Trustess accept Wythes Report recommendations
The trustees formally approved the report of a special
trustee committee recommending that Princeton increase the
size of its undergraduate student body by approximately 10
percent (from 4,600 to 5,100) to "enhance the quality of the
overall educational experience at Princeton and make more
effective use of the University's extraordinary resources."
The approval was made at the quarterly board meeting on
April 15.
The committee was appointed in the fall of 1997 to
consider a number of long-term strategic issues facing
Princeton over the coming decade, including issues related
to the size of the undergraduate student body, undergraduate
financial aid program, Graduate School, faculty,
administrative and support staffs, physical resources,
financial resources, the use of new technologies, and the
library. The committee submitted its report in January. The
chair of the committee is Paul Wythes, a charter trustee
from California and a member of the Class of 1955.
The report adopted by the trustees contained revised
language in three areas:
The trustees recorded their concurrence with
members of the faculty who have urged that sufficient
resources be made available to ensure that the quality of
instruction is sustained and even enhanced, and that the
administration take advantage of the increase in the size of
the student body to further strengthen the University's
commitment to diversity and to the high intellectual quality
of the student body.
The University will be prepared to meet the
additional challenges of sustaining its objectives in
student life through increased resources. Increasing the
number of undergraduate students also can offer the
University opportunities to improve student life by creating
more diverse social, dining and living options and by
extending the range of student activities.
It may be necessary to increase the number of
graduate students admitted to certain departments,
especially those that now have unusually high numbers of
concentrators, where the quality of the graduate applicant
pool will sustain such an increase and where additional
assistants in instruction or research are necessary and well
qualified.
The increase in student body size will be phased in over
four years, beginning three or four years from now after
additional dormitory and dining space has been
constructed.
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