Founding

Princeton University, founded as the College of New Jersey, was shaped much in its formative years by the "Log College", a seminary founded by the Reverend William Tennent at Neshaminy, Pennsylvania, in about 1726. While no legal connection ever existed, many of the pupils and adherents from the Log College would go on to financially support and become substantially involved in the early years of the university.^[13] While early writers considered it as the predecessor of the university,^[16] the idea has been rebuked by Princeton historians.^[17]^[13]

The founding of the university itself originated from a split in the Presbyterian church following the Great Awakening.^[18] In 1741, New Light Presbyterians were expelled from the Synod of Philadelphia in defense of how the Log College ordained ministers.^[19] The four founders of the College of New Jersey, who were New Lights, were either expelled or withdrew from the Synod and devised a plan to establish a new college, for they were disappointed with Harvard and Yale's opposition to the Great Awakening and dissatisfied with the limited instruction at the Log College.^[19]^[18] They convinced three other Presbyterians to join them and decided on New Jersey as the location for the college, as at the time, there was no institution between Yale College in New Haven, Connecticut, and the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia; it was also where some of the founders preached.^[20] Although their initial request was rejected by the Anglican governor Lewis Morrison, the acting governor after Morrison's death, John Hamilton, granted a charter for the College of New Jersey on October 22, 1746.^[21]^[20] In 1747, approximately five months after acquiring the charter, the trustees elected Jonathan Dickinson as president and opened in Elizabeth, New Jersey,^[21] where classes were held in Dickinson's parsonage.^[22] With its founding, it became the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and one of nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution.^[9]^[10] The founders aimed for the college to have an expansive curriculum to teach people of various professions, not solely ministerial work.^[23]^[21] Though the school was open to those of any religious denomination,^[24] with many of the founders being of Presbyterian faith, the college became the educational and religious capital of Scotch-Irish Presbyterian America.^[25]

Colonial and early years

In 1747, following the death of then President Jonathan Dickinson, the college moved from Elizabeth to Newark, New Jersey, as that was where presidential successor Aaron Burr Sr.'s parsonage was located.^[21] That same year, Princeton's first charter came under dispute by Anglicans, but on September 14, 1748, the recently appointed governor Jonathan Belcher granted a second charter.^[26]^[27] Belcher, a Congregationalist, had become alienated from his alma mater, Harvard, and decided to "adopt" the infant college.^[26]^[24] Belcher would go on to raise funds for the college and donate his 474-volume library, making it one of the largest libraries in the colonies.^[26]^[28]

In 1756, the college moved again to its present home in Princeton, New Jersey, because Newark was felt to be too close to New York.^[29]^[30] Princeton was chosen for its location in central New Jersey and by strong recommendation by Belcher.^[26]^[31] The college's home in Princeton was Nassau Hall, named for the royal William III of England, a member of the House of Orange-Nassau.^[32] The trustees of the College of New Jersey initially suggested that Nassau Hall be named in recognition of Belcher because of his interest in the institution; the governor vetoed the request.^[26]

Burr, who would die in 1757, devised a curriculum for the school and enlarged the student body.^[33] Following the untimely death of Burr and the college's next three presidents,^[34] John Witherspoon became president in 1768 and remained in that post until his death in 1794.^[35] With his presidency, Witherspoon focused the college on preparing a new generation of both educated clergy and secular leadership in the new American nation.^[36]^[37] To this end, he tightened academic standards, broadened the curriculum, solicited investment for the college, and grew its size.^[38]^[37]

A signatory of the Declaration of Independence, Witherspoon and his leadership led the college to becoming influential to the American Revolution.^[35]^[39]^[40] In 1777, the college became the site for the Battle of Princeton.^[35] During the battle, British soldiers briefly occupied Nassau Hall before eventually surrendering to American forces led by General George Washington.^[41] During the summer and fall of 1783, the Continental Congress and Washington met in Nassau Hall, making Princeton the country's capital for four months;^[42] Nassau Hall is where Congress learned of the peace treaty between the colonies and the British.^[43]^[44] The college did suffer from the revolution, with a depreciated endowment and hefty repair bills for Nassau Hall.^[45]

