Princeton University Auditorium To Be Named For Sir Arthur Lewis

PRINCETON, NJ — As part of a University-wide effort to recognize diverse individuals on campus, Princeton University has named the main auditorium in Robertson Hall for Nobel laureate Sir Arthur Lewis, who served as a Princeton faculty member from 1963 to 1991, the university announced on Wednesday.

Lewis was the first West Indian-born principal and then vice chancellor of the University of the West Indies, and chancellor of the University of Guyana. He was one of five children born to George and Ida Lewis in Castries, Saint Lucia in 1915. His father died when he was seven, and his mother raised all five children alone. He earned a Bachelor of Science Degree from the London School of Economics in 1937. He earned a Ph.D. from the same school in 1940.

He was the first president of the Caribbean Development Bank. When Ghana won its independence in 1957, Lewis was named the government’s first economic adviser. He was knighted in 1963, the same year he came to Princeton University, where he served as a professor of economics and international affairs. He was later appointed the James Madison Professor of Political Economy. He received the 1979 Nobel Prize in Economics. He was at Princeton until 1991, the year he died.

The Council of the Princeton University Community Committee on Naming recommended naming Robertson Hall’s auditorium for Lewis, the university said. The committee was established to advise the university’s trustees on the naming of “buildings or other spaces not already named for historical figures or donors to recognize individuals who would bring a more diverse presence to the campus.”

It was established after an uproar at the university about Woodrow Wilson’s name appearing on a pair of university buildings back in 2015. Wilson is a graduate of the university, and served as president of Princeton University from 1902-1910, and as New Jersey Governor from 1910-1913, just before becoming president. He supported segregation, and appointed Cabinet members who segregated federal departments.

The Board of Trustees left his name on the buildings at the committee’s recommendations, but the committee also called for "an expanded and more vigorous commitment to diversity and inclusion" at the University, with concerted efforts to implement a broad range of existing initiatives and take additional actions.

The new name of the auditorium took effect July 1, 2017. To mark the occasion, the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs will host a reception on Wednesday, April 18, 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. in Robertson Hall’s Dodds Atrium and Arthur Lewis Auditorium.

A short video commemorating the life and scholarship of Lewis will play continuously in the auditorium throughout the reception. Princeton University President Christopher L. Eisgruber will give remarks at 6 p.m. This event is free and open to the public.

Patch file photo