Four-year college plan to offer upperclass housing alternative

The plan to institute a four-year college system has been mired in bureacratic conflict ever since it was first proposed by former University president Woodrow Wilson 1879.

With the announcement of eBay CEO Meg Whitman '77's $30 million donation to create a sixth residential college, it is about to become a reality.

The idea of a four-year college has elicited mixed reactions from undergraduate and graduate students. Although both groups said they supported the increase in housing and dining options, they expressed skepticism about the likelihood of upperclassmen choosing a four-year college.

"I think it would be nice to have a choice between the clubs and the four-year dining facilities," Jacob Thomas '05 said, "but I wouldn't choose that myself."

Although the new colleges will aim to create greater cooperation between the separated undergraduate and graduate students, graduate student government interaction chair Matt Fouse GS said he did not believe the new system would do much to promote that goal.

"My initial sense is that only a minority of graduate students would be interested," Fouse said. "But since so few graduate students would need to be involved to make the plan successful, I don't think that would be a problem."

A persistent concern among students was the University's social scene is one-dimensional, centering around the Prospect Avenue eating clubs.

"The monopoly the eating clubs hold on Princeton's social life smothers opportunities for other social activity and fails to advance further intellectual discourse outside of the lecture hall," Michael Taylor '05.

Indeed, Wilson's intention in creating a four-year college system was to re-shape the social scene and end the eating clubs.

However, club officers said they doubted that the new system would have a negative effect on the eating clubs.

"It's very hard to predict," said Cindy Drakeman '02, the Inter-Club Council chair. "I think because the student body population is going to be increasing overall, we're not going to see any less interest in the clubs."

The new four-year college system may, however, cause clubs to restructure their membership plans. Mostly, she said, the system would have a positive effect.

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"It may take some of the stress off of us," she said. "Another 500 people out here is a lot of people."

Wilson opposed the eating clubs, considering them a source of elitism and rampant drinking. As a solution, he proposed the "Quadrangle plan." Basing his plan on the Oxford-Cambridge model, he hoped to create a more cohesive academic community.

The proposal, however, did not take root until the late 1960s.

Several University reports in the 1960s indicated substantial dissatisfaction with the residential experience.They revealed a fractured community. Contentment with University life differed according to gender, race and socio-economic background. Upperclassmen also complained about their limited dining options.

With the report in mind, the Committee on Undergraduate Residential Life announced in 1979 their plan to establish five residential colleges. Initially, the CURL proposal met with ardent opposition – especially from the eating clubs. The University required all clubs who wanted funding to be non-selective. All the clubs except Elm Club opposed this proposal.

Nevertheless, after a series of compromises, the residential college system was instituted in 1983. By 1984, Princeton's social scene assumed a new face, leading one Forbes College resident to declare, "My home is my college."

With the Wythes plan in 2000, talk of a sixth residential college revived consideration of a possible four-year college. The board of trustees voted to construct a new residential college after it decided to increase the undergraduate body by 500 students.

A committee, chaired by Vice President and Secretary Thomas Wright '62, conducted surveys and held meetings to gain a wide variety of opinions from the University community on the expansion. Their final report proposed establishing three four-year colleges — to include underclassmen, upperclassmen and graduate sutdents — and three two-year colleges.

The residential college system now stands at crossraods. And while students meet the proposal with mixed enthusiasm, they support one principle that was set on Wilson's original agenda — adding more social options to campus life.