Robert Fernholz, Trustee of the institute, Princeton
To the editor:
The Institute for Advanced Study is seeking approval to build houses for faculty members on their campus near the Princeton Battlefield. I strongly believe Princeton Township should approve this project.
I was born and raised in Princeton, and I’ve lived here most of my life. Ever since my childhood, I’ve always felt a sense of harmony between the battlefield and the institute.
I now live in the Riverside area, near Carnegie Lake, and my office is in Palmer Square. It’s about two miles from my home to my office, and I can (still) walk there in a little over a half hour. I frequently go to the institute for meetings and lectures, and it often takes me longer to drive there than it takes me to walk to my office the traffic around University Place can be pretty bad.
The institute is a residential community of scholars, and it is vital that its members have easy access to its campus. In the days of my youth, one would sometimes see Albert Einstein walking from his Mercer Street home to the institute campus. But the cost of housing near the institute has now become prohibitively high, so few faculty members are able to live in the area. By approving the institute faculty housing project we can make it possible for more of the institute faculty to walk to the campus. The institute housing has been carefully designed to preserve the harmony between the battlefield and the institute. The institute is an inspiration to all Princetonians: let’s help out by quickly approving their new faculty housing project.
Robert Fernholz
Trustee of the institute
Princeton
