On Jan. 20, the University sold $250 MILLION in 30-year tax-exempt bonds at an interest rate of 4.03 percent. Almost half the bond issue will support the cost of the new chemistry building, which is scheduled to open by the end of 2010. Other projects to receive funding, according to Princeton spokeswoman Cass Cliatt ’96, include a proposed building for the neuroscience institute and major renovations to Jadwin Hall and Firestone Library. The bond issue increases the University’s total debt to $2.75 billion.
IN MEMORIAM: STANLEY KELLEY JR., a politics professor whose leadership of the so-called Kelley Committee in the late 1960s reshaped the University’s governing structure, died Jan. 17 in Princeton from complications of Alzheimer’s disease. He was 83. Kelley was named to lead the Committee on the Structure of the University during a time of upheaval on college campuses; the group’s recommendations included naming students to faculty committees, creation of the Council of the Princeton University Community (CPUC), and the annual election of a graduating senior to the Board of Trustees. Former president William G. Bowen *58 said Kelley was “the consummate university citizen” and described the committee’s work as “the best commentary I have ever seen on how a university should be run.” Kelley, an authority on political parties and elections, joined the faculty in 1957 and retired in 1995.
Facing difficult budget choices, local elected officials want to talk with President Tilghman about the UNIVERSITY’S FINANCIAL CONTRIBUTIONS to the community. The Borough Council, the Township Committee, and the regional school board each passed resolutions to open discussions with the University. Kristin Appelget, the University’s director of community and regional affairs, said Tilghman would be “happy to meet” with local officials. The University is the largest taxpayer in the two municipalities: In 2009 it paid $5.1 million in property and sewer taxes in the borough and $4.7 million in property and sewer taxes in the township. While most of the University’s property is tax-exempt, under a six-year agreement with the Borough Council that expires at the end of 2011, the University makes an annual contribution; last year’s payment was nearly $1.2 million.
MICHAEL GRAVES,