Princeton Week in Review: PHS Graduation and More

Two people were injured and two people arrested following a Friday afternoon fight in Princeton involving 15 people, police said. The incident happened on Mulberry Row at Princeton Community Village. According to police, the fight began when somebody thought they were being disrespected. 

Princeton alumnus and trustee William Fung of Hong Kong will donate $10 million to  increase the University's engagement with scholars around the world and inspire ideas that transcend borders. Part of the gift will fund the Fung Global Fellows Program, which will bring six early-career international faculty members from the social sciences and the humanities to Princeton for a year of research, writing and collaboration. The program will begin in fall 2013.

Environmental awareness is more important than ever for the Sourlands, a 17-mile stretch of forest that encompasses towns such as Princeton, Hillsborough and everywhere in between. One local filmmaker found it so important that it is the topic of his new documentary film. Jared Flesher, director of the new independent film “Sourlands” that will premiere on June 27 at the Broad Street Theater in Hopewell, has been on a recent campaign to create awareness of his film about the region which, he hopes, will open people’s eyes as to the importance of a healthy ecosystem in regards to farming, economics and the environment at large.

Before graduating from Princeton High School, Lucy Fleming visited her orthodontist for the last time. As she prepared to leave the doctor's office, the receptionist smiled and said, ‘Have a great life.’ “Have a great life,” class speaker Fleming repeated to her 352 classmates at Princeton High School’s Class of 2012 commencement on Monday evening. “Suddenly instead of wishing us a happy vacation or saying ‘Have a great summer,’ everyone is telling us, ‘Have a great life.’”

When Howard Siskowitz was young, he watched Friday night fights with his father. In the late 1990s, he displayed sketches of boxers at the Mar-Teri gym in Trenton. Living most of his life in Princeton Borough, Siskowitz, 64, has had easy access to Princeton University’s resources; he frequented the Nassau Street studio of Joe Brown, sculptor and University boxing coach. Brown was receptive to young artists and gave Siskowitz short explanations on his art. “For one reason or another, the town was smaller, quieter, and you could walk into the campus and the buildings," he said. "I used to sit in the art library – I mean, I used to shoot pool in the billiard room, too, but I could also just sit in the art library.”

A discussion about employee benefits has members of the Princeton’s Consolidation Commission questioning if the Transition Task Force has overstepped its mandate when it comes to Princeton's impending consolidation. But the chairman of the TTF says there is simply a misunderstanding about what is actually happening.

A Union County, N.J., man admitted robbing seven branch locations of TD Bank throughout New Jersey — including the branch on at the corner of Princeton Avenue and Route 206 in Princeton Township, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.  The robberies occurred between September 2011 and December 2011.