19th century

In 1795, President Samuel Stanhope Smith took office, the first alumnus to become president.^[46] Nassau Hall suffered a large fire that destroyed its interior in 1802, which Smith blamed on rebellious students.^[47] The college raised funds for reconstruction, as well as the construction of two new buildings.^[48] In 1807, a large student riot occurred at Nassau Hall, spurred by underlying distrust of educational reforms by Smith away from the Church.^[46]^[49] Following Smith's mishandling of the situation, falling enrollment, and faculty resignations, the trustees of the university offered resignation to Smith, which he accepted.^[48] In 1812, Ashbel Green was unanimously elected by the trustees of the college to become the eighth president.^[50] After the liberal tenure of Smith, Green represented the conservative "Old Side", in which he introduced rigorous disciplinary rules and heavily embraced religion.^[51]^[52] Even so, believing the college was not religious enough, he took a prominent role in establishing the Princeton Theological Seminary next door.^[51]^[50] While student riots were a frequent occurrence during Green's tenure, enrollment did increase under his administration.^[53]

In 1823, James Carnahan became president, arriving as an unprepared and timid leader.^[54]^[55] With the college riven by conflicting views between students, faculty, and trustees, and enrollment hitting its lowest in years, Carnahan considered closing the university.^[54] Carnahan's successor, John Maclean Jr., who was only a professor at the time, recommended saving the university with the help of alumni; as a result, Princeton's alumni association, led by James Madison, was created and began raising funds.^[54]^[56] With Carnahan and Maclean, now vice-president, working as partners, enrollment and faculty increased, tensions decreased, and the college campus expanded.^[56] Maclean took over the presidency in 1854, and led the university through the American Civil War.^[57] When Nassau Hall burned down again in 1855,^[58] Maclean raised funds and used the money to rebuild Nassau Hall and run the university on an austerity budget during the war years.^[57] With a third of students from the college being from the South, enrollment fell.^[59] Once many of the Southerners left, the campus became a sharp proponent for the Union,^[60] even bestowing an honorary degree to President Lincoln.^[61]

James McCosh became the college's president in 1868, and lifted the institution out of a low period that had been brought about by the war.^[62] During his two decades of service, he overhauled the curriculum, oversaw an expansion of inquiry into the sciences, recruited distinguished faculty, and supervised the addition of a number of buildings in the High Victorian Gothic style to the campus.^[62]^[63] McCosh's tenure also saw the creation and rise of many extracurricular activities, like the Princeton Glee Club, the Triangle Club, the first intercollegiate football team, and the first permanent eating club,^[64] as well as the elimination of fraternities and sororities.^[65] In 1879, Princeton conferred its first doctorates on James F. Williamson and William Libby, both members of the Class of 1877.^[66]

Francis Patton took the presidency in 1888, and although his election was not met by unanimous enthusiasm, he was well received by undergraduates.^[67] Patton's administration was marked by great change, for Princeton's enrollment and faculty had doubled. At the same time, the college underwent large expansion and social life was changing in reflection of the rise in eating clubs and burgeoning interest in athletics.^[68] In 1893, the honor system was established, allowing for unproctored exams.^[69]^[70] In 1896, the college officially became a university,^[71] and as a result, it officially changed its name to Princeton University.^[72] In 1900, the Graduate School was formally established.^[71] Even with such accomplishments, Patton's administration remained lackluster with its administrative structure^[73] and towards its educational standards.^[69] Due to profile changes in the board of trustees and dissatisfaction with his administration, he was forced to resign in 1902.^[73]

20th century

Following Patton's resignation, Woodrow Wilson, an alumnus and popular professor, was elected the 13th president of the university.^[74]^[75] Noticing falling academic standards, Wilson orchestrated significant changes to the curriculum, where freshman and sophomores followed a unified curriculum while juniors and seniors concentrated study in one discipline.^[76] Ambitious seniors were allowed to undertake independent work, which would eventually shape Princeton's emphasis on the practice for the future.^[77] Wilson further reformed the educational system by introducing the preceptorial system in 1905,^[76] a then-unique concept in the United States that augmented the standard lecture method of teaching with a more personal form in which small groups of students, or precepts, could interact with a single instructor, or preceptor, in their field of interest.^[78] The changes brought about many new faculty and cemented Princeton's academics for the first half of the 20th century.^[79] Due to the tightening of academic standards, enrollment declined severely until 1907.^[76] In 1906, the reservoir Lake Carnegie was created by Andrew Carnegie,^[80] and the university officially became nonsectarian.^[81] Before leaving office, Wilson strengthened the science program to focus on "pure" research and broke the Presbyterian lock on the board of trustees.^[74]^[82] However, he did fail in winning support for the permanent location of the Graduate School and the elimination of the eating clubs, which he proposed replacing with quadrangles, a precursor to the residential college system.^[83] Wilson also continued to keep Princeton closed off from accepting Black students.^[84] When an aspiring Black student wrote a letter to Wilson, he got his secretary to reply telling him to attend a university where he would be more welcome.^[85]

