US Diary (15-Nov-2023)

In the United States of America, it is common to visit famous educational institutions. Such a visit is equally important and prestigious, to both, the visitor and this country. US parents generally take their high school going children on these visits carefully choosing universities depending on their child's talents and academic interests. 

In the olden days, the Indians called educational institutions as "Saraswathi kshethra" which means the holy abode of Goddess Saraswathy, the deity who blesses and flourishes us with knowledge. I remember celebrating "Navarathri pooja" in school every year, where the students brought their school textbooks, notebooks, pens or pencils, instrument boxes etc.  and placed them in front of the deity and worshipped after lighting a holy lamp. This was not compulsory, but students were willingly doing this irrespective of their religious beliefs or thinking or social standing. People who are eager to earn more knowledge should have that devotion towards schools, colleges, and universities. 

In olden days it was a common practice in India to start the day and perform duties after showing respect with folded hands (namaste) in front of the work tools or by touching the tool with the right hand and then placing that hand on one's crown and chest. Even to this day, one can see a traditional wood cutter touching the trunk of the tree and placing his hand on his crown (sheersham) and chest before swinging his axe at the tree or an automobile driver touching the steering wheel and doing the same before starting to drive. So, it's no surprise that a visit to a famous educational institution carries significant prestige, importance or even devotion.

A fortnight ago, I had a chance to visit the famous Princeton University, which is an ivy league institution in New Jersey. Before we started from home, I gathered certain details about this famous college campus and its ivy league status. Interestingly, the Latin word "Campus" (meaning "field" which is used to designate the grounds of a college these days) originated at Princeton replacing the earlier term "yard" (Harvard University still refers to their historic grounds as 'yard"). In the17th century, the college was named as Prince-town in honour of Prince William of Orange and Nassau. Later it became the home of the "College of New Jersey" which is now known as the "Princeton university". The entire college was housed in Nassau Hall (oldest building at Princeton university) at that time, which became the educational and religious capital of Scotch Irish presbyterian although the school was open to all religious denominations from then on.

The ivy league was established in 1954. It consists of eight prestigious private colleges and Universities in the US known for their academic excellence, rich history and selective admissions process with big endowments and strong alumni networks. The eight Universities are Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Penn (University of Pennsylvania), Princeton and Yale.

 Princeton university was founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the "College of New Jersey". This was one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American revolution and was the fourth oldest institution of higher education located in New Jersey. This college was shifted to Princeton from Elizabeth in the year 1756. It's original name, College of New Jersey was changed to Princeton university in the year 1896. 

Princeton campus is attractive with its huge variety of architectural style and beautiful spaces, Neo Gothic dorms, glassy science laboratories and grassy sports fields. This college has specialised libraries, state of the art laboratories, and art museums. Its chapel is the third largest university chapel in the world. Classrooms are in the upper part of the campus. This campus is about 600 acres. It has more than 200 buildings including ten libraries with fifteen million holdings. These buildings consist of approximately 10 million square feet of space. Lake Carnegie is bordering on the south side of the campus.

 

Princeton students are called Princetonians. The Princeton mascot is the "Tiger" and the "Princeton Tigers" is the athletic team of the University. Football players of the early 1880 started wearing their jersey, stockings and stocking caps with orange and black stripes on them and leading sports writers started calling them the Tigers. Later the campus adopted this monicker. The Princeton sponsors 35 varsity teams in 20 sports. This University's informal motto is "Princeton in the Nation's service and in the service of Humanity" reflecting the university's commitment to community service. The motto combines phrases from Woodrow Wilson (former Princeton President and US President) and Sonia Sotomayor (Former US Supreme Court Justice). The vibe at Princeton is a unique atmosphere on campus with a liberal arts focus and a research university feel. Most popular majors in Princeton are social science, engineering, computer and information sciences, biological and biomedical sciences, public administrations and physical sciences, social service professions, history, english language and literature, foreign languages etc. Princeton is hard to get into. It is a prestigious school not only for academic excellence, but also for the high likelihood of students finding job placements. It has connections with more than seventy Nobel laureates and has a ratio of about 5:1 for students to faculty. It is a world-renowned research university. The school of public and international affairs of Princeton is one of the most well-known schools. Significant contributions have been made to economics by this university. Since 2000, 15 Princetonians have won the economics Nobel - nearly a third of all honorees in that span.  This ivy is the most athletic too. Endowment returns and other investment income support majority of the University's operating budget.

