Letters: October 22, 1997
The Princeton experience
It's true that the education a Tiger receives is top-rate. Indeed, all of us have benefited tremendously from the "intellectually stimulating" and "rigorous" Princeton classroom cited by John G. McCarthy h'67's (Letters, September 10). What Mr. McCarthy fails to appreciate, however, is that many Princetonians have been deeply affected by nonacademic experiences. My tenure with the Princeton Triangle Club has had much greater influence over who I am today than any professor or course, and moments spent with friends at the Tower Club are closer to my heart than my thesis ever was. I am moved to recall the film Princeton: Images of a University, which made me at once intensely proud of Princeton's intellectual excellence, intensely grateful for the academic training I received there, and intensely disappointed that the film failed to capture the out-of-class moments that, for many alumni, were essential parts of their four years at Princeton.
Dismissing Princetonians who value extracurricular memories above preceptorial reminiscence as alumni members of a "country club" is not only insulting, it betrays a shallow understanding of the Princeton experience.
STEPHEN F. REED '96
New York, N.Y.
PAW's new look
Some comments on PAW's redesign (Notebook, September 10), from someone who's been in the magazine business for more than 25 years:
Why downplay the word "Alumni" on the cover logo? Are we indeed as "anachronistic" as the word "Weekly," as claimed? The Annual Giving office certainly doesn't think so.
The front part of the magazine--departments and feature articles--still makes for enjoyable reading, despite the fussy and mannered typeface. But the Class Notes are a big disappointment. Even if the type size has not been reduced there, the new font looks smaller than the old one did--harder to read for us graybeards.
You've fallen for one of the most insidious design tricks: black type on a color background. This was tolerable in the old format, when the second color was a lightly screened gray. But the muddy olive-drab in this issue fights with the text, and renders some of my favorite pieces--the alumni profiles within the Class Notes pages--very difficult to read.
I'm sure that, like most redesigns, this one was motivated more by in-house caprice than by reader demand, and you wanted to get your money's worth from your design consultant. But you've made some classic errors, which I hope you'll be able to acknowledge and correct.
EDWARD M. STRAUSS III '72
New York, N.Y.
The new look is terrific! The magazine is unquestionably more accessible, and I read it practically cover-to-cover for the first time in years.
RICHARD D. STERN '58
Scottsdale, Ariz.
Cover text that looks like any of 50 other magazines, dirty-green text boxes, cramped titles . . . you've even abandoned the classic Garamond font for something prissier. I find little enough worth reading in PAW; now I won't even try.
ERIC R. MEYER '79
Boulder, Colo.
I can't believe purple on the cover, diarrhea brown on the inside, and, worst of all, not a touch of orange.
THOMAS P. WOLF '48
Fairfield, Penn.
The best alumni magazine got better. Hurrah for the decision to combine the title and issue date and put them on every page--a real assist to this clipper/copier.
ARMSTRONG HUNTER '42
Springfield, Vt.
I like the new graphic design, but most of the type is simply too small to read comfortably. I would much prefer a magazine with less copy, and set in type that did not resemble an insurance policy.
HENRY WHITESIDE '64
Salt Lake City, Utah
Congratulations on a fine facelift! We should all look so good after 98 years. I like the new typeface, the use of color bars, and the mix of black-and-white and color photos. Now, will you redesign our kitchen?
JOHN V. H. DIPPEL '68
Piermont, N.Y.
The Chapel as symbol
The response of Dean Williamson to questions about the marriage of two male atheists in the Chapel does not compute (Letters, July 2).
He states that "the university is committed to a nondiscriminatory policy of equal access to all its facilities." Can men now use women's locker rooms? Can Muslims conduct prayer meetings in the Center for Jewish Life? Can wiccans perform sacrifices in Prospect Garden? Can the Chapel be the setting for a bigamist to marry his third wife? And when was the university's primary house of worship demoted to "facility" status? If just a facility, what makes it "transient" and "solemn"?
The university takes very seriously its own symbols and trademarks. Consider the 250th logo or the rhubarb over the former Trenton State College's assuming the name the College of New Jersey. Why does the university's chief religious officer not have a similar passion about the university's religious symbols and spaces? If the religious don't stand up for them, who will?
THOMAS H. PYLE '76
Princeton, N.J.
Head-shavers identified
In the May 7 From the Archives, Homer Smith '54 is having his head shaved by the late Hayes Walker '55 (top), and John Roos '55 is the one on the right, wearing the checked shirt. I can't identify the student on the left.
JOHN PAUL '55
Rosemont, Penn.
For the record
At least one reader noted that the mace bearer shown in our Commencement coverage (PAW, July 2) was Professor of English Thomas P. Roche *58 and not, as our caption stated, his colleague John V. Fleming *63. Also in that article, Glory, the "golden retriever" belonging to graduate Melissa Lockman '97, is actually a cross between a golden retriever and a Bernese mountain dog.
THE EDITORS