| About Princeton: History of the residential
colleges
Tracing its roots to the establishment of Woodrow Wilson College, Princeton
University's residential college system has evolved significantly over
the years.
- The college evolved from Woodrow Wilson Lodge, which was founded
in 1957 by a dozen members of the class of 1959 to provide an alternative
to the eating clubs.
- Madison Hall, one of the University's dining halls, served as the
common dining and social facility until 1961, when the organization
moved to the newly completed Wilcox Hall. At that time, it changed
its name to the Woodrow Wilson Society.
- The society sponsored a variety of educational and social activities,
including hayrides, dances, lectures, recitals and foreign language
tables. These activities were strengthened by the faculty fellow
program, which brought faculty members into the life of the society.
- In 1967, Julian Jaynes, then master-in-residence, proposed to the
University that the society become a truly residential entity. Woodrow
Wilson College was created the following spring. Two assistant masters-in-residence
were appointed as well as resident advisers and academic advisers.
- The college was appropriately named -- University President Woodrow
Wilson first presented a plan in 1906 to create colleges or "quadrangles"
in which undergraduates would live with their own recreational facilities
and resident faculty masters. Although the trustees initially approved
the plan in principle, they later withdrew their support under pressure
from alumni.
- Following the creation of Wilson College in 1968, a similar set-up
was created in 1970 with the Princeton Inn (now Forbes) College.
- Today's residential college system was established after a 1979
report of the Committee on Undergraduate Residential Life called for
more extensive integration of dining and social life with academic
life. The system is expected to change again with the expansion of
the undergraduate student body in 2006, the addition of a sixth college
and the creation of three four-year colleges.
From the Princeton
Weekly Bulletin. |
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The Rockefeller
College dining hall in Upper Madison Hall is
the largest on campus.
photo: Denise Applewhite
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