Wilson College holds 50th anniversary celebration

In 1956, then-University President Harold Dodds GS ’14 approved the opening of a small facility adjoining Madison Hall — now Rockefeller College — at the request of a dozen members of the Class of 1959, who wanted a place removed from the demands of Bicker. That facility later became known as Woodrow Wilson Lodge, the University’s first residential college, and the predecessor of today’s Wilson College.

The lodge was named after former University president Woodrow Wilson, Class of 1879, who served in that office from 1902 to 1910. Wilson first proposed his vision of a residential college system in 1906. His idea called for the colleges to serve as centers of undergraduate social and academic life.

The lodge moved to its current location in 1960, and on Saturday, Wilson College celebrated its 50th anniversary with a nearly five-hour celebration. More than 130 alumni, past and present faculty, and current students attended the event, which included an alumni panel discussion moderated by USG president Michael Yaroshefsky ’12, a reception and welcome toast by President Shirley Tilghman, and a dinner featuring a keynote address by English professor emeritus John Fleming GS ’63. Fleming, who is a former columnist for The Daily Princetonian, served as master of Wilson College from 1969 to 1972 and 1989 to 1997.

After its creation, Wilson Lodge’s membership grew steadily. In 1959, almost 80 sophomores — nearly 10 percent of the class — elected to join Wilson Lodge in response to the preceding year’s “Dirty Bicker,” in which 23 students were refused club membership, despite the reigning 100 percent admittance system at the time. Since 15 of those students were Jewish, this provoked allegations of anti-Semitism.

In 1960, Wilson Lodge members renamed themselves the “Woodrow Wilson Society” after moving into the completed “New Quad,” which consisted of Gauss, Dodge-Osborne, 1937, 1938 and 1939 halls. Membership grew to nearly 300 that year. An additional 326 students joined the residential community after the 1964 opening of the “New New Quad” — the nickname for the original buildings in Butler College that were demolished in 2007.

The Woodrow Wilson Society officially became a residential college in 1967, opening membership to all four classes, following a proposal made by then-Wilson master Julian Jaynes.

Darwin LaBarthe ’61, who served as sophomore secretary of Wilson Lodge and later as class president, noted during the panel discussion that the discrimination of Dirty Bicker was “an unwelcome revelation to an aspect of life at Princeton.”

But, he said, Wilson Lodge was “not about opposing the eating clubs, but fixing a fundamental problem” and providing a “real and viable option for upperclass living.”

English professor and current Wilson master Eduardo Cadava, who offered opening remarks at the event, called the creation of the Wilson Society a milestone in the University’s history. “What is remarkable ... is that the society was run entirely by students: It hosted poetry readings, musical performances, discussions, and students met with faculty over meals,” he said in an e-mail.

Like LaBarthe, Cadava said that the new residential college was not hostile to the eating clubs. “Many of the students who belonged to the lodge ate meals at the clubs and students affiliated with the clubs sometimes came to the lodge,” he explained.

During the celebration, alumni panelists explained that the push to create an inclusive space like Wilson also reflected the period’s political and demographic shifts, like the youthful spirit of counterculture.

“It was a very interesting time,” remarked Kathleen Molony ’71, who was one of 171 women who enrolled in Princeton in the fall of 1969, the first year of undergraduate coeducation. She recalled finding a home in Wilcox Hall and becoming more politically conscious during her time there.

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“The Vietnam War had affected our class and the classes around us in a specific way,” she said.

Trevor Forde ’74 said he saw Princeton’s minority population “double and then quadruple” as an undergraduate. “We had a diversity not common elsewhere,” he said of Wilson College. “The camaraderie we shared I will always cherish.”

During the event’s reception, Tilghman paid tribute to former University presidents Wilson and Robert Goheen ’40 GS ’48, who served from 1957 to 1972, for their roles in transforming Wilson Lodge from a minor alternative to the eating clubs into a more formal institution.

“We have to thank Woodrow Wilson for his original ability, his vision for the college; Bob Goheen, for his ability to recognize a good idea when he heard it and then for his amazing ability to execute it so quickly; and then the students who were not satisfied of what they encountered when they arrived at Princeton and said, ‘This University could be better,’ ” she said.

Fleming and Cadava noted that Wilson College’s history still has relevance for students today, reflecting the role students have in effecting change.

Wilson will always hold special significance as Princeton’s first residential college, Cadava said. He added that it is also the only residential college not named after a donor, but rather “a figure who played a prominent role in the history of education at Princeton.”

“I think it has a remarkably wonderful history, and one that indicates the agency students can have, and also the way in which they can leave an imprint on the University that indeed helps determine its future,” Cadava added.

Fleming also noted the quick speed of changes on campus. Students “might be inclined to think of Princeton as I once did: as a huge majestic ocean liner moving across the sea of the century at a stately pace,” Fleming said. “I retired four years ago; it is already a different place.”