Princeton University

Princeton University
Princeton University Coat of Arms
Motto Dei sub numine viget
(Under God's power she flourishes)
Established 1746
School type Private
President Shirley M. Tilghman
Location Princeton, New Jersey, USA
Campus Suburban, 500 acres (2 km²)
(Princeton Borough and Township)
Enrollment 4,635 undergraduate,
1,975 graduate
Faculty 1,103
Athletics 38 sports teams
Homepage www.princeton.edu

Princeton University, located in Princeton, New Jersey, is one of the eight Ivy League universities. Widely considered one of the world's most prestigious universities, it was founded as the "College of New Jersey" in 1746, and was originally located in Elizabeth, New Jersey. The school moved to Princeton in 1756, still under its original name. The name was officially changed to "Princeton University" in 1896. While originally a Presbyterian institution, the university is now non-sectarian and makes no religious demands on its students.

Contents

About Princeton

The university offers two main undergraduate degrees: the bachelor of arts (A.B.) and the bachelor of science in engineering (B.S.E.). Courses in the humanities are traditionally either seminars or twice-weekly lectures with an additional discussion seminar, called a "precept" (short for "preceptorial"). This system was instituted by Woodrow Wilson, when he served as university president. To graduate, all A.B. candidates must complete a senior thesis and one or two extensive pieces of independent research, known as "junior papers" or "JPs". They must also fulfill a 2-semester foreign language requirement. B.S.E candidates follow a different track that includes a rigorous science and math curriculum and at least two semesters of independent research.

Princeton offers postgraduate research degrees (most notably the Ph.D.), but it does not have the extensive range of professional postgraduate schools of many other universities - for example, there is no law or business school. Its most famous professional school is the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, founded in 1930 as the School of Public and International Affairs and renamed in 1948. The university also offers graduate degrees in engineering and architecture.

The university's libraries have 11 million holdings, and the main university library, Firestone Library, houses over six million volumes. In addition to Firestone Library, many individual disciplines have their own libraries, including architecture, art history, East Asian studies, engineering, geology, international affairs and public policy, and Near Eastern studies. Traditionally, each senior is given an enclosed carrel in the library for private use and the storage of books and research materials.

Students at Princeton University agree to conform to an academic honesty policy called the Honor Code. This requires students to write a pledge on all written assignments which asserts that they have neither plagiarized their work nor committed any other breach of ethics. Signing the pledge indicates the understanding of the "two-fold responsibility" of the code: to observe the code oneself, and to report possible violations of other students. As a result of this code, students take all tests unsupervised by faculty members. Violations of the Honor Code incur the strongest of disciplinary action, including suspension and often expulsion. Impressively, such action is rarely needed despite the absence of test supervision.

Nassau Hall

Nassau Hall, the University's oldest building. Note the tiger sculptures beside the steps.

The campus, located on 2 km² of lavishly landscaped grounds, features a large number of gothic-style buildings, most dating from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The main university administration building, Nassau Hall, was built in 1756 and briefly served as the United States Capitol in 1783. Contemporary additions to the campus feature some more modern architecture, including buildings by Robert Venturi and the Hillier Group, and new buildings by Demetri Porphyrios and Frank Gehry. Much sculpture adorns the campus, including pieces by Henry Moore (Oval with Points, also nicknamed "Nixon's Nose"), Clement Meadmoore (Upstart II), and Alexander Calder (Five Disks: One Empty). At the base of campus is the Delaware and Raritan Canal, dating from 1830, and Lake Carnegie, used for rowing.

Princeton is among the wealthiest universities in the world, with an endowment of almost ten billion US dollars sustained through the continued donations of its alumni and maintained by expert investment advisors. Some of Princeton's wealth is invested in its impressive art museum, which features works by Monet and Andy Warhol, among other prominent artists.

Most of the student body lives on campus in dormitories. Freshmen and sophomores live in residential colleges. Later-year students have the option to live off-campus, but few do, as rents and real estate in the Princeton area are extremely high. Undergraduate social life revolves around a number of coeducational "eating clubs" which are open to upperclassmen and serve a similar role to that which fraternities and sororities do at other campuses.

Admission is extremely competitive, and according to The Atlantic Monthly, it is the second most selective college in the United States, after MIT. Princeton has a "need-blind" admission policy, in which students are accepted into the incoming class on merit, regardless of their ability to pay the high tutition fees. Unlike other universities which ask students to take on the heavy burden of student loans, Princeton simply pays the remainder of costs the student's family cannot afford through grants from its endowment. Princeton was the first university to implement such a "no-loan" financial aid policy in 2001. Despite these policies, Princeton's student body, as a group, is generally regarded as more culturally conservative or traditional than the student bodies of peer institutions. However, most students have voted Democratic in presidential elections.