Among the dignitaries who were students earlier at this famous University are two former American Presidents, James Madison and Thomas Woodrow Wilson. Madison was the fourth President of USA from 1809 to 1817 who was elected twice for two terms. He was the first graduate student (1769 -1771) in Princeton when its name was College of New Jersey. He is known as the Founding Father and architect of the US constitution. Besides classical languages, Mathematics, Rhetoric, Geography, Political Philosophy he studied Hebrew also. Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of USA from 1913 to 1921. He had served as the President of Princeton University and as the Governor of New Jersey before becoming the President of US. While a student at Princeton, he was also the Secretary of football association, President of baseball association and Editor of Student newspaper. His majors were Political Philosophy and History. Einstein is yet another dignitary who renounced his German citizenship and joined Princeton in 1993. Madam Michelle Obama (the former first lady of US), David Mathews (civilian leader), Oliver Ellsworth (former chief justice of US), Jeff Bezos (founder and CEO of Amazon), Pete Conrad (Astronaut and Commander of Apolo12), Brooke Shields (famous actress) etc. were all former students of Princeton. Former President of US, the late John F Kennedy was a student of Princeton for two months. While at Princeton, he fell seriously ill and had to quit. Following recovery, he joined Harvard.

We walked past several buildings roaming the campus covering a considerable distance. It was amusing to see during the walk, the several groups of visiting prospective students being shown around the campus with their parents walking closely behind listening to the commentary provided by their current student representative leader. Preetha then shared some of her similar experiences taking Ajay around several campuses. The stone buildings from ancient times were very attractive with beautiful architecture. We covered about 8-10 major buildings in 2-3 hours. The University has built more than sixty miles of roads and pathways connecting buildings across the campus. While a few students were seen walking, many were riding bicycles or on skating boards moving briskly from one place to another. Motor bikes are not allowed. We clicked photos in front of the famous and ancient Nassau Hall where Princeton first started functioning. On both sides of its doorsteps, stood majestic statues of two tigers. (Princeton's mascot). Those statues emerged ironically in 1879 not long after Woodrow Wilson's class at its graduation gave the University a pair of lions to guard the main entrance to Nassau Hall. This reminded me of the suggestion that had come up for discussion while attending my class reunion last year to donate to our alma mater, Perintalmanna High School, Kerala, as a small token of our gratitude, something similar with our passing out year carved on it. As we moved on, we saw several stones laid along the pathway that had different years engraved on it. I presumed those to be the gifts of graduates of that particular year. Engraving or carving donor's name and the year of donation seems to be a common practice followed in several countries including India.  The well-groomed trees and the landscaped flowering plants added beauty to the already magnificent campus. Almost all the building walls were covered with ivy creepers which formed a beautiful green velvety curtain.

After exploring the campus buildings, we eventually reached the chapel. There, in the front yard were a few students drawing a large colorful "rangoli" reminding us of the fast-approaching Deepavali celebration. They were drawing four peacocks facing in four directions off of a central big design. We watched their artwork taking shape for some time before entering the chapel. In the front corridor of the main hall near the entrance, placed on a tall stand was an idol of Ganapathy, decorated with flowers and lamps. We entered the main hall, where some other students were rehearsing a theater performance for that night in connection with the Deepavali celebration. On another side of the stage, a few other students were practicing Carnatic bhajans with traditional accompaniments (harmonium). It's worth noting and admiring the non-sectarian attitude of the university authorities. We wished "Happy Deepavali" to them and left the college campus feeling happy and optimistic for the coming generation. Parking time for the car was about to be over and we did not plan to extend the time as I was a bit exhausted by then and wished to take rest. Sree drove back and we reached home before dark.