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Originally published in 1939
Some of this information may no longer be current and in that case is presented for historical interest only.
Edited by GET NJ, COPYRIGHT 2003
Under the relatively peaceful administrations of Presidents Carnahan and Maclean, an increased enrollment and sizable gifts made possible new buildings and curricular extensions. A law school, added for a short period during Dr. Carnahan's tenure, indicated that the College of New Jersey was outgrowing the limits of a classical educational institution.
Under Carnahan's administration the lightening of discipline was demonstrated in a curious way. The students adopted a coverall gown of brilliantly figured calico which hid any defects of hasty dressing. As John
Jackson Haley of the class of 1842 wrote to his father: "In regard to a
loose gown, I observe they are very fashionable here, made like overcoats with plain rolling collars much like the `OLD fashioned open vest collar', & wadded skirts. The students wear them to Prayers, recitation & about college. They extend about half way between the knee & foot, in length, are made of fancy calicoes, to suit the taste."
During the term of the university's most loved president, Dr. James McCosh (1868-1888), the system of elective studies, now functioning in every major university, was adopted. The change upset the rigid theory of church-sponsored instruction, and paved the way for the graduate school of specialized study, opened in 1877.
Many anecdotes about McCosh are still told. Making the rounds one night, the president noticed, that a light was burning after hours in a student's room. McCosh knocked sharply on the door and demanded admittance. "Who is it?" the student called. "It's me, Dr. McCosh," was the answer. "Go to!" came the prompt retort. "If you were Dr. McCosh, you would have said, 'It's I !' " The President, his reputation as a grammarian at stake, withdrew in silence and in later years told the story on himself. It was a Hallowe'en custom to take Dr. McCosh's old closed buggy from the carriage house and drag it miles into the country. In 1887 the students were successful in getting the buggy out quietly; they trotted and ran with it almost to Kingston, where they turned into a farmyard. At that moment, Dr. McCosh poked his head through the window and said, "Thanks so much for the ride, boys. Now, if you will, please drive me home again."
A fuller measure of personal freedom and responsibility for students was achieved in 1893 when the honor system of unsupervised examinations was instituted. During the 14-year term of President Francis L. Patton 17 new buildings were erected and on October 22, 1896-the 150th anniversary of the chartering of the College of New Jersey-the name was changed to Princeton University.
Woodrow Wilson, the first Princeton president who was not a clergyman, is remembered for three great reform fights. He won the first, for the institution of the preceptor system, an adaptation of the English tutorial system. Next he campaigned for the division of the school into colleges or "quads" in which the students would live and eat. This plan threatened the exclusive eating societies supported by wealthy students who fostered what William Allen White has called "the junior Union League Club" attitude. Influential alumni aided the student opposition, and Wilson lost.
The loss of his third fight had much to do with Wilson's resignation and his entry into politics. The controversy concerned the location of the graduate school, but it was deeper than that. Wilson wished the school to be an integral and democratic part of Princeton, while a group of trustees led by Dean Andrew F. West insisted upon a secluded institution, associated with the university in name only. Carrying his fight to sympathetic alumni in the west, Wilson made a national issue of his thesis: "I cannot accede to the acceptance of gifts upon terms which take the educational policy of the university out of the hands of the trustees and faculty, and permit it to be determined by those who give money." He won the
first engagement when he persuaded the trustees to decline a $1,000,000 gift. But when a second gift of $10,000,000 (which later shrank to $2,000,000) came from the Isaac C. Wyman estate, with Dean West named as executor, Wilson knew that refusal would be impossible. He was beaten.
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