In a recent press release, the University announced its intention to rename 36 University Place in honor of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor ’76. Located at the northwest corner of Blair Courtyard, the building is best known among students as the site of the on-campus University Store.
“I’m curious to see why that building in particular was chosen,” Eleanor Hawkins ’28 said in an interview with the Daily Princetonian, reflecting current students’ association of 36 University Place with the U-Store, where students can purchase everyday items.
However, 36 University Place is also home to the Emma Bloomberg Center for Access and Opportunity, the Center for Career Development, and the Admission Information Center, where Orange Key Tours begin and information sessions are held. Due to this role, it is one of the University’s most public-facing buildings, and for many, marks the first space on Princeton’s campus that prospective students, their families, and other visitors see.
The March 11 press release notes the building’s diversity of roles as a “site of programs that support first-generation college, lower-income, transfer, and veteran students.” Sotomayor’s selection as an honoree was made with these programs, and their missions in mind, based on recommendations from the Council of the Princeton University Community (CPUC) Committee on Naming.
University President Christopher L. Eisgruber ’83 called Justice Sotomayor a “trailblazing student” and an “extraordinary jurist” in a University statement announcing the renaming. She has served as an Associate Justice since 2009 — the first justice of Hispanic heritage and the third woman in Supreme Court history. She is also a former University trustee. In her time as an undergraduate at Princeton, Justice Sotomayor was a co-chair of the student group Acción Puertorriqueña y Amigos, a member of the student-faculty Committee on Discipline, and served on the governance board of the Third World Center.
According to their webpage, CPUC Committee on Naming provides “advice to the Board of Trustees with regard to the naming of programs, positions and spaces at Princeton.” Recent work from the committee includes the 2022 rededication of Marx Hall to honor Laura Wooten, who served in Campus Dining for more than 27 years and was recognized as the longest-serving poll worker in the US. The committee also recently studied the removal or relocation of the statue of John Witherspoon, although the Board of Trustees declined to alter the statue on the basis of Witherspoon’s views on slavery or ownership of enslaved people.
The building is currently undergoing minor changes. University Spokesperson Jennifer Morrill said that new signage and a dedicatory plaque will be added to the building.
Additional changes include “improvements to the bluestone entry plaza and replacement of the canopy fascia,” Morrill wrote in a statement to the ‘Prince.’ This work will be completed over the next few weeks. Currently, the campus-facing entrance to the University Store is closed, and the doors opening to University Place and the Admission Information Center are the only points of entry, meaning students must often walk around the building to purchase food, toiletries, and other products.
Diya Kraybill ’25, Editor-in-Chief of the Princeton Legal Journal, wrote to the ‘Prince’ about her excitement for the renaming of 36 University Place. “Justice Sotomayor is an incredible example to all Princeton students, but particularly students interested in pursuing a legal career,” she wrote.
For other students, however, the specific choice of building was surprising.
“I think that she could probably get a better building,” Ella Anderton ’28 told the ‘Prince.’ “Of all the buildings, it is kind of strange they picked the U-Store.”
Beatrice Cassidy ’28 also acknowledged Sotomayor’s influence on American politics and felt that it was time for more buildings to be named after her. She described the selection of 36 University Place as “a bit random.”
Regardless, many students see Sotomayor’s name as a powerful reminder of Sotomayor’s successful career after Princeton.
“I believe the naming of Sonia Sotomayor Hall will serve as a powerful reminder to students of Justice Sotomayor’s career as a truth-seeker and advocate for justice, and the role that Princeton played in shaping her path to the highest court in the land,” Kraybill said.
Tess Weinreich is a senior News writer for the ‘Prince’ from Washington, D.C. She typically covers University operations. She was formerly a Managing Editor for the ‘Prince’.
Devon Rudolph is an associate News editor and staff Sports writer for the ‘Prince.’
Please direct any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com
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