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| Princeton President Goheen Confronts Student Demonstrators in 1968* |
It was a daunting challenge: roll
back the clock a half century to look at the forces that changed a great
university…and almost everybody in it. But that’s what Princeton Alumni Weekly asked me to do in an article in its
current issue.
The spring of 1968 was a time of turmoil,
much like today. Tragedy, anxiety, elation and struggle swept across the globe,
generating massive amounts of energy.
Then, I was a college freshman, awash in an ivy-covered bubble in a vast
sea of emotion.
This year, I interviewed several of
my college peers to get their perspective then and now. It was an eye-opening
experience that I had the privilege to share with PAW readers (and you!).
In researching the story, I
interviewed Robert Durkee, who was the student Managing Editor of The Daily Princetonian then and is
Secretary of Princeton University now. I
asked him if he could think of anything that was better at Princeton then than
now.
“No,” he said simply. It reminded me about all the ways the world
is better now – and gave me the hope that, eventually, today’s energy will go
to making it even better tomorrow.
* Photo: Princeton Alumni Weekly
