Princeton dumps Woodrow Wilson’s name
Princeton University is removing Woodrow Wilson’s name from its public policy school and one of its residential colleges after trustees concluded that the 28th U.S. president’s “racist thinking and policies” made him “an inappropriate namesake.”
The Ivy League school’s trustees made the decision Friday, according to a statement released Saturday.
It comes at a time of widespread rethinking of America’s racial legacy. The Black Lives Matter movement, energized by a series of highprofile deaths of Black Americans, have resulted in the removal of Confederate monuments, flags, and symbols of racism across the U.S.
Deleting Wilson’s name at Princeton may be the most high-profile act to date. The policy school will now be known as “The Princeton School of Public and International Affairs.” Wilson was president of Princeton from 1902 to 1910 and, as a Democrat, served as governor of New Jersey before winning the 1912 presidential election.
“Wilson’s racism was significant and consequential, even by the standards of his own time,” Princeton President Christopher L. Eisgruber said in the statement.
“He segregated the federal civil service after it had been racially integrated for decades, thereby taking America backward in its pursuit of justice,” he added. “He not only acquiesced in but added to the persistent practice of racism in this country, a practice that continues to do harm today.”
The university had discussed removing Wilson’s name before, following student protests at the New Jersey school in November 2015. A committee that studied Wilson’s legacy at Princeton decided to retain the name.