Tag Archives: Princeton

WPRB News: Princeton Disabilities Awareness Conference

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On November 14, 2010, Princeton Disabilities Awareness (PDA) hosted its fourth-annual Down Syndrome Conference. During the conference, children with Down Syndrome under the age of 21 attended a carnival with a personal Princeton University student volunteer, participating in numerous activities. Meanwhile, parents were invited to attend a conference with talks from various experts on different aspects of Down Syndrome. Rosy Yang and Jackie Cremos discuss the event with those involved.

Listen here: Right Click to Download

This episode featured work by Rosy Yang and Jackie Cremos.

Executive Producer: Nikki Leon.
Senior Producer: Flora Thomson-Deveaux.

Taking On: Alan Blinder Part 1

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Photo Credit: Center for American Progress

Photo Credit: Center for American Progress

This week on Taking On, we sit down with Princeton Professor Alan Blinder to discuss the current economic turmoil, the reform of the financial system, and the role of the Federal Reserve. Part 1 airs on Sunday, November 15. Part 2 will air on Sunday, November 29. To listen to the interview in its entirety, please return to the WPRB News website after Part 2 has aired.

Recorded on November 12, 2009

Tilghman, Alimta, Commencement: Only Half the Story

Princeton’s President praises the lifesaving drug but neglects to mention how the University is seeking to block cheaper generic versions.

By Sebastian Jones

Several weeks ago I wrote an article for our sister publication, the Nassau Weekly, about Princeton’s corporate relationships, the potential problems they present and the fact it is extremely difficult for interested students and faculty to figure out what exactly is going on.

One of the examples I highlighted dealt with Alimta, a lifesaving cancer medicine manufactured by pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly under a license from Princeton University, who owns the patent for the drug’s key component. As I noted in the story, Alimta can be rather expensive– up to $11,000 a month– and while some patients are hoping for a cheaper alternative, they will have to wait longer because Eli Lilly and Princeton have filed a series of suits in federal court to prevent the production of a generic version. If these cheaper alternatives enter the market, Princeton and Eli Lilly claim they “will be substantially and irreparably damaged.”

Eli Lilly’s motivations and those of the generic drug companies involved are evident: they out to make a profit. But what is Princeton University, a non-profit institution of higher learning fond of saying it acts in the nation’s service, doing in the midst of the controversial fight over the price and accessibility of pharmaceuticals and the production of generics? Follow the money:

Eli Lilly has told the SEC their arrangement with Princeton ensures the university a “single-digit percentage” cut of the sales of the drug in exchange for exclusive license to produce Alimta. Net sales for the drug topped 1.15 billion in 2008, meaning Princeton scooped up somewhere between roughly $11 and $104 million from their partnership with Eli Lilly. Beyond the licensing agreement, Eli Lilly has given the University $500,000 for an endowed graduate fellowship.

Continue reading →

The Dispatch Update: Princeton Endowment Drops

By Sebastian Jones
WPRB News

This morning Shirley Tilghman, the President of Princeton University, sent an e-mail to students and staff with an “update on Princeton’s response to the economic downturn”, spelling out some of the losses the university’s endowment has suffered.

According to Tilghman, by late October, “the University’s endowment had declined by 11%, based upon our standard reporting protocols, using information that is the best available as of the reporting date.”

She added that this figure likely “understates the actual economic loss”:

And, of course, financial markets have continued to decline since then. Although we cannot know what the next six months will bring, we believe it is prudent for the University to plan for the possibility that its endowment will have declined by 25% at the end of the fiscal year.

Full e-mail below… Continue reading →

WPRB Exclusive: Princeton University Invested in Zimbabwe

By Sebastian Jones
WPRB News

As the United States and members of the European Union condemned the Zimbabwean government and considered strengthening sanctions, Princeton University chose to invest in Robert Mugabe’s troubled African nation, according to tax filings obtained by WPRB.

A portion of the IRS filing that demonstrates Princeton has investments in Zimbabwe

A portion of Princeton's tax records covering foreign assets, obtained by WPRB. The previous two filings, spanning July 2004 to June 2006, show no investment in Zimbabwe.

The investment, placed between July 2006 and June 2007, was made despite Zimbabwe’s highly publicized political and economic upheaval and disreputable human rights record. Questions as to the size, nature and current state of the investment remain unanswered at this time.

Princeton spokeswoman Cass Cliatt told WPRB in an e-mail this evening that “as a matter of policy, the University does not disclose the specifics of its investment portfolio or its return drivers.”

“The University in 1997 adopted guidelines for socially responsible investment under which action is taken after “considerable, thoughtful and sustained” campus interest and widespread consensus that action should be taken. The first step in that process is for the issue to be raised by a segment of the campus community and to my knowledge, the process has not been initiated,” Cliatt wrote.

