By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
Princeton University President Christopher L. Eisgruber has ruled out expanding the footprint of the campus across Lake Carnegie or developing the Springdale Golf Course to accommodate a larger undergraduate student body.
In an interview in the current edition of the Princeton Alumni Weekly, Mr. Eisgruber was asked about the planned expansion to add 500 undergraduates and build a residential college to house them.
“We do not have to move across the lake nor do we have to think about the golf course,” Mr. Eisgruber said. “We are able to work on what we think of as our traditional campus while also preserving a lot of green spaces that exist within that campus.”
Princeton in February announced its plans to expand the size of its undergraduate student body, now at around 5,200 students, through a phased in approach. Campus growth is and has been a source of concern within the community.
Councilwoman and municipal planning board member Jenny Crumiller said Tuesday that she was pleased by Mr. Eisgruber’s answer and added that she had been “worried” about the future of the golf course. She said the town is not making any plans, “at the moment,” to rezone Springdale to limit what the university could do there.
“Right now, we have a lot of zoning issues on our plate,” she said. “I definitely think we might do it, but not in the immediate future.”
Mayor Liz Lempert could not be reached for comment.
As for Mr. Eisgruber’s interview, he said “we’re having interesting questions about what happens across the lake eventually.”
“Is it back-of-the-house space. Is it about parking and athletics, which has for a long time been the assumption? Is it a place where we expand long into the future?” he said. “One of the interesting questions is: Is it possible that things that might go on over there would be mixed-use in character and contribute in some ways to the innovation ecosystem that is important to our teaching and research mission?”
