For the first time since the University became coed 1969, Princeton is again planning to increase the size of its undergraduate population. University administrators and officials have until the fall of 2006 to prepare for the first of the additional 500 students they hope will strengthen the school's academic excellence and national leadership.
The roughly 10 percent increase, bringing the number of undergraduates from 4,600 to 5,100 over four years, was proposed by the Wythes Committee, which was formed in 1997 to evaluate the school's financial, physical and human resources. The proposal was approved unanimously by the Board of Trustees in 2000.
Committee members, administrators and trustees said they supported the move because they felt the University had an obligation to educate as many students as possible while maintaining its integrity.
"We provide a world class education, and we didn't think it right to keep that a closed-door club," said the committee's chair, Paul Wythes '55.
Trustees also expressed a desire to continue the school's tradition of providing national leadership, said Thomas Wright '62, vice president and secretary, who noted that throughout the school's 250 year existence, the sizes of the University and the nation have remained in roughly the same proportion.
"There is a feeling that we're trying to provide leadership to the nation, and [the trustees] don't want Princeton to become a smaller and smaller part of that," Wright said. "We wanted Princeton to remain a consistently significant factor in the nation and in the world in terms of providing leadership."
The committee concluded that Princeton could easily expand the size of its student body without compromising its resources or the education it offers, particularly as the size of the University's faculty had increased at an annual rate of one percent.
"In some sense, the undergraduate student body will be catching up after the fact," Wright said.
'An expansion of thought'
Administrators expressed confidence in the school's ability to increase its student body without changing the character of its undergraduate classes.
"We could fill our freshman class two or three times over with the same quality of students, so we will have no trouble bringing in talented scholars," Dean of Admission Janet Rapelye said.
Rapelye said she will not be looking for one particular kind of student, but instead she spoke of an increasing emphasis on originality and creativity.
"I think the president has been quite outspoken about the encouragement of the arts and creativity, and I think we can look to that as we move forward," Rapelye said.
"An expansion of a university class represents an expansion of thought. College or university is all about thinking, and when you're expanding the size of a college you're expanding really what people are thinking about and really expanding ideas," Rapelye said.
While a few cast wary glances at the increase and its potential threat to the campus' traditional intimacy, many dismiss the 10 percent increase as negligible.
USG president Pettus Randall '04 said the increase will bring more talented students to campus.
"Our athletics will benefit, our extracurriculars will benefit, our music will benefit — the whole campus will benefit from the increase," Randall said.
"We will still have a tight-knit community and the Princeton traditions and the undergraduate focus of our institution will not be lost," he said.
But some faculty members accustomed to teaching already large introductory courses in popular departments doubt whether they can take on additional students.
"We don't have enough undergraduate economic offerings right now because we're strapped for resources. We're spread too thin right now," economics professor Elizabeth Bogan said.
Adapting
Administrators are planning changes to accommodate the increase and address faculty concerns.
"We will need more freshman seminars, more writing seminars, more precepts, more creative and performing arts classes, more language sections, more econ. and math classes, more junior workshops, more faculty members available to advise junior papers and senior theses," Vice Provost Katherine Rohrer said in an email.
"In some cases, departments may decide that they need to teach certain courses more frequently," she said.
Large lectures might need to be split into multiple sections, for instance.
Though University officials hope that some of the additional students will enter traditionally under-enrolled classes, Dean of the College Nancy Malkiel said it is difficult to predict what interests students will have while at Princeton.
"We're looking carefully at what people say when they apply and what they actually do. We've collected a lot of data and what we've found is that students quite often change their minds," she said.
For planning purposes, administrators are assuming students will distribute themselves in the same ways that they do now.
Despite a widening of the student-faculty ratio, the size of precepts, labs and seminars will not increase unless they are currently undersized, Rohrer said.
The University has also reevaluated its classroom and other physical facilities, and plans to build additional classroom space and undertake several construction and renovation projects over the next several years, Rohrer said.
Four-year colleges
The most visible of these projects will be the construction of Whitman College, a sixth residential college to be built where the pagoda tennis courts now stand.
The college will introduce a new system of four-year colleges proposed by the Wythes Committee, in which students can opt to live in a residential college for all of their four years on campus.
"My sense is that we think it will contribute enormously to the quality of student life," said Rockefeller College Dean Hilary Herbold regarding the four-year college system. "In some sense it will give a whole lot of students out there some options that just haven't been available up until now, such as the opportunity to have an ongoing relationship with deans and advisors in the colleges."
Administrators emphasize that the new system is not intended to draw students away from eating clubs, but rather provide an alternative option.
"The new sixth college will provide a whole new student life experience which allows us to do that without hurting or inhibiting the clubs," Wythes said.
Mathey and Butler colleges will also be renovated to serve as four-year colleges, housing approximately 100 juniors and seniors and 10 graduate students each, Wright said.
The University plans to partner each four-year college with a two-year one in an attempt to narrow the gap between the campus' under- and upperclassmen.
"The idea is to break down the separation between juniors and seniors, and freshmen and sophomores," Wright said.
"We expect to have some interaction through music groups, athletic groups, performing groups, etc.," Wright said.
Randall said he hopes that the new system will enhance the quality of student life.
"I just think it adds a stronger sense of community that we really cherish at Princeton," Randall said.
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