In Short

The University received a record 35,386 applications for the CLASS OF 2022 — a 14 percent increase over the 31,056 applications submitted last year. Princeton plans to enroll 1,295 graduating high school seniors and 10 to 12 transfer students, the first time transfers have been admitted since 1990. The deadline for transfer applications was March 1. 

The University has commissioned California artist Walter Hood to create an installation about the LEGACY OF WOODROW WILSON 1879 that is expected to be installed by fall 2019 on Scudder Plaza next to Robertson Hall, home of the Woodrow Wilson School. Titled “Double Consciousness,” the work is planned as two columns, wrapped with surfaces of black and white, and etched with words representing the “complex aspects” of Wilson’s record, the University said. A trustee committee recommended in 2015 that a permanent marker be installed “to educate the campus community and others about the positive and negative dimensions of Wilson’s legacy.” 

Architectural firm Deborah Berke Partners will design TWO RESIDENTIAL COLLEGES proposed for a site south of Poe Field. The project will be led by firm partners Deborah Berke, the dean of the Yale School of Architecture, and Maitland Jones ’87.

Campus groups for first-generation and low-income students at Princeton and 11 other elite universities issued a joint letter Feb. 14 asking their schools to review the impact of LEGACY-ADMISSION POLICIES, arguing that ending legacy preferences would give more low-income and first-generation students a chance to attend. Students in the coalition said their next step is to gauge support through votes at several schools, including Princeton. The admission rate for alumni children at Princeton has been about 30 percent for the past five years, compared with about 7 percent for all applicants, the University told The Associated Press.

Electrical engineering professor Sergio Verdú was placed on ADMINISTRATIVE LEAVE from the University before the beginning of the spring semester pending a review into his conduct regarding University policy on consensual relationships with students. After Verdú was found responsible in June for violating Princeton’s sexual-misconduct policy by harassing one of his advisees, further allegations arose that Verdú had had consensual relationships with other graduate students in recent years. At Princeton, administrative leave is not a disciplinary action.