Keeping Wilson’s Name

Broader legacy perspective to be offered; University to step up inclusivity efforts

Students at an exhibition on Woodrow Wilson 1879 that opened this month in Robertson Hall.

Mel Evans/AP Images

By W. Raymond Ollwerther ’71

Published April 18, 2016

3 min read

The University’s board of trustees has rejected a call by a student activist group to remove the name of Woodrow Wilson 1879 from the School of Public and International Affairs and one of Princeton’s residential colleges because of his views and actions on race. But the board said the University must be “honest and forthcoming” about its history and recognize Wilson’s “failings and shortcomings” as well as his achievements.

At the same time, the board said the controversy over Wilson’s legacy was “emblematic of larger concerns” about the University’s commitment to diversity and inclusivity. Efforts should be “redoubled” to ensure that Princeton “embraces, respects, and values all members of its on-campus and alumni communities,” the trustees said, and a new board committee will monitor the progress.

The renaming issue was raised by the Black Justice League — citing Wilson’s record on racial issues as both University president and U.S. president — during a 33-hour sit-in in November at President Eisgruber ’83’s office in Nassau Hall.

A special committee of the trustees was created to consider Wilson’s legacy and whether Princeton should change how it recognizes that legacy. The full board endorsed the committee’s 13-page report (http://bit.ly/wilson-report), and it was released April 4.

The board approved these actions:

  • Creating a “pipeline program” to encourage more students from underrepresented groups to pursue doctoral degrees and careers in academia, supporting efforts to increase diversity among graduate students and faculty.
  • Developing initiatives that provide a broader understanding of Wilson and especially his racist attitudes, as well as of parts of the University’s history “that have been forgotten, overlooked, subordinated, or suppressed.”
  • Adding campus art and iconography that reflects Princeton’s diversity.
  • Changing the University’s informal motto, taken from Wilson’s 1896 address and modified a century later to the familiar “Princeton in the nation’s service and in the service of all nations.” In line with a suggestion by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor ’76 as she received the Woodrow Wilson award in 2014, the motto will now read: “Princeton in the nation’s service and the service of humanity.”

Brent Henry ’69, chair of the Wilson Legacy Review Committee

Sameer A. Khan

The board also called on the administration to “bring a more diverse presence to the campus” by inviting suggestions from the University community to name buildings or other spaces not currently named. The atrium of Robertson Hall, a primary entryway to the Wilson School, was cited as an example.

Eisgruber said in a statement that he agreed fully with the committee’s recommendations and that implementation of the new initiatives will begin immediately. “While I continue to admire Wilson’s many genuine accomplishments, I recognize the need to describe him in a way that is more balanced, and more faithful to history, than this University and I have previously done,” he said.

The committee said that it had heard from more than 700 people through online comments and in meetings on campus. Supporters of changing the name of the Wilson School and/or Wilson College were in the minority, the board said.

Not all members of the special trustee committee agreed that Wilson’s name should remain on the school and the college, the report said, “but in the end our collective judgment was that the names should not be changed.” Brent Henry ’69, chair of the committee, said there were no dissents from the report by members of the committee or of the full board.

The Black Justice League said in a statement that it was disappointed but not surprised by the trustees’ actions. “Princeton’s decision today demonstrates unambiguously its commitment to symbols and legacies of anti-Blackness in the name of ‘history’ and ‘tradition’ at the expense of the needs of and in direct contravention with the daily experiences of Black students at Princeton,” the statement said. 

3 Responses

Steve Gottlieb ’62

8 Years Ago

Naming Issue Won’t Go Away

In rejecting the idea of taking Woodrow Wilson 1879’s name off buildings and programs, and responding instead about teaching moments (On the Campus, April 20), I think the Board of Trustees merely tried to change the subject, and that other good deeds will not make the name issue go away — nor should they. I knew about Wilson’s racism most movingly from a film one of our classmates appeared in and which many of us watched at Reunions a few years ago, but I was shocked when I learned that he had reversed the integration of the federal civil service, which had stood for decades since Reconstruction.

Though I majored in the school and used Wilson’s desk (in Professor Mason’s office), I would be a lot happier referring to it as the School of Public and International Affairs or as the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, and will refer to it that way in the future.

The best way to educate people about Wilson is to stop honoring his name and actually educate people about him in books or a course that can cover both his strengths and weaknesses without the whitewash of a name on a building or program. I have spent too many years as a lawyer and academic fighting for racial justice to bring myself to speak about him as if he deserved such an honor. To put it simply, Wilson does not reflect the values of Princeton as we now know it.

William E. Holmer ’68

8 Years Ago

Changing the Motto

While I am sympathetic with Sonia Sotomayor ’76’s motivation to change Princeton’s informal motto (On the Campus, April 20), there is a simpler, more concise, more inclusive, and more elegant solution. 

The original change to “Princeton in the nation’s service and the service of all nations” seemed cumbersome and unmemorable at best. Revising the motto to “Princeton in the nation’s service and the service of humanity” is equally cumbersome and unmemorable, and the change implies that the United States is not obligated to serve humanity. 

Simply moving the apostrophe to “Princeton in the nations’ service” would honor and restore the historical legacy of the motto, while making it more inclusive of Princeton graduates and faculty who choose to serve people and governments outside the borders of the United States.

Rocky Semmes ’79

8 Years Ago

Ego and the Campus Naming Issue

Published online May 11, 2016

The healthy and magnificent maelstrom at Princeton over the name of Woodrow Wilson 1879 brings to mind the wisdom of various world sages whose guidance might be relevant. Ego and the importance of self are repeatedly remonstrated by thinkers as disparate as Confucius and Martin Luther King Jr. 

It is unfortunate that the amount of focus, energy, and determination being afforded this issue is not instead being directed at what might be an equally pressing area of need within the University.

Whatever the resolution, similar controversy will likely be encountered again because we are all of us human, and few of us are blameless no matter our contributions. On campuses, in communities, even in commerce we might do ourselves a favor in making it policy to avoid the reverence of ego in assigning personal names for facilities and places, and instead seek other sources if any are needed at all. The name “Princeton University School of Public and International Affairs” would seem to be entirely sufficient for all that needs to be said.

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