University President Christoper L. Eisgruber ’83 discussed his annual letter to the community, campus expansion, combating mental health issues, and the University’s renewed focus on diversity at the first Council of the Princeton University Community (CPUC) meeting of 2023.
President’s Annual Letter to the Community recap
Eisgruber reviewed the content of his Annual Letter to the Community, highlighting his comments on University expansion, mental health, and affirmative action.
He emphasized that the Class of 2026 is the largest incoming class in Princeton’s recent history, stating that more students enrolled than the University had intended or anticipated. The University’s target was a class of 1,425 students, and 1,500 admitted students decided to matriculate. While noting that the University is “fantastically happy” to have more students, he clarified that the admissions deans aim to avoid classes of this size in the immediate future.
“We cannot be admitting 1,500 students a year going forward,” he said.
Shifting to discussion of current students, Eisgruber stated that the University needed to focus on combating distraction, citing cell phones as a direct cause.
“We literally want people to get lost in thought. And that’s hard … when you are constantly dealing with distraction,” he said. “What we do now is to carry with us, in our pockets, devices that are constantly tempting us to think about something other than what we might be focusing on.”
While displaying images of young adults using their phones while crossing a street and hanging out with each other, he suggested that cell phones were detrimental to being “mentally healthy and mentally well.” He added that he hopes “students, faculty, and others will come up with proposals and initiatives that speak to the deeper issues in our society that are signified by these images.”
Eisgruber also commented on the expansion of the University’s transfer program, highlighting the recent success of Sachs scholarship recipient and transfer student Shaun Cason ’23, before briefly discussing the recent DEI report. Regarding the report, he stated, “It provides us a way both to hold us accountable to our commitments and to see where it is we have made progress.”
He mentioned the pending Supreme Court decisions, which could threaten Princeton’s use of race as a factor in admissions but emphasized the University’s commitment to diversity.
“We believe that the diversity we have achieved on this campus is essential to the excellence of this campus and the excellence of this country.”
Updates to the University policy on discrimination
University Provost Deborah A. Prentice announced that the CPUC Executive Committee had previously reviewed changes to the University’s policy on discrimination and harassment that were “not substantive at all.” While Prentice did not describe what the changes to the policy are, she expressed that the policy was reviewed for clarification purposes.
Campus expansion
During the Q&A portion of the meeting, Undergraduate Student Government (USG) president Stephen Daniels ’24 asked, “What is the plan to further assess the impact of campus expansion on students?”
Eisgruber replied, describing how the University is focused on looking at how it is meeting student needs: “Figuring out exactly how to assess that can be complicated … Sometimes, you’re standing in a [dining hall] line that is longer than you would want it to be … What that is achieving at the same time is enabling students who otherwise wouldn’t have had a Princeton experience at all … to be on the campus.”
In regards to construction, U-Councilor Genevieve Shutt ’26 asked, “Are there any plans in the coming future as construction continues … to increase the time between class changes?”
Deputy Dean of the College Elizabeth L. Colagiuri answered by outlining the work of the Faculty Committee on Classroom and Schedule in collaboration with the Registrar’s Office. “[The committee] is just on the verge of taking out two proposals to the broader campus to stress-test them, socialize them, get feedback, and test the possibility of a 15-minute passing time or a 20-minute passing time,” she said. “Each would have pros and cons.”
University staff concerns
Also during the Q&A portion of the meeting, Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA) co-chair Bryce Springfield ’25 stated that a number of Princeton service employees expressed concerns to YDSA that wages are lagging behind the cost of living increases.
Springfield asked, “Will the University commit to establishing annual cost of living adjustments for all positions as a minimum, while continuing to provide additional performance raises for those who demonstrate exceptional performance?”
Eisgruber responded, “Your question packed in a bunch of assertions that I don’t think are fully accurate … We just did, for example, a 2.5 percent increase for most of our staff at this University, which was not part of the annual merit pools … The union contracts are negotiated separately from that.”
Vice President of Human Resources Romy Riddick added, “Part of what we also did was look at minimums within the service workers … we had two increases to [the] minimum over the last year as well … We are paying very close attention to the salaries and making market adjustments.”
U-Councilor Daniel Shaw ’25 also asked for an update regarding the faculty committee for institutional neutrality and free speech, which were last mentioned at a November CPUC meeting.
Eisgruber replied, “That committee … is continuing to collect information from other faculty members and other constituencies around the University, which I think is a good way for it to be proceeding.” He stated that a report is under the works of the Committee, though it may not be out soon, adding, “On something like this, getting it right is more important than having a particular deadline.”
The meeting was held on Monday, Feb. 20 at 4:30 p.m. in the Frist Campus Center’s Multipurpose Room. CPUC’s next meeting will occur on Monday, March 27 from 4:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. in the same location and is open to all University community members.
Olivia Sanchez is a news contributor for the ‘Prince.’
Please direct all corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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