In Short: Naming Suggestions Sought

36 University Place

Denise Applewhite, Office of Communications

Published Nov. 22, 2019

Princeton is seeking NAMING SUGGESTIONS for 36 University Place, home of the U-Store and the Center for Career Development; and for Marx Hall, home of the Center for Human Values. Marx Hall will be renamed “because the donor’s circumstances have changed, making him unable to fulfill his fundraising pledge,” the University said. A new admissions visitor center is planned to open in the lower levels of 36 University Place next summer.

The CPUC’s Committee on Naming advises the trustees on names that would bring “a more diverse presence to the campus”; ideas can be submitted at namingcommittee.princeton.edu.

Published in the Dec. 4, 2019, Issue

2 Responses

Charles S. Rockey Jr. ’57

4 Years Ago

An On the Campus story (Dec. 4) brings the news of naming opportunities for two campus buildings. I recommend Charles “Pete” Conrad ’53, who was a NASA astronaut, aeronautical engineer, naval officer and aviator, test pilot, and commander of the Apollo 12 space mission, on which he became the third man to walk on the moon.

Conrad flew two missions in the Gemini program and set a space endurance record as commander of Skylab 2. President Jimmy Carter awarded him the Congressional Space Medal of Honor in 1978. Honoring Conrad is long overdue.

Raphael (Rocky) Semmes ’79

4 Years Ago

Charles S. Rockey ’57 addresses the naming of new buildings on campus (Inbox, March 4), and I wonder if he is the self-same blessed benefactor behind the Rockey Angling Collection, whose dedicated room in the depths of Firestone Library was my hands-down favored study retreat. Mr. Rockey’s well-intentioned inclination to honor astronaut Pete Conrad ’53 is laudable, but history has already honored that good man, and the patterns of the past pose their own pitfalls and perils.

Ego and the adoration of the individual is an exhibitionism best eliminated from our culture. The shortcomings of ego worship have become more and more evident recently, and an alternate approach to building identity is long overdue and now in order.