My congratulations to Professor Martha Sandweiss and her faculty and student colleagues on their superb job of analyzing Princeton’s connections to slavery. Their research and discussion of its results constitute an excellent example of how an institution can examine its own history in a way that benefits the larger community as well as itself. Given the unsettled political atmosphere in America today, reasonableness and intellectual rigor are particularly important. The Princeton & Slavery Project reflects these attributes.

During the past several years, Princeton has adopted an approach of educate, not eradicate, in its appraisal of its past. Because of this, its future will be built on a firmer foundation.