In this week’s installment of our recurring series bringing you the history of Princeton University and its faculty, students, and alumni, frustrations arise from confiscated toasters and banned bicycles, Southerners celebrate Robert E. Lee’s birthday, and more.

January 14, 1998—Graduate student Kieran Healy *01’s “The Grinch Who Stole Breakfast” complains of a Christmas present being confiscated by overzealous dormitory inspectors, although he does not live in a dorm, because the unopened toaster was against rules prohibiting heat-producing appliances in campus housing. “My house has a six-ring Viking Professional gas stove in it, so why didn’t they confiscate that as well?”

January 15, 1974—Brendan Byrne ’49 is sworn in as New Jersey’s 47^th governor.

January 16, 1880—Students are frustrated by a new ban on bicycles in town.

January 19, 1939—Princetonians from the South are celebrating the anniversary of Robert E. Lee’s birthday and have hoisted the Confederate flag up the poles of Little and Guyot Halls. The Daily Princetonian reports, “The display is a natural outgrowth of Princeton’s strong Southern tradition, which was only jarred briefly by the ‘late misunderstanding’ between the states.”

For the previous installment in this series, click here.

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