Princeton University is tiptoeing toward canceling its greatest president and a founder of our nation in a process that its trustees and president Christopher Eisgruber accelerated on October 2 by announcing that they would leave the statue of John Witherspoon in its prominent place on Firestone Plaza — but probably only for now. The issue has been punted to the “Campus Art Steering Committee” to decide whether the statue should be moved, or removed.
Witherspoon — a Presbyterian minister, scholar in Scotland, and signer of the Declaration of Independence — was recruited to become Princeton University’s sixth president in 1768 and served until his death in 1794, rescuing the university from possible bankruptcy while tutoring Princeton student James Madison as well as freed slaves. He was also a member of the Continental Congress.
Comments