Board of trustees votes to remove Woodrow Wilson's name from Princeton's campus

(Image credit: William Thomas Cain/Getty Images)

published 27 June 2020

Former President Woodrow Wilson's name will be removed from Princeton University's campus, University President Christopher L. Eisgruber said in a letter to the Princeton community Saturday.

The decision to remove Wilson's name from the School of Public and International Affairs, as well the residential college, Wilson College, is the result of a Board of Trustees vote. Eisgruber said the board determined "Wilson's racist thinking and policies make him an inappropriate namesake for a school or college" that "must stand firmly against racism in all its forms."

The board had considered making the change in 2015, but opted to keep Wilson's namesake since he played a vital role in turning Princeton into a leading research university when he served as the university's president. However, recent nationwide protests against police brutality and systemic racism propelled the board to change that stance. Eisgruber wrote that while Prince did not honor Wilson because of his racist policies — which included segregating the federal civil service — as is often the case with historical figures like John C. Calhoun and Robert E. Lee, the university did so "without regard to or perhaps even in ignorance of" it. Read the full letter here.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Explore More

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.

Subscribe to The Week

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox