The Princeton Battlefield Society (PBS), in a statement released last week, continued to accuse the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) of “flagrant disregard” for the “widespread and longstanding public opposition” to its plans to build 15 faculty housing units on a seven-acre tract at the edge of the battlefield.

Institute Director of Communications Christine Ferrara stated, “the project continues to move ahead, as we have all the necessary regulatory approvals to proceed. As we have stated previously, the plan as configured addresses the concerns raised by the opposition, and will be adding 14 acres of open space adjacent to the current Battlefield State Park.”

IAS, currently seeking bids for construction, has devoted a section of its websitewww.ias.edu to Preservation and Faculty Housing, where it outlines the development and adaptation of its housing project in the light of preservation issues. An April 2016 letter on the website from Institute Director Robbert Dijkgraaf claimed that the PBS, along with the Save Princeton Coalition of allied historic and conservation organizations, has waged a PR campaign to repeat misstatements that have been unequivocally rejected by the courts.

Mr. Dijkgraaf in his letter noted that the Institute incorporated extensive changes to the faculty housing plans in response to concerns of the public, including: “moving the project further away from the Park; adjusting the profiles and materials of the housing units; and enhancing the landscaped screen between the site and the Park.”

Last week’s statement by PBS claimed that the housing project would ”wreak havoc on historic Maxwell’s field, the site where George Washington charged to victory during the January 3, 1777 Battle of Princeton.”

The Battlefield Society cited public opposition from fellow members of the Princeton Coalition and in the form of a recent Philadelphia Inquirer editorial, earlier editorials in The Times of Trenton and The Daily Princetonian, as well as opinion pieces from state legislators and others.

The Battlefield Society continues to seek a halt to construction through a law suit filed under the Clean Water Act and also to pursue its appeal of the Delaware and Raritan Canal Commission 2015 decision to approve the housing project.