from the church is a small cluster of cement houses that constitute one of Rwanda’s “reconciliation villages,” where funding and guidance provided by Prison Fellowship International have made it possible for genocide survivors and perpetrators to live and work alongside one another again.

While visiting a few of the village’s residents on the final day of my senior thesis research trip this August, I listened as my translator told me about their peaceful coexistence, their shared farm duties, how their children play together. But amidst the talk of reconciliation, forgiveness, and justice, I couldn’t help but notice that the silence that filled the pauses in conversation was marked by fear and mistrust. The words seemed forced, and the silence was more disturbing than that which I had found in the church.

In a Sept. 18 address at the Woodrow Wilson School, former New Jersey Gov. James Florio said that the United States will need to balance economic growth, energy production, and environmental sensitivity in order to achieve “sustainable prosperity.”

Florio, who authored the Superfund law as a young congressman and championed clean water legislation during his time as governor, delivered the keynote remarks at “Sustainability and the Obama Stimulus Agenda: Engaging and Connecting with Government,” a conference jointly sponsored by Princeton’s Policy Research Institute for the Region and The Earth Institute of Columbia University.

Caroline Clark ’12, behind tripod, worked as a surveyor at an archaeological excavation in Capena, Italy. (Courtesy Caroline Clark ’12)

By Katy Pinke ’10

Many undergraduates spend their summer months paving paths to their future, but few do so by venturing into the past. Caroline Clark ’12 was one of those few last summer, working as the sole surveyor of an archaeological excavation site in Capena, Italy.

Clark was the 2009 recipient of the Charles A. Steele Prize, given each year to one undergraduate majoring in classics for the purpose of summer exploration. “Unlike other fields of study, the thing about classics is you aren’t often given the chance to ‘see for yourself,’ ” she explains. “What excited me about the prospect of excavation was that as opposed to literature or word-of-mouth, I could interact with a real, tangible piece of history.”

Princeton (0-0, 0-0 Ivy) vs. The Citadel (0-1, 0-0 Southern) Sept. 19, 3 p.m. Princeton Stadium Princeton, N.J.

Friction between Citadel cadets and the Princeton University Band may have stolen the headlines from last year’s trip to Charleston, S.C., but fans of both teams saw exciting plays on the field. The Tigers and Bulldogs combined for 61 points and 665 yards.

This season, Princeton’s strength is its running game, with Jordan Culbreath ’10, the Ivy League’s top rusher in 2008, leading the way. On defense, the Tigers are aiming to force more turnovers. They have a large but inexperienced line, strong linebackers, and a seasoned secondary.

The Bulldogs have offensive firepower, with returning quarterback Bart Blanchard throwing passes to All-American receiver Andre Roberts, but they are looking to improve on defense. The Citadel surrendered 32.8 points per game last year, en route to a 4-8 record.

Denny Chin ’75, pictured, a federal judge who was in the news last spring when he sentenced Bernie Madoff, is expected to be nominated to the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals. [Wall Street Journal]

Longtime ABC TV reporter and commentator John Stossel ’69 has joined Fox News, where he will host a weekly show on the Fox Business Channel and make frequent appearances on Fox News programs. [Newsday/Associated Press]

Lifelong Chicagoan Michelle Obama ’85 will support her hometown’s bid to host the 2016 Olympics at the International Olympic Committee’s meeting in Copenhagen next month. [Chicago Tribune]

The late George Kennan ’25 is one of two Cold War-era policymakers highlighted in the new book The Hawk and the Dove. (Kennan is the titular dove.) [Washington Post]

New book: Crossing the Finish Line: Completing College at America’s Public Universities, By William G. Bowen *58, Matthew M. Chingos, and Michael S. McPherson (Princeton University Press)

The authors: Bowen, who served as Princeton’s president from 1972 to 1988, is president emeritus of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Chingos is a Ph.D. student at Harvard University, and McPherson, a former president of Macalester College, is president of the Spencer Foundation.

The thesis: Fewer than 60 percent of students who enter American four-year colleges graduate. Crossing the Finish Line looks at 21 flagship public universities and four statewide systems of public higher education to explore why this is happening and what can be done. The authors found, among other things, that minority students and students from poor families have markedly lower graduation rates and that financial aid has a significant impact on student retention.

Opening lines: “The subject of this book — educational attainment in the United States — could hardly be more timely. Academics, framers of public policy, and journalists are united in bemoaning the failure of the United States in recent years to continue building the human capital it needs to satisfy economic, social, and political needs.”

Reviews: In Science magazine, reviewers Richard C. Atkinson and Saul Geiser called the book “the most comprehensive look yet possible at the determinants of graduation rates — and what might be done to improve them.” David Leonhardt of The New York Times added that “[f]or all the book’s alarming statistics, its message is ultimately uplifting — or at least invigorating… . Crossing the Finish Line makes it clear that we can do better.”

On the Web: Watch a video interview with Bowen, from Princeton University Press.

(Photo courtesy Princeton University Press)

About a dozen people gathered Friday in Murray-Dodge Hall to remember the events of Sept. 11, 2001, and the 13 Princeton alumni who died in the terrorist attacks that day.

Normally held in the memorial garden between Chancellor Green and Nassau Hall, the short ceremony was forced inside Murray-Dodge by stormy weather. The names of the alumni who died were recited, and a small bell was rung for each.

PAW remembers these undergraduate and graduate alumni:

Robert L. Cruikshank ’58 was a vice president at Carr Futures.

Charles A. McCrann ’68 was a senior vice president for Marsh and McLennan.

William E. Caswell *75, a Navy physicist, was aboard American Flight 77.

