Princeton University’s sixth president, John Witherspoon, was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.
James Madison, Class of 1771 and former president of the United States, became the first president of the Alumni Association of the College of New Jersey in 1826.
Woodrow Wilson, Class of 1879 and future president of the United States, served as thirteenth president of the University in June 1902 and revolutionized the academic program through his inventive “preceptorial” system, which is still in use today. Additionally, he instituted the distribution requirements for undergraduates in order to create more well-rounded students.
In May 1970, Colleges around the nation adopted the “Princeton Plan” (fall recess) in response to the student unrest following the Cambodian incursion in Southeast Asia.
Five members of the Princeton faculty were recipients of the Nobel Prize in physics, two in economic studies, two in economic sciences and one each in literature and medicine.
After Princeton’s founding, it was widely speculated that there was a curse on the University’s presidents, as there were five presidents in the first twenty years of the University.
Princeton is one of the only American institutions to mandate a senior thesis, which has been a requirement for graduation since 1925.
Princeton’s Honor System has been in place since 1893, when students, who were dissatisfied with faculty proctoring of examinations, called for a system similar to the ones at the University of Virginia and William and Mary. Even today, there are no proctors in exams, and students must sign the honor code at the end of every assignment and exam.