Princeton Removes John Witherspoon Name From Middle School

PRINCETON, NJ — The John Witherspoon name has been removed from the Princeton middle school following a unanimous vote by the Board of Education on Tuesday night.

The board voted to remove the name and replace it with Princeton Unified Middle School (PUMS), an interim name that will be used until students, staff, parents, alumni and the community can select a permanent name.

The resolution also includes a deadline where a new permanent name must be chosen by June 30, 2021. This process would serve as an educational tool and allow students and the community to participate in the process.

The name change was spurred by Princeton High School graduate, Geoffrey Allen, who created a petition to rename the school due to Witherspoon's history of owning slaves. Read More: Princeton To Discuss Renaming John Witherspoon Middle School

Both community members and board members noted that changing the name of John Witherspoon is a symbolic first step and that it needs to be accompanied by corresponding changes in the curriculum and in the local community to promote social justice and antiracism.

Princeton Public Schools recently announced plans to include racial literacy courses in the curriculum for Pre-Kindergarten, Kindergarten, and First Grade next year with a rollout to other grades in subsequent years.

Princeton High School already offers a Racial Literacy course. In addition, an online version of the PHS racial literacy course will be piloted this year for adoption in 2021-2022.

There are ongoing discussions of further expansion of the district’s racial literacy courses which would ultimately include all grade levels in the district.

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