John Grier Hibben became president in 1912, and would remain in the post for two decades.^[86] On October 2, 1913, the Princeton University Graduate College was dedicated.^[80] When the United States entered World War I in 1917, Hibben allocated all available University resources to the government. As a result, military training schools opened on campus and laboratories and other facilities were used for research and operational programs. Overall, more than 6,000 students served in the armed forces, with 151 dying during the war.^[87] After the war, enrollment spiked and the trustees established the system of selective admission in 1922.^[88] From the 1920s to the 1930s, the student body featured many students from preparatory schools, zero Black students, and dwindling Jewish enrollment because of quotas.^[89] Aside from managing Princeton during WWI, Hibben introduced the senior thesis in 1923 as a part of The New Plan of Study.^[90]^[91] He also brought about great expansion to the university, with the creation of the School of Architecture in 1919, the School of Engineering in 1921, and the School of Public and International Affairs in 1930.^[92] By the end of his presidency, the endowment had increased by 374 percent, the total area of the campus doubled, the faculty experienced impressive growth, and the enrollment doubled.^[93]^[91]

Hibben's successor, Harold Willis Dodds would lead the university through the Great Depression, World War II, and the Korean Conflict.^[94] With the Great Depression, many students were forced to withdraw due to financial reasons.^[95] At the same time, Princeton's reputation in physics and mathematics surged as many European scientists left for the United States due to uneasy tension caused by Nazi Germany.^[96] In 1930, the Institute for Advanced Study was founded to provide a space for the influx of scientists, such as Albert Einstein.^[97] Many Princeton scientists would work on the Manhattan Project during the war, ^[98] including the entire physics department.^[99] During World War II, Princeton offered an accelerated program for students to graduate early before entering the armed forces.^[100] Student enrollment fluctuated from month to month, and many faculty were forced to teach unfamiliar subjects. Still, Dodds maintained academic standards and would establish a program for servicemen, so they could resume their education once discharged.^[101]

1945 to present

The post-war years saw scholars renewing broken bonds through numerous conventions, expansion of the campus, and the introduction of distribution requirements.^[102]^[103] The period saw the desegregation of Princeton, which was stimulated by changes to the New Jersey constitution.^[104] Princeton began undertaking a sharper focus towards research in the years after the war, with the construction of Firestone Library in 1948 and the establishment of the Forrestal Research Center in the 1950s.^[105] Government sponsored research increased sharply, particularly in the physics and engineering departments,^[106] with much of it occurring at the new Forrestal campus.^[107] Though, as the years progressed, scientific research at the Forrestal campus declined, and in 1973, some of the land was converted to commercial and residential spaces.^[108]

Robert Goheen would succeed Dodds by unanimous vote and serve as president until 1972.^[109] Goheen's presidency was characterized as being more liberal than previous presidents, and his presidency would see a rise in Black applicants,^[110] as well as the eventual coeducation of the university in 1969.^[111] During this period of rising diversity, the Third World Center (now known as the Carl A. Fields Center) was dedicated in 1971.^[112] Goheen also oversaw great expansion for the university, with square footage increasing by 80 percentage.^[113]

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Princeton experienced unprecedented activism, with most of it centered on the Vietnam War.^[114]^[115] While Princeton activism initially remained relatively timid compared to other institutions,^[114] protests began to grow with the founding of a local chapter of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) in 1965, which organized many of the later Princeton protests.^[114] In 1966, the SDS gained prominence on campus following picketing against a speech by President Lyndon B. Johnson, which gained frontpage coverage by the New York Times.^[116]^[117] A notable point of contention on campus was the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA) and would feature multiple protests,^[114] some of which required police action.^[118] In 1967, SDS members and sympathizers beat the campus R.O.T.C. chapter in a game of touch football.^[119] As the years went on, the protests' agenda broadened to investments in South Africa, environmental issues, and women's rights.^[114]^[120] In response to these broadening protests, the Council of the Princeton University Community (CPUC) was founded to serve as a method for greater student voice in governance.^[121] Activism culminated in 1970 with a student, faculty, and staff member strike, so the university could become an "institution against expansion of the war."^[122]^{[lower-alpha 2]} Princeton's protests would taper off later that year, with The Daily Princetonian saying that, "Princeton 1970–71 was an emotionally burned out university."

