In this week’s installment of our ongoing series bringing you the history of Princeton University and its faculty, students, and alumni, Chelsea Clinton visits the campus, a graduate wins an Olympic medal for soccer, and more.
August 7, 1996—As Chelsea Clinton considers potential colleges, she and First Lady Hillary Clinton visit Princeton.
Photo from Daily Princetonian.
In this week’s installment of our ongoing series bringing you the history of Princeton University and its faculty, students, and alumni, a decision is reached about the location of the Graduate College, swords are banned from campus, and more.
June 7, 1910—A long battle ends when the Board of Trustees accepts the bequest of Isaac Wyman, Class of 1848, and with it Dean Andrew Fleming West’s plan to build the Graduate College across from the Springdale Golf Club. Woodrow Wilson, whose hopes of locating the College in the center of campus have been dashed, will resign his University presidency and leave Princeton for politics as a result.
Woodrow Wilson’s plan for the Graduate College imagined dormitories built adjacent to the existing 1879 Hall (at Washington & Prospect) to create inner and outer courtyards. Today, this space is occupied by the Woolworth Center, home of the Department of Music. Graduate School Records (AC127), Box 27, Folder 5. Click to enlarge.
Q. Dear Mr. Mudd,
I read that Nathaniel FitzRandolph’s descendants get free tuition at Princeton University. Is this true?
A. According to legend, an agreement between Nathaniel FitzRandolph and the College of New Jersey (as Princeton was then known) was made in 1753. In exchange for donating the land on which Nassau Hall now resides, the College agreed to pay tuition for all of his descendants to attend the institution. We have bad news for today’s FitzRandolphs, though: No such provision was incorporated into the deed of gift.
Inscription on the FitzRandolph Gateway. Princeton Alumni Weekly Photograph Collection (AC126), Box 21.