In 1907 President Woodrow Wilson submitted to Princeton's Board of Trustees his famous Quadrangle plan which proposed the abolition of the eating clubs quadrangle plan which proposed the abolition of the eating clubs and the establishment of residential quadrangles for undergraduates, a resident master, and preceptors. The trustees greeted the proposals enthusiastically. Their passage seemed virtually assured until the alumni spoke out. Traditionally a powerful voice in Princeton affairs, they objected to ending the club system and generally to raising the necessary $2,000,000. Wilson took his campaign for the "quads" across the country, but to no avail. The trustees bowed to the alumni objections and shelved the plan

This fall, nearly half a century later, Nassau Hall regrets Wilson's defeat and watches with some envy the successful house and college plans of its must cope with academic and social problems which these visionary proposals might have eliminated.

A New Undergraduate

The most outstanding of these problems is a new Princeton undergraduate. No longer does he represent the eastern, upperclass graduates of private preparatory schools, but a broad, heterogeneous group drawn from the entire nation. Princeton's problem is fitting; this new type of student into a traditional club system in a small, closely-knit undergraduate community, whose most distinctive feature is its self-contained insularity.

Until the last decade Princeton has felt its residential college and educational environment fitted its undergraduates as well if not better than the most successful house plan. After all, Harvard and Yale had more students and stood in the midst of bustling cities. What need had Princeton to divide its compact undergraduate life when everyone lived five minutes walk from everyone else on a green, tree-covered campus?

With modifications this is still Princeton's theory. But it must be applied to students who are accustomed to their own car at home, to frequent dating, and who come to Princeton after positions of leadership in school. In the 1930's over 80 percent of its undergraduates came from private schools. Today the percent has dropped to almost 50.

At college these men find they are somewhat restricted to the campus. They notice that the upperclass years in the clubs are socially better than freshman and sophomore years. And they see that this social difference has been partially carried over into the curriculum, where they spend two rather directionless years building a broad educational base for upperclass concentration.

Twenty-five years ago no complained about these divisions since the majority of the undergraduates came from similar backgrounds and did similar things. But today they have become official headaches. Building a house system as a solution would be a $10,000,000 project which Dean of Students William Lippincott calls a bout as realistic as pressing a $10,000,000 button on a slot machine.

Nassau Hall feels it must find a more practical solution. This will probably be the New Chandler Green student center which officially opened this fall. In this converted library Princeton hopes it has part of the answer to its underclass problem. Not allowed in clubs until their junior year, the underclassmen have had no place to entertain guests or cat with the faculty on the campus. This center with its restaurant, recreation room, and lounging alcoves was completed this fall for just this purpose.

Nassau Hall hopes its importance will carry beyond merely providing social focus for freshmen and sophomores. "We hope it will provide a better educational environment for all our hope it will provide a better educational environment for all our undergraduates," Dean of the College Francis R. B. Godolphin explains. "We hope the new center will help fuzz the social line between sophomores and juniors. We want our professors and students to consider it a convenient place to hold their precepts."

The President's Committee

Princeton considers this a significant step toward catering to its new undergraduate without reverting to any form of house plan. But for the visionary this is too limited a solution. Dean Godolphin is one of the first to point out that Princeton must make of other adjustments. As he puts it, "The old men's college just isn't what it used to be Our concept of a traditional men's education is undergoing some radical changes. We're having to reorient our thinking."

Part of this reorientation will undoubtedly come from the fifteen-man President's Committee to Study the Undergraduate Years. This group of four deans and 11 faculty members, plus President Dodds, began work this fall and plans to report late next year. In many respects their work resembles that of Yale's Committee on General Education, which published its controversial plan A and plan B a year ago, although the committee's final report will probably be less revolutionary.

The group plans to investigate all phases of undergraduate life, ranging from underclass curriculum, admissions, and the dormitory system, to perennial undergraduate gripes over parietal rules, compulsory chapel, and the car ban. These rules have gotten a "new look" for years, but in its present frame of mind, the University wants assurances that they are sound.

For the moment, the faculty is soled on the upperclass curriculum. It consists of beginning concentration in the Junior year. This is different from Harvard, where concentration begins a year earlier. As a junior a candidate for the A.B. degree must write at least one 7-10,000 word paper in his major. This comes in addition to a senior these is which is required from every man in order to graduate. At Princeton the faculty does not distinguish between honors and non-honors candidates.