In Short

TRACY K. SMITH, director of the creative writing program and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for poetry, has been named U.S. poet laureate, the country’s most prestigious honor for a poet. 

The University issued a statement last month reaffirming its support of the 2015 Paris accord on CLIMATE CHANGE, its commitment to research and teaching on environmental issues, and to high standards of sustainability in campus operations. Princeton declined to participate in joint statements on the issue, including one signed by the presidents of the other Ivy schools. In a letter to The Daily Princetonian, President Eisgruber ’83 termed President Trump’s decision to withdraw from the accord “a serious mistake,” but said he seeks to avoid signing petitions “unless I can genuinely endorse every word of them.” 

Assistant professor of African American studies KEEANGA-YAMAHTTA TAYLOR canceled public appearances after receiving death threats in response to her describing President Trump as a “racist, sexist, megalomaniac” during a commencement address at Hampshire College. Princeton faculty members in the African American studies department denounced “efforts to intimidate and harass Professor Taylor” and said “her ideas deserve the widest possible audience, free from threat or intimidation.”

Job titles are changing for two senior University administrators. ROBERT K. DURKEE ’69 will step down next fall as vice president for public affairs, a position he has held for 39 years. He will remain vice president and secretary, serving as senior adviser to the president and holding administrative responsibility for the work of the Board of Trustees. 

SANJEEV KULKARNI, dean of the Graduate School for the past three years, became dean of the faculty July 1. Kulkarni, an electrical engineering professor, joined the faculty in 1991.