Week in Review: August 3 - August 9
August is upon us! Ah, the Sunday of the summer months, freedom mixed with the creeping inevitability of the school year. Personally, we're with Dave Plotz and his zany plan to rid the world of this month once and for all! But August or not, we're still here at The Ink summer news desk, wading through the Sea of Media to bring you the finest Princeton news. In this week's edition: Princeton locks down another 1/9th of the Supreme Court, West Point beats us in college rankings, Robbie George still doesn't like gay marriage, Harvard tries to recoup some of its endowment via haberdashery, and WE GET MONEY FOR FUSION!!!
- One more time, for the people way up in the nosebleed seats: SONIA SOTOMAYOR CONFIRMED! That’s right, Princeton’s getting another Supreme Court justice. We’re tired of this story, and you probably are, too. But just in case, wise Latina t-shirts.
- It’s not all sunshine and rainbows on Nassau Street – Forbes bumped us down to number two on its “America’s Best Colleges” list. The usurper? West Point! Seriously? Seriously. Putting us number two seems to be something of a fad for major publications, with the Forbes bump following last year’s dethroning at the hands of US News and World Report. But we were kind of hoping Steve-O (commonly known as Malcolm “Steve” Forbes ’70) would keep the homerism going longer than just the one year, but as they say up in Montreal, c’est la vie!
George, Harvard, and Fusion post-jump!
- The best of the rest: Princeton professor Robbie George penned an editorial in the Wall Street Journal, warning that judicial action to legalize gay marriage could lead to polygamy, harm to children, or, worst of all, gay people getting married. Andrew Sullivan didn't like the article.
- Desperate to recoup some of their lost endowment, Harvard has accepted an undisclosed amount of money to lend its famous name to a new line of men's clothing, Harvard Yard. While we haven't been quite as hard-hit as our crimson cousins, the idea is nonetheless intriguing. What about Princeton lending its name to a line of flasks? Or, you know, something classy like that.
- The Princeton Plasma Physics Lab (PPPL) got some serious stimulus funding! The lab is working on fusion, only the best and most advanced form of (at this point conceptual) energy. It works with hydrogen! We could get that from the ocean! If, um, we ever figure out how fusion actually works. Also, go take the tour. I went with my parents during parents' weekend, and it was fun for the whole family (my mother is a very good sport.)
(photo credits: http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2007/05/28/west_point_wideweb__470x415,0.jpg and jezebel.com)