By April C. Armstrong *14

In this week’s installment in our recurring series, a writer notes the “astonishing” crowds at a recent event, students are signing up for a new volunteer opportunity, and more.

December 2, 1846—Arguing that exposure to the practice of enslaving people results in depraved youth, a writer in Boston’s Zion’s Herald and Wesleyan Journal argues that the unrest at southern campuses like the University of Virginia may be directly attributed to this, especially as northern colleges are largely free of riots and violence.

There is not more than one exception to this broad and glaring contrast, and it is presented by Princeton College—if, indeed, the State in which it is located can be properly classed as a wholly free State.

The writer says Princeton has many Southern students, which explains the campus violence, dubbing them “a band of colorphobic rowdies.”

December 4, 1905—Someone sends a postcard from Princeton noting, “You should have been here on the 2nd. We never had such thousands. It was astonishing.” The card refers to the Army-Navy football game, which drew Theodore Roosevelt along with about 22,000 other spectators to campus.

December 5, 1890—The Provost of the University of Pennsylvania has found a tuition account book from the College of New Jersey dated 1753-1758 and has returned it to Princeton.

December 8, 1965—At least 20 Princeton undergraduates have applied to the Princeton Freedom Center to volunteer for “Freedom Christmas,” a project that seeks to register African Americans to vote in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and North and South Carolina.

For the previous installment in this series, click here.

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