Alumni Day draws 1,200 graduates to campus for lectures, tours, nostalgia

Early Saturday morning, about 1,200 alumni arrived on campus to celebrate the University's annual Alumni Day.

The day's events began with a series of lectures offered in the morning on subjects ranging from biotechnology to the history of language.

Alumni Day also featured special family-oriented events including Orange Key tours of campus, a musical of the history of the civil rights movement in the 1960s and a play based on "A Little Princess" and written by Robert Sandberg '70.

Some of the alumni in attendance graduated in the '40s while others had graduated just last year.

But regardless of their class year, all the alumni were in high spirits and enthusiastic for their temporary return to the days of undergraduate life at Princeton.

Many waxed nostalgic, noting things that have changed since they were students here, and many brought children and grandchildren along to show them what campus life was and is like.

"It was terrific," said Richard Malina '66, who was attending his first Alumni Day this year.

Malina said he enjoyed the three lectures he attended Saturday. "These professors were an A-plus!" he said. "Everybody was so enthused."

Malina said the changes that have occurred on campus since his college days have been positive.

"It's a very different sort of experience . . . not only different but much better," he said. "It's just so wonderful to see."

At noon, alumni gathered at Jadwin Gym for the annual luncheon, during which several awards were presented. After former classmates reminisced over lunch, the presentations commenced with an opening speech by Diane deCordova '85, chair of the Alumni Council.

She announced that the Alumni Association had quietly celebrated its 175th anniversary in September and reminded the audience that the association's mission remains the same now as they did 175 years ago: to promote friendly exchange between graduates and to promote the interests of the University.

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After the Princeton Association of Virginia and the Princeton Club of Hong Kong received awards for their service to Princeton, the audience gave a standing ovation as President Tilghman walked to the podium.

Tilghman presented several awards to members of the graduate and undergraduate schools.

Robert Rawson '66, chair of the executive committee of trustees, presented the last awards. Rawson announced David Remnick '81 as the winner of the Woodrow Wilson Award, "the highest general distinction that Princeton bestows on a graduate."

The award is given annually to an alumnus or alumna whose achievements exemplify Wilson's concept of "Princeton in the nation's service."

Remnick, who graduated with a degree in comparative literature and created the Nassau Weekly as an undergraduate, is the editor of The New Yorker and has helped "us all to examine who we are as a nation" through his magazine, Rawson said.

Remnick's writing helps in "uniting us in an intellectual exchange," Rawson said. "In our modern times, that is an indispensable service to the nation and all nations."

When accepting the award, Remnick began by humorously comparing himself to other award winners, the Pyne Prize winners especially.

"I have no idea how the hell I got into Princeton," he joked. "I kind of wish I had won the prize where they send you to Europe for a year off."

Showing his ability to laugh at himself, Remnick often used self-deprecating humor in his acceptance speech.

"I am really moved by this award," he said. "I always wanted to play in Jadwin Gym."

The luncheon was followed by more lectures, panel discussions and library displays in the afternoon in addition to a chapel service to honor deceased alumni.

Margaret Miller '80, director of the Alumni Council, said she was pleased with the way the events turned out.

"It was really a wonderful day," she said. "We had . . . a wide range of people from as far away as Hong Kong [and] Ireland."

Miller added that many of the lectures were well attended.

"We were very pleased," she said. "From all that I can tell, it was incredibly successful."

And from the nostalgic smiles on the faces of many of the alumni who attended this year's Alumni Day, it was clear that they enjoyed it too. "It's been a real rush of very fond memories," Malina said.