John Witherspoon Statue Could Be Removed From Princeton U. Campus

PRINCETON, NJ — Princeton University could remove the statue of John Witherspoon from campus. The move comes after a petition was circulated at the University over the summer.

The Council of the Princeton University Community’s (CPUC) naming committee said they were considering the removal or replacement of the statue, The Daily Princetonian reported.

The petition, circulated over the summer, noted that the prominent place the statue occupied was “inappropriate.”

Students complained that the statue is impossible to ignore and that it honor’s America’s “shocking and upsetting” history of slavery.

“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,” students wrote in the petition.

“Regardless of our evaluation of Witherspoon’s moral standing given his time and context, the issue of the race-based enslavement of human beings presents a rupture between us and John Witherspoon.”

The CPUC Committee on Naming is now inviting campus community input on the matter. “The Committee’s work will be informed by rigorous research and the appropriate scholarly expertise within and beyond the University community,” The CPUC Committee on Naming said.

Students suggested removing the statue from Firestone Plaza and replacing it with an informational plaque.

Founding father and former president of Princeton University, John Witherspoon owned slaves who worked on his 500-acre farm.

Witherspoon had a complex relationship with slavery, according to the Princeton & Slavery Project website.

“Though he advocated revolutionary ideals of liberty and personally tutored several free Africans and African Americans in Princeton, he himself owned slaves and both lectured and voted against the abolition of slavery in New Jersey,” the website said.

“By comparing slaves to horses, Witherspoon denied enslaved people their humanity and defined them simply as another form of property. Yet this argument highlights a disconnect between Witherspoon’s stated ideology and his lived reality.”

The website explains in detail Witherspoon’s views and complicated history with slavery.

In 2020, the University removed President Woodrow Wilson's name from School of Public and International Affairs and residential college because of his "racist thinking and policies." More: Princeton University Removes Woodrow Wilson's Name From School

The same year, Princeton Public Schools removed John Witherspoon’s name from the middle school following a unanimous vote by the Board of Education. More: Princeton Removes John Witherspoon Name From Middle School

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