Princeton University will not be removing the John Witherspoon statue in front of East Pyne Hall after a two-year review process by the school’s Council Committee on Naming.
The review began after a petition was submitted to the committee in 2022 by people in the university community who wanted to see the statue removed from Firestone Plaza and an informational plaque be put in its place due to Witherspoon’s ties to slavery.
Petitioners stated in the petition that they believe the statue pays great honor to Witherspoon and encourages members of the University community to honor Witherspoon.
“We believe that paying such honor to someone who participated actively in the enslavement of human beings, and used his scholarly gifts to defend the practice, is today a distraction from the University’s mission,” they stated.
The Board of Trustees said in a letter released on Oct. 2 that after deliberations following a report and recommendations completed by the Committee on Naming, they did not believe that questions about John Witherspoon’s legacy provide sufficient ground for removal or relocation of the statue.
“The principles endorsed by this board include a presumption against altering University honorifics on the basis of concerns about a historical individual’s legacy,” they said. “We believe that this presumption is applicable to the current case.
“That does not mean the statue should or must remain in its current state or location.”
The Board of Trustees left open the possibility of changes to the statute or location and acknowledged how the questions raised about the statue’s scale, fit, educational uses and the best way to provide information about the John Witherspoon statue “deserve attention and resolution.”
They have now referred the statue’s place on the university campus to the Campus Art Steering Committee.
The findings in the Committee on Naming’s report stated the committee found that Witherspoon’s accomplishments are worthy of recognition, but Witherspoon himself is not worthy of canonization (saint).
“Second, we found that the 2001 statue confers disproportionate honor on Witherspoon through its grandiose style. Third, we found that the principles specifically caution against canonization of particular historical figures,” they said. “Fourth, we found that Witherspoon is recognized elsewhere on campus.”
A Scottish-born Presbyterian minister, Witherspoon was a founding father of the United States and also served as Princeton’s (the College of New Jersey at the time) sixth president. He owned slaves, voted against slavery’s abolition in the New Jersey, and lectured against the abolition of slavery.
The Witherspoon statue is bronze, 10 feet tall and weighs about 2,750 pounds. It sits atop a 7-foot 7-inch plinth, for a total height of about 18 feet. The plinth has a concrete core, granite base and Indiana limestone body, according to a previous report by The Princeton Packet.
