In this week’s installment of our recurring series bringing you the history of Princeton University and its faculty, students, and alumni, a member of the Class of 1945 survives a bombing in France, the Prince responds to proposed limits on enrollment, and more.

May 25, 1940—Pierre Soesman ’45, who fled Belgium earlier this month, survives a terrifying German bomber attack on the road from Paris to Angers. He will later write of the experience, “When they left, we did not move from the ditch for more than five minutes. Finally, people began to get up, laughing in hysteria.”

May 26, 1921—The Daily Princetonian responds to the news that Princeton will begin limiting enrollment for the first time by kicking off an editorial series urging a holistic approach to admissions decisions rather than one based entirely on test scores.

May 27, 1881—An editorial in the Princetonian lambastes Columbia’s Acta for a tasteless joke about the typhoid epidemic that killed 10 Princeton students a year before.

May 30, 1872—A mass meeting attempts to solve the problem of “Shenanigaging,” i.e. cheating in exams. Students at the meeting vote to condemn both cheaters and those who witness cheating but do nothing to stop it, but do not establish a formal system to prevent it.

For the previous installment in this series, click here.

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