Goldfarb blasts University, Tilghman

After 21 years on the Borough Council, former councilman David Goldfarb marked his last night on the municipal government last Tuesday with a public speech denouncing the way the University administration has handled its relations with the Borough.

In particular, Goldfarb criticized the direction that town-gown relations have taken under the administration of current University President Shirley Tilghman.

“I hope that the town and the University will work together to restore the mutually respectful relationship that we enjoyed under prior University administrations,” he said.

Goldfarb said in his speech that the payment in lieu of taxes the University pays the Borough, the PILOT, is inadequate. “With financial resources that dwarf those of virtually all other colleges and universities in the world, Princeton University still demands that the residents of our town subsidize it,” he noted.

In addition, he said, Tilghman had “threatened to reduce its inadequate contribution ... if the town didn’t comply with the University’s wishes.”

This supposed threat was in reference to the University’s proposed Arts and Transit Neighborhood, which has sparked controversy over zoning issues, mainly because it calls for moving the Dinky train station 460 feet southward.

He also criticized the Borough’s response to the University’s conduct. “The leaders of our town capitulated, emboldening the University to make similar threats in the future,” he said later in the speech.

In a brief phone interview, Goldfarb said the reception of his speech had been “generally positive,” but that the University had not reached out to him in any way.

In response, University Vice President and Secretary, Robert Durkee ‘69 said in an email that he was not surprised with Goldfarb’s remarks. “Throughout his 21 years on Borough Council, Mr. Goldfarb expressed hostility toward the University,” Durkee noted.

Durkee added that “there is no University contribution that he [Goldfarb] would consider adequate.”

In the interview, Goldfarb said that he would consider the University’s contributions adequate only if it paid taxes on all of its property.

Under current New Jersey law, most of the University’s properties are tax-exempt and the contributions it has provided to the Borough, including the PILOT, are purely voluntary.

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Durkee also noted that the University has made significant investments in the Borough and that it remains its largest taxpayer. The University’s contributions represent more than 10 percent of the town’s total tax collection.

“Largely because of the University’s contribution, the Borough has the lowest tax rate of any of the 13 municipalities in Mercer County,” Durkee explained.

However, Goldfarb said he considered the contribution to be closely linked to approval of the University’s plans. If the Borough does not give in to the University’s requests, he said, “it is very clear to me that the contributions would be reduced.”

In contrast to his harsh criticism of the University, Goldfarb opened his speech by lauding the administration and students of the neighboring Princeton Theological Seminary.

“We’re fortunate to have such a fine institution in our town,” Goldfarb said. “Its students have devoted many hours to a large number of good causes in the community, and only a tiny fraction of them attract the attention of our police department.”

Princeton University students engage in more frequent “problems of excessive drinking” than their counterparts in the seminary, Goldfarb later told The Daily Princetonian.

However, Durkee remains skeptical and noted that Goldfarb had already mentioned alcohol consumption by University students as “the greatest problem facing Princeton Borough” in a previous meeting.

“I don’t believe many others in the community would agree,” he added.

Toward the end of his speech, Mr. Goldfarb said he wished that the relationship with the University would improve in the future but remained firm in his position.

“The University’s commitment to leave the Dinky in place would be an excellent place to start,” he said.