Martin P. “Buff” Wohlforth ’76 was a managing director for Sandler, O’Neill, & Partners.

Robert J. Deraney ’80, a consultant, was attending a breakfast meeting at Windows on the World.

Joshua A. Rosenthal *81 was a senior vice president for Fiduciary Trust.

Karen J. Klitzman ’84 worked for e-Speed, a division of Cantor Fitzgerald.

Jeffrey D. Wiener ’90 worked for Marsh USA.

John T. Schroeder ’92 recently had joined Fred Alger Management as a Nasdaq trader.

Christopher N. Ingrassia ’95 was a partner with Cantor Fitzgerald.

Robert G. McIlvaine ’97 who worked for Merrill Lynch, was attending a conference on the 106th floor of Tower One.

Christopher D. Mello ’98 worked for Alta Communications and was aboard American Airlines Flight 11.

Catherine F. MacRae ’00, was a research analyst for Fred Alger Management.

Remembrances of these alumni, written by family members and friends, were published in the Nov. 7, 2001, issue of PAW and are available here. By Marilyn H. Marks *86

They’re back: A new school year begins, 1994

Finding a place to rest amidst the hustle and bustle of student move-in day can be a challenge. Ashley Hall ’95’s peaceful repose in September 1994 caught the attention of PAW, which featured her on its Oct. 12, 1994, cover. (Hall, a caption explained, was working at the booth of the Student Futon Agency.)

As the Class of 1998 arrived on campus, the top news was the proportion of freshman women — 47.5 percent of the class, then a Princeton record. See story below.

From PAW, Oct. 12, 1994

University greets Class of ’98

In the 25th year of coeducation, a record number of first-year women

Princeton began its 25th year as a coeducational institution last month by greeting a freshman class with the highest proportion of women ever. Some 47.5 percent of the Class of 1998, which numbers 1,158, is female; if prospective engineering students are removed from the count, women are a 51.2 percent majority.

Economist and former Seoul National University president Chung Un-chan *78 was appointed prime minister of South Korea Sept. 3. [New York Times]

Charles Gibson ’65 will retire from his job as anchor of ABC’s World News at the end of this year, his 35th at the network. [New York Times]

Broker-turned-yoga-instructor Lauren Imparato ’02 is “tapping into yoga’s growing appeal” on Wall Street. [Bloomberg]

In a recent opinion piece, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels ’71 wrote about the challenges that state governments are facing this year. [Wall Street Journal]

Temperatures in Princeton dropped to the 70s last week, but the Woodrow Wilson School’s Fountain of Freedom remained a popular spot for young swimmers. (Photo by Marianne Nelson)

Princeton football fans have several reasons for optimism in 2009: A star running back returns, along with most of the offensive line, from a 4-6 team that fell a few plays shy of a winning season last year. On the other side of that coin, there are plenty of unknowns, including newcomers at quarterback and on the the defensive line. At the team’s preseason media day Sept. 4, head coach Roger Hughes gave his first assessment of the coming season: “cautiously optimistic.”

Some of his optimism comes from what happened before practice began. Dozens of Princeton players spent the summer on campus, lifting weights and training together in seven-on-seven games. Hughes said the team entered its August workouts with a healthy dose of camaraderie, much like it did in Princeton’s 2006 Ivy League championship season. “Conditioning shouldn’t be an issue, chemistry shouldn’t be an issue,” he said. “Now it’s about execution.”

Below, previews of the offense, defense, and special teams.

If they were a circus act, they could be the Flying Slovenskis. Brothers Steve Slovenski ’09 and Dave Slovenski ’12 have excelled as Princeton track athletes — Steve was one of the Tigers’ top decathletes, and Dave won the pole vault at the Ivy League Indoor Heptagonal Championships last February — but they appear even more impressive competing against each other in an event they created: the unicycle pole vault.

The younger Slovenski first brought his unicycle to track practice to use it in warm-ups. (It’s similar to pedaling an exercise bike, he says, but it works more muscles.) When Princeton coach Fred Samara saw the brothers riding while carrying poles, he asked incredulously if they were planning to vault off of their unicycles.

“That sounds crazy and dangerous,” Dave said.

“Let’s try it!” Steve replied.

The results of their creative combination can be seen in the YouTube video below, which shows the brothers clearing the bar at up to 10 feet while big-top theme music plays in the background.

Last month, Woodrow Wilson School professors Paul Starr and Uwe Reinhardt offered their views of the current health care debate through two different perspectives.

In an interview with WNYC’s On the Media, Starr, the Stuart Professor of Communications and Public Affairs, discussed the past, recapping tactics used to bury earlier U.S. health reform efforts. During the late 1940s, for instance, Starr said that an American Medical Association PR effort hinted that national health care was akin to Soviet-style socialism:

“They suggested that Lenin had supposedly said that health care was the first step toward instituting Communism. There was a mythical quote that no one has been ever able to discover to that effect. And they argued that it was, you know, like a gateway drug and the beginning of a slippery slope toward government control of everything. In that period, given the Cold War, that argument was a powerful one.”

Click here to read or listen to Starr’s interview.

In a CNN.com commentary, Reinhardt, the James Madison professor of political economy, considered the future and what it might look like if the current round of health reform fails. The total yearly health spending by a typical American family has more than doubled in the last decade, and that trend, he argued, is likely to continue:

“… America’s currently insured middle class will be increasingly desperate if health reform fails. Millions more such families will see their take-home pay shrink. Millions will lose their employment-based insurance, especially in medium and small-sized firms. And millions will find themselves inexorably priced out of health care as we know it.”

Click here to read Reinhardt’s commentary.