Tilghman discusses Arts center at town hall meeting

After receiving a zoning ordinance approval from the Borough to move the Dinky station 460 feet farther south this past December in order to construct a new building for the Lewis Center for the Arts, the University submitted a letter to the Princeton Planning Board outlining the project’s proposed layout at the beginning of February.

The University recently selected Arizona architect Rick Joy to design the new train station, joining Steven Holl Architects and Michael van Valkenburgh Associates as the primary collaborators.

Tilghman estimated on Monday that the project would last five years once the initial infrastructure work — such as building the new station and reorienting the tracks — is started. She suggested that 2017 might be a possible date for the Lewis Center’s dedication and groundbreaking.

Fundraising for the project will now begin and supplement the $101 million initial endowment given by Peter B. Lewis in 2006. Tilghman added that the outstanding lawsuit by Borough residents against the University will proceed but should not affect the spring meeting with the Planning Board.

The movement of the Center’s academic buildings — a dance studio, a black box theater, an art gallery and an instrumental rehearsal space — south from their originally proposed location allows for a landscaped “green space” near the intersection of Alexander Street and University Place. Tilghman said that the green space not only enhances the elegance of the area, but is also a potential site for the Center’s future expansion.

Tilghman also addressed at the meeting how the 2013 federal budget proposed Monday by President Barack Obama relates to the University’s research priorities in the humanities, engineering, and natural sciences.

“This budget is being produced in a difficult fiscal time,” she said. “But in general, education and research have been preserved within the President’s budget.”

Tilghman said that the budget includes a 2.5 percent increase in the maximum Pell Grant level to keep up with inflation for the 2014-15 school year, which Tilghman said was a “very good sign.” While the National Science Foundation will receive an overall raise of 5 percent, Tilghman said the “most sobering” news was that the National Institutes of Health’s budget will be flat next year.

Perhaps most difficult for the University will be the national cuts to fusion research that will negatively affect the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, which is considered one of the premier institutes of its type in the country.

Tilghman also said that she expects a report in mid-March from the Greek Life Implementation Committee — chaired by Dean of Undergraduate Students Kathleen Deignan — which aims to articulate the repercussions of violating the University’s recent ban on a freshman rush for Greek organizations.

Tilghman also announced that a group led by Provost Christopher Eisgruber ’83 will explore the positive use of technology in the classroom to enhance students’ educational experience. Tilghman said that the work is inspired by the Stanford and MIT online courses to help other colleges and universities with fewer resources.