Princeton University’s board of directors voted to remove the name of former United States President Woodrow Wilson from the university’s prestigious School of Public and International Affairs because of his “racist thinking and policies.”
Friday’s statement by the board of directors was shared with the Princeton community by Princeton President Christopher L. Eisgruber.
“On my recommendation, the board voted to change the names of the School of Public and International Affairs and Wilson College,” wrote Eisgruber. “As you will see in the board’s statement, the trustees concluded that Woodrow Wilson’s racist thinking and policies make him an inappropriate namesake for a school or university whose academics, students, and alumni must stand firmly against racism everywhere. its forms. “
The board had previously considered removing Wilson’s name in 2016 after a group of student activists occupied the university president’s office months earlier, Eisgruber said.
But a review committee chose to keep the name, recommending instead a “number of reforms to make this University more inclusive and more honest about its history,” the president said in his email on Saturday.
The decision to reconsider came in the wake of the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and Rayshard Brooks, Eisgruber said.
What was Wilson College will now be called First College, while the school of public affairs will be known as The Princeton School of Public and International Affairs.
“Wilson’s racism was significant and consistent even by the standards of his own time. He segregated the federal civil service after it had been racially integrated for decades, thus taking the United States backward in its quest for justice. Not only did he agree it was added to the persistent practice of racism in this country, a practice that continues to do harm today, “wrote the president.
The university had already planned to close Wilson College and withdraw the name as it builds two new residential universities, but decided that the course of action would be to expedite the name’s retirement.
