A Scrupulous Student

Professor Stephen Kotkin, the adviser of Jacobus Fellowship winner James Pickett GS, is quoted as saying Mr. Pickett is “brilliant yet unassuming, analytically bold yet unduly scrupulous with evidence” (Princetonians, March 19). It seems to me likely that Professor Kotkin said, and even more likely meant to say, that Mr. Pickett is “unusually” scrupulous with evidence, since being “unduly” anything generally is considered a bad thing.

Editor’s note: Stephen Kotkin agreed that the proper modifier is “unusually.”