In 1869 Princeton competed with Rutgers in the first ever intercollegiate football game, losing 6 to 4. Its rivalry with Yale, active since 1873, is the second oldest in American football. In more recent years, Princeton has excelled in men's basketball, both men's and women's lacrosse, and women's crew.

Shirley Tilghman is the current president of Princeton University.

Famous alumni and faculty

Famous Princeton faculty members or alumni:

Elected politicians

Government / Law / Public policy

Business

Economics

Mathematics/Science

Engineering/Technology

Literature

Sports

Entertainment

Other

Traditions

  • Bonfire - ceremonial bonfire only held if Princeton beats Harvard and Yale at football in the same season
  • The Clapper or Clapper Theft - climbing to the top of Nassau Hall and stealing the bell clapper so as to prevent the bell from ringing and, thus, from starting class on the first day of the school year. For safety reasons, the clapper has now been removed permanently.
  • Dean's Date Theater - tradition of gathering late in the afternoon on Dean's Date (see below under "Lingo") outside McCosh Hall, a large classroom complex in the middle of campus and home of the English department, to watch other students run to hand in their papers before the final deadline. Said students then join their peers to watch others, some of whom perform cartwheels and other antics (if they are not running too late) and enjoy snacks and soda
  • Lawnparties - parties with live bands thrown simultaneously by all of the eating clubs at the start of classes
  • Houseparties - formal parties thrown simultaneously by all of the eating clubs at the end of the spring term
  • Nude Olympics - annual frolic in first snow of the winter (now banned)
  • Cane Spree - an athletic competition between freshmen and sophomores held in the fall
  • P-rade - parade of all alumni down the center of campus during reunions
  • Reunions - annual gathering of all alumni, not just major reunion classes
  • Steam-tunneling - exploring the many underground steam tunnels (now banned)
  • Newman's Day - students attempt to drink 24 beers in the 24 hours of April 24th, named after Paul Newman (now severely subdued due to extreme media attention in 2004 after Newman's lawyer sent a letter to the New York Times)

Old Nassau

This phrase can refer to:

  • Old Nassau, Princeton's alma mater since 1859, with words by then-freshman Harlan Page Peck and music by Karl A. Langlotz. The words of the first verse are:
Tune every heart and every voice,
Bid every care withdraw;
Let all with one accord rejoice,
In praise of Old Nassau.
In praise of Old Nassau we sing,
Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!
Our hearts will give while we shall live,
Three cheers for Old Nassau.
  • By extension, Princeton University itself.
  • Nassau Hall, to which the song refers, built in 1756 and named after William III, King of England, Prince of Orange and Nassau. When built, it was the largest college building in North America. It served briefly as the capitol of the United States when the Continental Congress convened there in the summer of 1783.
  • A chemical reaction, an example of a "clock reaction," dubbed "Old Nassau" because the solution turns first orange and then black, the Princeton colors. It is also known as the "Hallowe'en reaction."

Lingo

  • Arch Sing - student a cappella concert under one of Princeton's gothic arches
  • Bicker - the process by which students join selective eating clubs, similar to fraternity/sorority rush at other schools
  • Dean's Date - day at the end of each semester, before the start of the exam period, when all final papers and other written work must be handed in by students (see also "Dean's Date Theater" above in the "Traditions" section)
  • Dinky - Short (one- or two- car) train that runs from Princeton Junction to Princeton station
  • Getting PMC'ed - when a student is hospitalized for drinking too much alcohol. In this case, a student is deemed too drunk to be treated by McCosh (the university infirmary) and is instead transferred to Princeton Medical Center
  • Hose - As a transitive verb, to be rejected from a selective organization, e.g., in eating club bicker, interviews for selective courses, etc.
  • Late meal - Refers to the meals that can be redeemed in exchange for meals missed in the residential dining halls. A student receives credit to buy food in the dining area of the Frist Campus Center
  • Locomotive - Distinctive Princeton cheer... "'rah, 'rah, 'rah, tiger, tiger, tiger, sis, sis, sis, boom boom boom ahhhhhhh. Princeton. Princeton. Princeton". (It's common to replace "Princeton" with a class year to toast a particular class.)
  • Old Nassau - see above
  • Reading Period - 2 week study period between the end of classes and the beginning of exams in January and May
  • The Street - Prospect Avenue, home of the eating clubs
  • The Wa - The local Wawa convenience store and food market
  • Woody Woo - Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs

In fiction

The movie A Beautiful Mind from 2002 takes place at Princeton University, and contains great location shots.

The movie I.Q., starring Walter Matthau as Einstein

External links


Ivy League: Brown University | Columbia University | Cornell University | Dartmouth College
Harvard University | University of Pennsylvania | Princeton University | Yale University 		Ivy League

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