First College (known as Woodrow Wilson College from 1966 to 2020), the first of
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...
's six residential colleges, was developed in the late 1950s when a group of students formed the
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of ...
Lodge as an alternative to the eating clubs. The Woodrow Wilson Lodge members originally met and dined in Madison Hall, which is now part of
John D. Rockefeller III College. Inspired by the ideas of Woodrow Wilson, president of Princeton from 1902–1910, the members advocated a more thorough integration of academic, social and residential life on campus.
History
In the fall of 1961, President
Robert Goheen dedicated Wilcox Hall, the bequest of a distinguished alumnus, T. Ferdinand Wilcox '00, and the Lodge moved to the new dining facility and became the Woodrow Wilson Society. Wilcox Hall provided a permanent facility for the Woodrow Wilson Society with a dining room,
library
A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...
,
billiards
Cue sports are a wide variety of games of skill played with a cue, which is used to strike billiard balls and thereby cause them to move around a cloth-covered table bounded by elastic bumpers known as .
There are three major subdivisions ...
area, lounges for reading and recreation, and rooms for various social activities.
The completed
dormitory quadrangle consisted of Dodge-Osborn Hall, 1937 Hall, 1938 Hall, 1939 Hall and Christian Gauss Hall, honoring the late Dean of the college. Today, the college also includes Feinberg Hall, which was completed in 1988, Walker Hall, and 1927-Clapp Hall.
In 1966, the Woodrow Wilson Society was formally reorganized as Woodrow Wilson College with Julian Jaynes of the
Psychology
Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries between ...
Department as its first Master. He was succeeded by John Fleming of the English Department, Master from 1969–1972; Henry Drewry of History, Master from 1972–1975; Norman Itzkowitz of Near Eastern Studies, Master from 1975–1989; and then again by Fleming, who returned as Master of Wilson College for 1989–1997.
Miguel A. Centeno of the Department of
Sociology
Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of empirical investigation an ...
was Master from 1997 through the spring of 2004, and Professor Marguerite Browning of the Program in
Linguistics
Linguistics is the science, scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure ...
began her term as Master in the Fall of 2004.
Beginning in 2007, then-Woodrow Wilson College became a four-year residential college, with new programs and advising. However, it later reverted to becoming a two-year residential college, only housing freshmen and sophomores, a state in which it remains today.
On June 26, 2020, Princeton University Board of Trustees announced that Woodrow Wilson's name will be removed from the Woodrow Wilson College and the
Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs
The Princeton School of Public and International Affairs (formerly the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs) is a professional public policy school at Princeton University. The school provides an array of comprehensive course ...
, citing that his "racist thinking and policies make him an inappropriate namesake for a school whose scholars, students, and alumni must be firmly committed to combatting the scourge of racism in all its forms." Woodrow Wilson College has now been renamed First College until its scheduled retirement in 2022, when it will be replaced by one of two new residential colleges. Hobson College will be the name of the new residential college in honor of Mellody Hobson, who received her degree in 1991. This reform resulted from student pressure on racial equality causing Woodrow Wilson College to be demolished completely. It will be the first residential college at Princeton to be named after a Black woman.
Student life
First College is no longer being used as a residential college. The college was home to roughly 500 freshmen and sophomores and a small number of upperclass
Residential College Advisors (RCAs). It was previously led by the master (a faculty member), and also includes a dean, a director of studies, a director of student life, a college administrator, a college assistant, and a college secretary. A council of current students also contributed to college life, organizing trips, study breaks, and other opportunities.
The college at present is under construction, awaiting to be replaced by Hobson College in 2026. Prior to construction, First housed no upperclassmen, with the exception of RCAs. A small number of graduate students lived in First as advisers to undergraduate residents. First was a two-year college, paired with nearby
Butler College
Lee D. Butler College is one of the six residential colleges of Princeton University, founded in 1983. It houses about 500 freshmen and sophomores, 100 juniors and seniors, 10 Resident Graduate Students, a faculty member in residence, as well a ...
. First College students who wished to live in a residential college past their sophomore year had the option into one of the three four-year colleges,
Whitman,
Mathey, and Butler. Because of its pairing with Butler College, in the past, priority for housing in Butler was given to students who spent their first two years living in First or Butler. Therefore, although it was possible for First resident to move into any of the three four-year colleges after sophomore year, it was most advantageous for him or her to move into Butler.
References
External links
First College
{{Princeton
Colleges of Princeton University
1961 establishments in New Jersey
Name changes due to the George Floyd protests