What internal standards, if any, Princeton employs in selecting and vetting investments in corporate stock or foreign assets were not addressed by Cliatt.

Mugabe’s rule has drawn harsh international criticism ever since a violent policy of land redistribution plunged Zimbabwe into severe food shortages and economic crisis in 2002.

In 2005, the United States government called Zimbabwe an “outpost of tyranny” on par with Burma and Iran, the Zimbabwean government implemented an urban “clean-up” plan that the United Nations estimates left 700,000 people homeless and, by year’s end, the UN’s humanitarian chief had concluded the country was “in meltdown”. Conditions in 2006 and 2007 worsened with inflation reaching all-time highs and widespread imprisonment of union leaders and political activists (several of whom alleged they were tortured while in state custody).

This summer Time reported that, in the run up to Zimbabwe’s June elections, Mugabe’s “brutality before the vote resulted in the deaths of about 100 Zimbabweans, the detention of some 2,000, injury to 10,000 and the displacement of more than 200,000.” Just last week, The Guardian reported that the country was on the “brink of collapse”.

Stay with WPRB as we prepare additional reporting on the subject to be aired this Thursday on 103.3 FM and on the web at www.wprb.com at 5PM. Among our guests will be Andrew Meldrum, who wrote for The Guardian and The Economist about Zimbabwe for 23 years until he was kicked out of the country in 2003.
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Update- Read WPRB‘s report from Wednesday on Princeton’s investments in Zimbabwe-tied British arms supplier BAE Systems here..

Full Dispatch line-up on China

Here’s the full line-up from our recent program on China policy:

Princeton University and China
Sebastian Jones reports on the ties that bind Princeton University and China– and the potential conflicts of interest that come with them.

E. Perry Link
Professor E. Perry Link, a distinguished scholar of East Asian and China Studies who, until recently, was based at Princeton University and currently teaches at UC Riverside, joins Sebastian Jones for an interview about the challenges academics and universities face in balancing relations with China. Link also touches upon the recent Summer Olympics and tells the story of how he was blacklisted by the Chinese government, preventing him from entering the country.

Part One:

Part Two:

Part Three:

Ken Silverstein
Ken Silverstein, The Washington Editor of Harper’s Magazine, joins Sebastian Jones for a discussion of how China policy is shaped in Washington by foreign policy consultants whose actions raise serious ethical questions.

Part One:

Part Two:

Anne Marie Slaughter
Dean of Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School, Anne Marie Slaughter, sits down with Ashley Schoettle to share insights from her stint in China while on sabbatical and her thoughts on the current state of and future possibilities for China.

Part One:

Web-exclusive:

Slaughter and Silverstein on the Olympics– Web Exclusive
In a WPRB web-exclusive, Ken Silverstein of Harper’s Magazine and Princeton University Woodrow Wilson School Dean Anne Marie Slaughter share their differing views on the recent Olympic games in China.

The Dispatch: E. Perry Link on China Policy

Professor E. Perry Link, a distinguished scholar of East Asian and China Studies who, until recently, was based at Princeton University and currently teaches at UC Riverside, joins Sebastian Jones for an interview about the challenges academics and universities face in balancing relations with China.  Link also touches upon the recent Summer Olympics and tells the story of how he was blacklisted by the Chinese government, preventing him from entering the country.

Part One:

Part Two:

Part Three:

The Dispatch Preview: China Policy

This week we take a look at China policy at the crossroads of business, government and academia.  Sebastian Jones reports on Princeton’s delicate relations with Beijing, and we feature interviews with Harper’s Ken Silverstein,  Professor Perry Link from UC Riverside and Anne-Marie Slaughter, Dean of Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School, all with three different takes on China policy.

Audio plus exclusive reported posts to come soon…

Campaign Volunteer Pulls a Francisco Nava

By Sebastian Jones- WPRB News

If you’ve tuned into cable news in the past few days, you’ve no doubt heard about how a young woman named Ashley Todd from Texas, who had been in Pittsburgh, PA working for the McCain campaign, claimed she had been assaulted by a “6’4″ black male”, who upon seeing her McCain/Palin bumper-sticker proceeded to scratch out a “B” (for Barack, we must presume) on her cheek.

Turns out she made the whole thing up. KDKA in Pittsburgh reports on what will probably go down as the most flagrant case of race-baiting this election cycle, if not in recent memory:

“Police say a campaign volunteer confessed to making up a story that a mugger attacked her and cut the letter B in her face after seeing her McCain bumper sticker; now she’s facing charges.

At a news conference this afternoon, officials said they believe that Ashley Todd’s injuries were self-inflicted.

Todd, 20, of Texas, is now facing charges for filing a false report to police.”

The whole incident is eerily similar to the Francisco Nava affair last December here at Princeton, which wound its way into the national press. From Time: Continue reading →