Princeton Board of Trustees Decide to Keep Woodrow Wilson's Name; Princeton's Motto to be Changed

Princeton University's Board of Trustees has decided that the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and the Wilson College will continue to bear their current names.After last November's 33-hour sit-in at Nassau Hall, during which the Black Justice League demanded, among other things, that Woodrow Wilson's name be removed from campus buildings, the University formed a special ten-person committee to examine Wilson's legacy at Princeton and to make recommendations as to whether the university should change the way it recognizes him.The committee has recommended that"both the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and Woodrow Wilson College should retain their current names and that the University needs to be honest and forthcoming about its history." The Board of Trustees have accepted the committee's recommendation.The decision was first released on Princeton's homepage in an article entitled, "Trustees call for expanded commitment to diversity and inclusion." News of the board's decision to adopt the report's recommendations to keep Woodrow Wilson's name was buried in the fourth paragraph. University president Christopher Eisgruber failed to mention the board's choice to keep Woodrow Wilson's name in his email to the student body  announcing the decision.In its report, the committee noted that Wilson "leaves behind a complex legacy with both positive and negative repercussions," and that transparency is needed "in recognizing Wilson’s failings and shortcomings as well as the visions and achievements that led to the naming of the school and the college in the first place."As part of a broader effort to contextualize Wilson's legacy, Princeton will also change its informal motto from "Princeton in the nation's service and the service of all nations" to "Princeton in the nation's service and the service of humanity." A new plaque bearing this revised motto will replace the current one on the front campus."The new plaque would contextualize the legacy of Woodrow Wilson; it would allow us to contemporize his expression of Princeton’s commitment to service by linking it to our embrace of the coeducational, multi-racial, multi-ethnic, diverse and inclusive composition and ideals of our community today," the committee wrote in its report.