The Weekly Blog: 11/21/06

Tigers, tigers, burning bright

On Nov. 18, a day after lighting the first Big Three bonfire since 1994, right, Princeton football staked its claim to a share of the Ivy League title for the first time since 1995, defeating Dartmouth 27-17 at Princeton Stadium. Quarterback Jeff Terrell ’07 completed 29 of 46 passes for 257 yards, tailback R.C. Lagomarsino ’09 averaged 5.4 yards per carry on the ground, and safety Kevin Kelleher ’08 made his team-leading fourth interception to end a key Big Green drive in the fourth quarter.

The Tigers (9-1, 6-1 Ivy) split the championship with Yale, which lost to Princeton but finished 6-1 in the league as well. Princeton’s only loss came in an Oct. 28 game at Cornell. The 2006 Tigers are one of nine Princeton teams since 1900 to win nine or more games in a season and the first nine-win squad since the undefeated 1964 season. The Tigers had been picked to finish sixth in the league’s preseason media poll. “No one gave us a shot,” Terrell said. “I think it makes it all the more sweet.”

Photo by Frank Wojciechowski

Moistened and mortified in McCosh 50

More than 90,000 people have viewed “The Princeton Watergun Revenge,” a 2001 prank that resurfaced on YouTube in June (below). For the story behind the soaking, read PAW’s story about the video from the Nov. 22 print issue.

Presidential pay reported

President Tilghman's annual compensation rose 5.5 percent to nearly $600,000 in 2004-05, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education, but that figure ranks her in the bottom half of Ivy League presidents. Seven university presidents topped the $1-million mark, including Cornell's Jeffrey Lehman, who left his post in June 2005. Reported salary and benefits figures for the eight Ivy presidents are collected below.

*Figures are for 2004 calendar year.

Source: The Chronicle of Higher Education

Ten games, no losses for women’s hockey

Princeton women’s hockey is off to its best start in program history with eight wins and two ties in its first 10 games. Marykate Oakley ’08 (eight goals, four assists) and Kim Pearce ’07 (five goals, nine assists) lead the Tigers, who have averaged 3.6 goals per game. This weekend, eighth-ranked Princeton faces its biggest challenges to date, with home games against No. 6 Dartmouth (Nov. 24, 7 p.m., live audio at U.S. College Hockey Online) and No. 7 Harvard (Nov. 25, 4 p.m.).

Talk of the town

Next week promises to be a busy one on Princeton’s lecture circuit. U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan will deliver a policy address at Richardson Auditorium Nov. 28 at 4:30 p.m. The Woodrow Wilson School plans to Web-cast the event for off-campus viewers. Academy Award-winning actress Meryl Streep, this year’s Belknap Visitor in the Humanities, will speak on Nov. 30 at 5 p.m. in McCosh 50, sharing her thoughts about acting, both on film and in the theater. And filmmaker Peter Kubelka, an Old Dominion Fellow in the visual arts and the subject of a Books and Arts profile in PAW’s Nov. 22 print edition, will give a public lecture about his work at the James M. Stewart Film Theater Nov. 28 at noon.

A new take on New Year’s Eve
Valerie Vigota ’87 and her band Groovelily are performing their “alternative holiday musical” Striking 12 at The Daryl Roth Theatre in New York City at 101 East 15th St. The show runs through Dec. 31. Striking 12 is a musical Vigota has called a “rewired” version of Hans Christian Andersen’s “Little Match Girl.” Groovelily remade the depressing tale into an upbeat one. According to Striking 12’s Web site, the story focuses on “a grumpy overworked, New Yorker who resolves to spend New Year’s Eve alone” when “an unexpected visitor brings some much needed cheer.” Vigota and her band members, husband Brendan Milburn and Gene Lewin ’84, play themselves and other characters in the musical. Click here for more information.

More at PAW Online

Under the Ivy – Contrary to rumor, the Tiger lacrosse program doesn’t predate the founding of the College, Gregg Lange ’70 says as he looks back at the role of sports at Princeton.

Portrait of a ‘hero’ – Miriam Bocarsly ’06 profiles Edward C. Taylor, professor of chemistry emeritus, who recently won the 2006 Hero of Chemistry award from the American Chemical Society for his role in developing a cancer drug.