No construction currently planned on site of Springdale Golf Course

Princeton University will not be expanding its campus across Lake Carnegie or the Springdale Golf Course to accommodate the planned increase in the size of the undergraduate student body, according to University President Christopher Eisgruber ’83.

The University currently plans to gradually expand the size of its undergraduate student body by 500 students, according to a 24-page Strategic Planning framework released by the University in early February. Plans highlighted in the framework included adding 125 more students per class, reinstating a small transfer admissions program and constructing a seventh residential college to accommodate these increases in the student population.

This initial announcement created concerns in the Princeton community about where the seventh residential college might be built. However, in an interview with Princeton Alumni Weekly, Eisgruber noted that he had ruled out the possibility of expanding off-campus.

“We do not have to move across the lake nor do we have to think about the golf course,” Eisgruber said. “We are able to work on what we think of as our traditional campus while also preserving a lot of green spaces that exist within that campus.”

The potential location of this residential college is, then, still undetermined.

Eisgruber declined to provide further comments to the Daily Princetonian, saying that the University is still in the early stages of discussing how to provide the additional housing, dining and other spaces that will be needed.

“There is nothing I can add at this early point to what is in the published framework document,” he said.

University Architect Ron McCoy GS ’80 did not respond to requests for comment.

In an interview with the Packet Media Group, Jenny Crumiller, Princeton councilwoman and municipal planning board member, noted her positive reaction to Eisgruber’s statements, explaining that she had initially been concerned about possibly University expansion onto the Springdale Golf Course.

Crumiller added that this is only the current situation, since the municipal planning board has many more zoning issues to deal with. According to her, it is possible that the town will rezone the golf course, just “not in the immediate future.”

Crumiller and Princeton Mayor Liz Lempert did not respond to requests for comment.

Although Eisgruber has ruled out immediate expansion, he added that he is considering possibilities about what may eventually happen across Lake Carnegie in the future.

Many have long assumed that that space will be used for parking and athletics, Eisgruber noted. However, he sees potential for other potentially multipurpose developments there.

“Is it possible that things that might go on over there would be mixed-use in character and contribute in some ways to the innovation ecosystem that is important to our teaching and research mission?” he asked.

Jill Dolan, dean of the college, and Angela Hodgeman, manager of undergraduate housing, did not respond to requests for comment.