TWC renamed to honor University's first African-American dean

After years of debate, administrators and student leaders of the Third World Center have moved to change the name of the University's multicultural center to the Carl A. Fields Center for Equality and Cultural Understanding.

The center will take its namesake from a past dean at the University, who in the 1960s was the first African American to hold such a high-ranking post at an Ivy League institution.

Fields, who died in 1998, initiated policies to increase the enrollment and retention of minority undergraduates at the University.

"Fields was a wonderful man whose legacy we are delighted to honor. He's someone who made a tremendous impact," said Dean of Undergraduate Students Kathleen Deignan.

After a series of surveys, forums and meetings, those involved with the TWC decided to change the center's name to one that more accurately reflected its purpose. Fields'name seemed the clear preference over "Liberation Center," an alternative leading suggestion.

"Some students on the governance board felt that the term 'Third World Center' didn't appropriately explain its function," said Nia Garner '02, the TWC governance board recording secretary.

Many students, parents and alumni believed the current name was confusing and outdated, while others thought it perpetuated isolationism.

"Right now it as viewed as a place for everybody who is 'other,' " Black Student Union officer Alicia Prince '05 said. "It should be a meeting ground for people who want to be exposed to cultures. A name change would mean better publicity for the center and build the morale of the people who are there."

Dr. Fields' name provides a link between the past and present struggles of Princeton's minority students, TWC director Heddye Ducree said in a statement released by the University.

Many black alumni groups reacted negatively, however, to the name change and proposed keeping the original name to honor the legacy of the TWC's charter students.

"The [present] name represents the struggles and social inequalities that still exist on this campus and serves as a link to people of color all around the world," Garner said.

"[The alumni groups] didn't want the center to fight its history," Rahim added.

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The Third World Center was named in 1971 after an organization of minority students called the Third World Coalition. The coalition, comprising roughly 200 Native-American, Hispanic, African-American, Asian undergraduates, along with a small group of white students, hosted a sit-in in Firestone Library to rally against the University's indifferent policy toward the lack of resources available to disadvantaged students.

Ducree explained that the sit-in prompted the University to provide a center for minority life on campus, subsequently converting the Osborne Field House — a dining hall for football players — into the Third World Center — a place for minority students to relate to one another on a cultural and social level.

Former Dean of Student Life Janina Montero unsuccessfully attempted to change the name of the center five years ago.