In the News

Three alumni were among the winners of PULITZER PRIZES last month. John Matteson ’83, an associate professor of English at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, won the biography prize for his first book, Eden’s Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father. Barton Gellman ’82 of The Washington Post and a colleague at the Post, Jo Becker, won the national-reporting award for their examination of Vice President Dick Cheney’s influence. Ian Shapira ’00 shared the breaking-news award with other Post staffers for coverage of the shootings at Virginia Tech.

The PRINCETON DEBATE PANEL last month received the first College of the Year award, presented at the American Parliamentary Debating Association’s national championships at MIT. The team attended more than 20 tournaments this year, including the North American championship in Ottawa and the world championship in Thailand; the College of the Year award recognized the panel’s success over the debate season.

JOHN PRENDERGAST, co-founder of the ENOUGH initiative to end genocide, was presented by undergraduates with the Crystal Tiger Award April 21. Prendergast has been involved in numerous peace missions throughout Africa and has written eight books about the continent. The most recent is Not on Our Watch: The Mission to End Genocide in Darfur and Beyond, which was co-written with actor Don Cheadle, star of the film Hotel Rwanda. In a talk in McCosh 50, Prendergast challenged students “to get others involved.” The award is presented each year by students to a person “who has had a transformative impact on their lives.”

RON McCOY *80, the university architect at Arizona State University since 2003, has been named Princeton’s new University architect. He succeeds Jon Hlafter ’61 *63, who retired in March. “One has to be very humble to assume this position in his footsteps,” McCoy said. McCoy, who has a master’s degree in architecture from Princeton, was the project architect for the Lewis Thomas Laboratory while working with Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates. He joined the Arizona State faculty in 1995.

The University has been named in a lawsuit filed by a Princeton senior who said she was sexually assaulted at TIGER INN on the night of bicker pickups in February 2006. Among the defendants named in the suit are Tiger Inn, the club’s graduate board, current and former officers of the club, and a male member of the Class of 2007 who is accused of the assault. The Trenton Times reported that the Mercer County prosecutor’s office had investigated the incident and that no criminal charges were filed. Craig Hubert, the lawyer for the plaintiff,  told The Daily Princeton-ian that the University had failed to take action against the club despite knowing that dangerous behavior previously had taken place there, failed to provide proper safety measures, and allowed the club to recruit in the dorms and to use the Princeton e-mail system. University spokeswoman Cass Cliatt ’96 said it was “premature” to respond to the lawsuit.