current affairs
Princeton’s Institute for Advanced Studies wants to build new housing units and clashes with historical conservationists who object that they would be building on sacred grounds where Washington and his army fought the Battle of Princeton. The New York Times article “Plan by institute in Princeton clashes with a park’s Revolutionary War past” presents the debate.
links
Lisa W. Foderaro “Plan by institution in Princeton clashes with a park's Revolutionary War past." New York Times, 16 February 2016. [🔗]
questions
1. What is the role of Nancy in the story? What does her reaction to the fact that the other teachers may be unmarried signal?
2. Should the headmaster have given in to the villagers? What if their traditions were harmful? And to some extent they may well be harmful: The villagers may not see the need for medical attention to reduce the neonatal death rate through modern medicine, trusting that the ancestors will look after the children to be born, as long as the path is kept open.
3. Also in the West, there are tensions between the sanctity of place and the demands of modernity. How would you try to arbitrate the conflict between the parties discussing a building project on the Princeton battle grounds, as outlined in the New York Times article “Plan by Institution in Princeton Clashes with a Park's Revolutionary War Past”?