Princeton, Woodrow Wilson, and the Legacy of Forebears

Some elite colleges and universities go back to the days of segregation and even slavery. Now students are demanding they at least acknowledge the racist past.

President Woodrow Wilson

Photo: Harris & Ewing Collection, Library of Congress

"Segregation is not humiliating, but a benefit, and ought to be so regarded by you." Those are the words of President Woodrow Wilson, now posted by the Black Justice League at Princeton University. Wilson is central to Princeton’s identity, but the League wants it to erase his name from the prestigious Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and a residential complex called Wilson College. Geoffrey Stone, professor at the University of Chicago Law School and a former University Provost, says that universities are put in a difficult position.