March 16: Cornel West *80 Leaves Harvard After Tenure Dispute

Liam O’Connor ’20 said elite private schools help their students get into colleges like Princeton and — by offering higher-level courses than public schools — help them dominate once there. — The Atlantic
 
After a dispute over tenure, activist and professor Cornel West *80 is leaving Harvard University for Union Theological Seminary, where he first taught at age 23 and will enter with tenure. — The New York Times
 
Peter Orszag ’91, former director of the Office of Management and Budget, said if it reaches 6-7 percent growth, the U.S. economy could grow more rapidly than China’s this year for the first time since 1976. — CNBC
 
Jennifer Shyue ’17 wrote about her experience as a Chinese-American translator of Spanish and the meaning of “mother tongue.” — The Common

“The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is further exacerbating preexisting inequalities and threatening to halt or reverse the gains from decades of collective effort — with data revealing that the pandemic will push 47 million more women and girls below the poverty line globally.”

— Siddharth Chatterjee *11, U.N. resident coordinator in China, and Smriti Aryal on International Women’s Day. — News Ghana

Constitutional scholar Ilya Shapiro ’99 examined the history of attempts to pack the Supreme Court and recommended Democrats instead “rebalance our constitutional order so Washington … isn’t making so many big decisions for such a large, diverse, pluralistic country.” — SCOTUS Blog
 
A Washington Post editorial said Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte’s government is not only prosecuting journalist Maria Ressa ’86, it’s persecuting her with “an onslaught of online harassment.” — The Washington Post
 
Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen ’15 gave a wide-ranging recital at the Adelaide Festival that “brought that bright timbre to repertoire not usually found in the countertenor catalogue.” — Broadway World
 
Colorado Republican Rep. Ken Buck ’81 is starting a podcast, Shootin’ Straight with Ken Buck, “geared towards finding what motivates people of all political stripes to promote their cause.” — The Federalist
 
Princeton computer science professor Brian Kernighan *69 explained the origins of Grep, a text search tool that’s been around since the 1970s. — MakeUseOf

To photograph the most beautiful snowflakes with his custom camera, former Microsoft executive Nathan P. Myhrvold *83 trekked to Alaska, the Canadian Northwest Territories, and Ontario. — The New York Times

Get Alumni in the News in your inbox. Subscribe at paw.princeton.edu/email.