Historian considers Wilson's view of today's Princeton for exhibit opening

A century ago, the appointment of Woodrow Wilson 1879 as University president signaled the greatest period of reform in the University's history and brought forth a vision that has come to define the institution.

At his inauguration in 1902, Wilson saw a college trailing its rivals in academic prestige and helped transform it into a university unmatched in its focus on undergraduate education. He wanted the University to pursue more than excellence — he wanted distinction.

Wilson's tenure left an indelible mark on the University and secured his status as the most influential name in its history, said James Axtell, a humanities professor at the College of William and Mary who is writing about 20th-century Princeton.

Axtell spoke yesterday afternoon about Wilson's legacy for the opening of the Firestone Library exhibit on Wilson, who was a University student, professor and president before becoming President of the United States.

The exhibit chronicles the life of Wilson, from his birth in 1856 to his death in 1924, but it focuses on his impact on the University, which is unmatched in the University's 250-year history, Axtell said.

Wilson transformed the University from a relatively stagnant college into one of the strongest universities in the world, Axtell said.

From precepts to residential colleges, much of his vision has become a reality.

"Since Wilson, everyone has subsequently been running with his ideas," Axtell said.

Ultimately, Axtell is striving to find what Wilson would think of Princeton nearly 100 years after his term as University president began.

"He would be comfortable with most, but not all, of the modern University," Axtell said.

The University of a century ago was more socially conservative than its rival schools — "the most southern of the northern schools, or vice versa," he said.

Likewise, Wilson was a southern gentleman and discouraged the presence of minorities and women on campus.

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

Wilson was open about his feelings that "negroes," non-white immigrants and women would find it impossible to become comfortable in the University community.

If he could see the modern University, Wilson would be most displeased with the integration of women into the campus, Axtell said.

Wilson had no qualms about women receiving college educations — he sent all three of his daughters to all-women schools —but he was adamantly opposed to coeducation. He was by no means a misogynist, but Wilson feared that coeducation would ruin courtship practices, Axtell said.

"Wilson was an incredibly romantic man. He wrote astounding love letters to his wife, many of which are super passionate and sexy letters," Axtell said. But he thought females at the University would be "demoralizing and fatal to the delicacies of relations between men and women."

Additionally, Wilson had strong reservations about the athletics and social life of the University a century ago. He wanted athletics to be subordinated to academic pursuits because he found athletes to be graduating too often in the bottom third of their classes, Axtell said. He complained about intercollegiate sports becoming too intense, and that objection would still hold today, Axtell added.

Wilson also wanted to reform the 'Street' by discouraging eating clubs from being simply country clubs. He disliked the unequal admissions process associated with Bicker, and the desire to correct social inequalities eventually fueled his transfer to the Progressive and Democratic parties, Axtell said.

Overall, Wilson would be pleased to see what the 'Street' has become in the last century, he said.

And while some of his complaints about the University still exist, the core image of his vision has been maintained. Wilson would be pleased that undergraduates are still the main focus of the University and would take personal pride in its distinctive resources, he said.

One hundred years removed from his appointment as University president, Axtell said, Wilson would likely look upon his alma mater and feel satisfaction that the University is recognized for not just its excellence, but its distinction.