Fields Center honors namesake with commemorative ceremony

Members from the all areas of the University community joined together Friday for the dedication of the Carl A. Fields Center for Equality and Cultural Understanding, formerly the Third World Center.

During a rousing, hour-long ceremony — which incorporated students, alumni, faculty and community leaders of all ages and ethnicities — the hidden but stately red-brick building on the corner of Prospect Avenue and Olden Street was alive with a sense unity and brotherhood.

The official christening of the Fields Center brought to a symbolic close nearly a decade of debate and dissatisfaction over the center's previous title, a title viewed by many as too suggestive of antiquated attitudes.

"A name change was really necessary," Rhonda Fitzgerald '06 said.

Carl Fields, who joined the University administration in 1964, is remembered as the first African-American dean to ever gain tenure at an Ivy League institution.

Heddye Ducree, the center's director, said she is extremely pleased with the new name and feels the dedication ceremony is a particularly good way to honor one of the University's most important African-American role models.

"This is certainly a marvelous occasion," she said. "This center has been, and will continue to be, a model for our community as to what it is like to live in harmony with one another."

Former friends and colleagues of Fields, many of whom made his acquaintance at the University, were also in attendance.

David Evans GS '66, who currently serves as a senior admissions officer at Harvard University, was one of only eight students of color pursuing a graduate degree during Fields' time in office.

"This is truly the most innovative experience Princeton has had and will probably ever have," he said. "What most Ivy League students don't realize is that they are living in the most integrated of all modern communities. Even today's top law firms and high-end businesses don't boast as impressive a minority population."

Kathleen Deignan, dean of undergraduate students, was on hand to offer celebratory remarks, as was President Tilghman. Tilghman congratulated the center's governance board for continuing to provide more than 75 of the University's minority groups with a "truly cosmopolitan" place to meet.

"The Carl A. Fields Center for Equality and Cultural Understanding offers us a great way in which to appreciate the differences that make the human race so wonderful," Tilghman said.

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Newly appointed governance board president Taufiq Rahim '04 said the new name will not change the center's mission and that it will "continue to be a place where minority students and students of color can find support for their activities."

A number of University students, many of whom had participated in the deliberation over the center's new title, witnessed the dedication. Some saw Friday's ceremony as a sign of the University's increased commitment to fostering ethnic equality on campus and to properly honoring influential African-American administrators.

"This is an important representation of the steps we can take towards diversity," Jamaal Clue '06 said. "It's great to see Princeton gradually moving away from the 'old boys network' mentality."

In closing, Tilghman made a commemorative presentation to Hedda Fields and unveiled a student-drawn portrait of Mrs. Fields' late husband, to be displayed in the center's foyer.

"Thank you for supporting Carl's extraordinary legacy on this campus," Fields said as she looked out into a room filled with her husband's most ardent admirers. "Here, his name will be forever linked to the goals he deeply believed in.

"I am so pleased, and Carl would be so proud."