Dorms to be gone, not forgotten

After Reunions, five dormitories in Butler College were scheduled to meet the wrecking ball, making way for new buildings that will house students starting in the fall of 2009. Before the demolition began, the University shared a proposal to ensure that the gifts that funded construction of what was once dubbed the “New New Quad” would not be forgotten.

University officials met with representatives from the Classes of 1940, 1941, 1942, and 1922 and relatives of the late Donold Lourie ’22 and George Love ’22 in early May to present plans for several memorials, according to H. Kirk Unruh ’70, the University’s recording secretary.

In the University’s proposal, each of the four classes would be recognized with a garden-like area and a corresponding plaque in an outdoor amphitheater surrounded on three sides by buildings in the new Butler complex. The class time capsules, which were removed in June, would be buried at the amphitheater. Butler College also would include a “large writ” memorial inscription linking the gifts of all four classes, Unruh said, and all existing plaques from the dormitories would be reinstalled on an interior wall in Butler’s new central dining area.

To preserve the gifts of Lourie and Love, two lifelong friends who served as Princeton trustees, the University has proposed naming a walk in their honor. The pathway would start at Wilcox Hall and lead to the fields south of Bloomberg Hall. Unruh said that path would be appropriate because it leads to the P-rade’s terminus, a symbol of camaraderie, and points toward Nassau Hall, where the trustees meet.

Several alumni have helped to draft inscriptions for the commemorative plaques, including Robert Goheen ’40 *48, who is a member of one of the donor classes and was University president when the dormitories opened in 1964. The inscriptions will aim to “tell the story” of each class, Unruh said, covering themes such as friendship and service in World War II. Classes also will have an opportunity to pay tribute to deceased class members with inscribed stones at the University Chapel.

Brian McDonald ’83, the University’s vice president for development, said that most of the alumni representatives “enthusiastically supported” the proposal in May, and the University hopes to have formal plans in place by the fall.