University Delays Student Increase; Defers Opening of Residential College

Matthew Hersh

Princeton University has cited construction delays in deferring the opening of its $110 million residential college on the grounds of the former "pagoda" tennis courts.

In doing so, the University will also have to curb its planned 11 percent increase in student body and the introduction of a four-year residential college system until the fall of 2007, according to University President Shirley Tilghman.

The incremental increase of the undergraduate student population over a four-year period and the opening of the college were originally scheduled for the fall of 2006.

The purpose of Whitman College is to increase the University's overall undergraduate population by 500 students in 125-student increments over a four-year course.

"These are all very important steps for [the University]," President Tilghman said. "We want to be sure that they will be done as well as we can do them and that they will all take place at the same time."

She added that the University's original estimate for completion had to be adjusted due to the extent of design and construction.

"While we probably could have some of Whitman ready for occupancy in the fall of 2006, we don't want to open the college in a piecemeal fashion, nor do we want to open it before it can be fully integrated into the new four-year college system," she said.

The college, which will bring the first calculated undergraduate population increase since the University became a co-educational institution in 1969, was funded in part by a donation from Meg Whitman, president and chief executive of eBay. Ms. Whitman is a graduate and trustee of the University.

The planned site will take up 290,000 square feet over seven acres with a spire that will reach 60-80 feet. The building will vary between two and five stories and will be built in the architectural style known as "collegiate Gothic."

The hall will provide dormitory, dining, social, cultural, educational, and recreational space for 500 undergraduates and 10 graduate students. It will also provide office and teaching space for the Princeton Writing Program.