As President Eisgruber ’83 noted at the Alumni Day luncheon, the annual event was especially welcome this year, coming at a time when polarization seems to mark our relations and discussions with each other.
This also applies to Princeton, in the midst of a fierce debate about the racial environment on campus and how the University ought to memorialize Woodrow Wilson 1879. Some alumni, arriving early, attended a forum with members of the trustee committee that will make recommendations on the Wilson issue (see page 10); a few remarked privately that the tension they felt at the meeting made it difficult for them to express their opinions. But the next day, Alumni Day celebrated what Princetonians have in common. The Chapel served as the day’s unifier, its Service of Remembrance honoring people from all corners of the University.
“We live in challenging times, and this alumni body’s commitment to service, to learning, to civility, and to reflection is urgently needed,” Eisgruber said at the luncheon. The day’s honorees exemplify those values, he said. Among them was Gen. Mark Milley ’80 — receiving the award named for Wilson himself. “I don’t know what Woodrow Wilson believed,” he told the group, “but I know what I believe” — the values of the Constitution. That seemed to be something everyone could agree on.
We are sad to report that Cara McCollum ’15, a PAW columnist as a student, died Feb. 22, a week after she was injured in a car crash. She was 24 and a news anchor at a New Jersey television station. Cara, who represented New Jersey in the Miss America pageant, was a woman of warmth and many talents.