Princeton’s Prestigious Past President Sparks Present-Day Debate

Some Princeton students are demanding the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs be renamed, because despite Woodrow's contributions to the university as school president and to the country as the 28th president of the United States, he has a well-documented record of racial prejudice. 

Eddie Glaude, the chair of Princeton's new department of African-American studies and the president-elect of the American Academy of Religion, says the importance of these protests is not so much about renaming the building, but rather about "confronting the ugliness of our past so we can better understand the ugliness of our present." 

Princeton students begin to sit in the president's office. pic.twitter.com/38GmvL4J7t

— Eddie S. Glaude Jr. (@esglaude) November 18, 2015

People are morally complex. Always have been. But that isn't a sufficient response to the legacy of evils that continue to shape our lives

— Eddie S. Glaude Jr. (@esglaude) November 19, 2015

.@Princeton professor @esglaude says folks are looking at the complexity of Woodrow Wilson - not trying to erase but instead confront past.

— Brian Lehrer Show (@BrianLehrer) December 1, 2015