In 1982, the residential college system was officially established under Goheen's successor William G. Bowen, who would serve until 1988.^[123]^[124] During his presidency, Princeton's endowment increased from $625 million to $2 billion, and a major fundraising drive known as "A Campaign for Princeton" was conducted.^[124] President Harold T. Shapiro would succeed Bowen and remain president until 2001. Shapiro would continue to increase the endowment, expand academic programs, raise student diversity, and oversee the most renovations in Princeton's history.^[125] One of Shapiro's initiatives was the formation of the multidisciplinary Princeton Environmental Institute in 1994, renamed the High Meadows Environmental Institute in 2020.^[126]^[127] In 2001, Princeton shifted the financial aid policy to a system that replaced all loans with grants.^[128] That same year, Princeton elected its first female president, Shirley M. Tilghman.^[129] Before retiring in 2012, Tilghman expanded financial aid offerings and conducted several major construction projects like the Lewis Center for the Arts and a sixth residential college.^[130] Tilghman also lead initiatives for more global programs, the creation of an office of sustainability, and investments into the sciences.^[131]

Princeton's 20th and current president, Christopher Eisgruber, was elected in 2013.^[132] In 2017, Princeton University unveiled a large-scale public history and digital humanities investigation into its historical involvement with slavery called the Princeton & Slavery Project. The project saw the publication of hundreds of primary sources, 80 scholarly essays, a scholarly conference, a series of short plays, and an art project.^[133] In April 2018, university trustees announced that they would name two public spaces for James Collins Johnson and Betsey Stockton, enslaved people who lived and worked on Princeton's campus and whose stories were publicized by the project.^[134] In 2019, large-scale student activism again entered the mainstream concerning the school's implementation of federal Title IX policy relating to campus sexual assault.^[135]^[136] The activism consisted of sit-ins in response to a student's disciplinary sentence.^[137]

In April 2024, students joined other campuses across the United States in protests and establishing encampments against the Israel–Hamas war and the alleged genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.^[138]^[139]^[140] The protestors called for divestment from Israel,^[141] started a hunger strike and were joined by faculty.^[142]^[143] The sit-in of Clio Hall led to arrests by police.^[144]^[141]^[145] Activism and protests continued in the new academic year starting September 2024 with administrators facing calls for resignation from faculty.^[146]^[147]

Coeducation

Princeton explicitly prohibited the admission of women from its founding in 1746 until 1969. Since it lacked an affiliated women's college, it was often referred to as a "monastery", both lovingly and derisively, by members of the Princeton community.^[148]^[149] For about a decade, from 1887 to 1897, nearby Evelyn College for Women was largely composed of daughters of professors and sisters of Princeton undergraduates. While no legal connection existed, many Princeton professors taught there and several Princeton administrators, such as Francis Patton, were on its board of trustees. It closed in 1897 following the death of its founder, Joshua McIlvaine.^[150]

In 1947, three female members of the library staff enrolled in beginning Russian courses to deal with an increase in Russian literature in the library.^[111] In 1961, Princeton admitted its first female graduate student, Sabra Follett Meservey,^[148] who would go on to be the first woman to earn a master's degree at Princeton.^[111] Meservey was, at the time of her admission, already a member of the faculty at Douglass College within Princeton. The dean of the graduate school issued a statement clarifying that Meservey's admission was an exception, and that "Princeton may permit other women in the future as special cases, but does not plan to make general admissions of women graduate students."^[151] The student-run Daily Princetonian ran four articles about Meservey in one issue,^[151]^[152]^[153]^[154] including an editorial lamenting the potential "far reaching implications" of Meservey's admission which concluded: "Princeton is unique as an undergraduate men's college and must remain so."^[154] Eight more women enrolled the following year in the Graduate School.^[148] In 1964, T'sai-ying Cheng became the first woman at Princeton to receive a Ph.D. In 1963, five women came to Princeton for one year to study "critical languages" as undergraduates, but were not candidates for a Princeton degree.^[111] Following abortive discussions with Sarah Lawrence College to relocate the women's college to Princeton and merge it with the university in 1967,^[155] the administration commissioned a report on admitting women. The final report was issued in January 1969, supporting the idea.^[111] That same month, Princeton's trustees voted 24–8 in favor of coeducation and began preparing the institution for the transition.^[156] The university finished these plans in April 1969 and announced there would be coeducation in September.^[157] Ultimately, 101 female freshman and 70 female transfer students enrolled at Princeton in September 1969.^[158]^[157]^{[lower-alpha 3]} Those admitted were housed in Pyne Hall, a fairly isolated dormitory; a security system was added, although the women deliberately broke it within a day.^[160]

In 1971, Mary St. John Douglas and Susan Savage Speers became the first female trustees,^[111] and in 1974, quotas for men and women were eliminated.^[161] Following a 1979 lawsuit, the eating clubs were required to go coeducational in 1991, after an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court was denied.^[162] In 2001, Princeton elected its first female president.^[129]