Amidst its hallowed scenery of wrought iron gates, crawling dark green ivy and Gothic halls adorned by little orange and black seals. Princeton University upperclassmen returned last fall to find the pristine center campus quiet and unchanged from generations past. But on the outskirts of Princeton's territory, underclassmen wake each day to clamoring sounds from campus renovation and construction, as the school's new residential college system gets under way.

After five years of intense planning, which involved a good deal of student politicking. Princeton has decided to address a long-standing disorganization in its housing system. This year marks the start of a two-year transition period when new dorms will be built, older ones renovated, and all students forced to adapt to a complicated new system for allocating rooms.

The idea of a residential college system--a synthesis of housing plans at Harvard and Yale--has been incubating in Princeton's administrative womb as far back as Woodrow Wilson's day, when the university's president envisioned a less elite alternative to the entirely selective "eating club" system. However, the idea transformed itself over the years into something much different. The new arrangement affects only freshmen and sophomores and will leave the eating clubs unscathed.

Developed by the Committee on Undergraduate Residential Life (CURL). Princeton's residential college system went through many rough drafts before construction finally began last year on five underclass "complexes"--Butler. Madison, Mathey, Rockefeller, and Wilson--each of which provides an assortment of recreation or t.v. common rooms. The five colleges were formed around clusters of existing dorms which have a dining hall centrally located. The system will eventually house all freshmen and sophomores, but only the freshman class was initiated into the program last fall. Dean of Student Affairs Andy Brown said he thought the CURL plan had been implemented smoothly, but "that's not to say we don't have some growing pains."

Growing Pains

The growing pains seem to have afflicted sophomores rather than the freshmen, who were "guinea pigs" for the project. "Our class got completely hosed," said sophomore John Buckner. Buckner explained that as freshmen, the class of 1985 lived in the least prioritized rooms on campus last year. Then upon becoming sophomores, they were not included in the first phase of the new system, so they once again had last draw of available campus-wide housing. "We were offered less room choices so that the incoming freshmen could be evenly distributed throughout the college system," lamented Buckner. Since juniors move out of the residential college system and into the center campus dorms under the new system, the class of 1985 will have the last crack at these dorms as well. Meanwhile, the class of '86 will benefit again, getting the first choice at rooms in the five new colleges.

Even though the CURL plan has thrown a wrench into the administrative cogwheel at Princeton, most students were unfazed by the changes and went on about their business. Campus-wide issues at Princeton don't attract the excitement and fury they do at Harvard. This year has been especially quiet and was termed "depoliticized" by one frustrated activist and "almost dull" by Andy Brown, who graduated from Princeton' at the height of student turbulence in the 1960s. "It's a little discouraging, actually, that this year has been so quiet," said Brown.

But certain issues, such as El Salvador last year, do catch fire at Old Nassau. This year a group called the Princeton Alliance to Reverse the Arms Race (PARAR) has collected nearly 2000 signatures on a petition asking Princeton's corporate body to endorse a nuclear freeze between the United States and the Soviet Union. "It's a pretty broad-based movement," said David Ulansey, a graduate student and member of PARAR's leadership. While the administration rejected the proposal, saying the university has a policy not to take political stances, the group will have a campuswide referendum on their resolve May 13. Ulansey said he believes the campus will one day become the political haven it was 15 years ago. "The sixties were just a dress rehearsal for what's coming," he said.

Race Relations

While PARAR is currently the most visible organization on campus, race relations is a more permanent issue at Princeton: one student described the university as having a "polarized society." "Race relations here are like they are in general society," said sophomore Mike Barney, a member of the Organization for Black Unity (OBU), the Black students' group at Princeton. The issue drew such attention last year that the administration formed a Race Relations Committee of student leaders to examine the problem.

Brown said action taken on the subject is "mostly talking," but mentioned a summer program for minority students. "There's an effort being made to make sure they have a better sense of the institution as a whole, rather than just the institutions here which related directly to Third World students," said Brown.

Barney said he felt that much of the problem derives from higher student expectations about the academic institution as compared to the outside world. Another Black student said she felt an additional problem is that many Blacks come to Princeton after hearing about the race problem and react more quickly to it.

Eating Clubs

During the second semester of a student's sophomore year, be or she must decide where to eat as a junior. Students have the option of "going independent," as many minorities do, or joining one of the highly profiled Princeton eating clubs. Of the dozen or so clubs, only five remain selective--Ivy Club, Cap and Gown, Tiger Inn, Cottage and Tower--which one can join through the traditional "Bicker" process, similar to punching season for Harvard finals clubs. One can also join a nonselective "open" club through a lottery system and waiting list.

While the enthusiasm behind the club system apparently remains strong, many clubs, especially the nonselective ones, suffer from precarious economic states when they do not fill their quota of members. "The open clubs have the hardest time because they are susceptible to last minute "pull-outs," and get greater variance than the selective clubs," said Wister Wood, president of Cap and Gown, a co-ed selective club. At one point in CURL's development, the college extended an open invitation to the eating clubs to become financially supported by the university. "Essentially, they wanted to buy the clubs out, which would put them in power," said Wood. But the clubs spurned the administration's helping hand and chose to remain autonomous.

Party

Because the clubs throw their own parties, they form the nucleus of most members' social lives. When New Jersey raised its drinking age this year from 19 to 21, clubs were some what disrupted by the new law. While the clubs with liquor licenses had to hand them in last week, most upperclass students and a fair number of freshmen who were already legal escaped the new regulation by virtue of a "grandfather clause."

Many students said they do not think the law will cut down on alcohol consumption at Princeton, although in future the underage drinkers may have to revert to their tried and true high school methods for obtaining booze.

Because the clubs are such an integral part of many students' social lives. Princeton still echoes with vestiges of the cosmopolitan lifestyle of F Scott Fitzgerald and the flapper generation. But those images emanate from the design of Princeton itself. The sturdy elms which line and shade the streets and the row of terraced clubs down Prospect Avenue realfirm the traditional images of Old Nassau However, students say Fitzgerald's carefree mixture of youth and affluence appears rarely in their experiences as Princeton undergraduates, in part because they simply do not have the time. "We work awfully hard," said senior Kathy Levy Unlike other schools where the workload might taper off in the senior year. Princeton's academic demands become significantly heavier in the junior and senior years. All students, except a few engineers, are required to write two junior papers, or "J.P's," and do a thesis in their senior year

Today, as one strolls along the gray slate walk ways which randomly pattern the lush green grass. Princeton seems as steeped in custom and tradition as its reputation testifies. There are lew lively protests and no noticeable banners bearing the slogans of activist groups. The campus remains stable and calm. However, the residential college system, a new drinking law, and lingering barriers apparent to minorities have yet to make their full impact on the Princeton campus. In four years the scene might be entirely different