Community and Regional Affairs

Community Contributions

According to the University’s Office of Community and Regional Affairs:

• The University is the largest taxpayer in both Princeton Borough and Princeton Township with property and sewer tax payments in these two communities totaling approximately $8 million in 2005.

• These tax payments include hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes on housing for faculty, staff (including the University president’s house) and many graduate students. This is housing that might qualify for tax exemption under New Jersey state law. However, the University pays full taxes on these residential properties in order to ensure that the public school system is compensated for school-aged children who might—but do not necessarily—dwell in these residences.

• In 2005, the total non-tax voluntary contribution to Princeton Borough was more than $800,000.

• In recent years, Princeton has made many large, one-time gifts to municipal and community organizations, including: $500,000 to the Princeton Public Library; $500,000 to the Princeton Regional Schools; $300,000 to the Monument Drive reconstruction; $200,000 to the American Red Cross of the Princeton Area; $155,000 to the Princeton First Aid and Rescue Squad for a rescue vehicle; $150,000 for the plaza next to the library; $100,000 to the Princeton First Aid Squad and the Princeton Fire Department for equipment other than the rescue vehicle; $100,000 for open space preservation; and $50,000 to the Princeton Charter School.

• Approximately half of the volunteers with the Princeton First Aid and Rescue Squad are University-affiliated individuals (staff, students, alumni).

• More than a quarter of Princeton’s undergraduates engage in community service in the area each year.

• The University reaches out to approximately 150 area high school students each year through educational enrichment initiatives. The Princeton University Preparatory Program, funded by the University and founded by members of its faculty and staff, is a three-year learning and enrichment program for Mercer County high school students who are educationally motivated and rich in intellectual curiosity but who are financially disadvantaged. The Program in Teacher Preparation oversees another program allowing high school seniors to take courses at the University at no cost to the school district or the student.

The Seeley Mudd Manuscript Library, dedicated in 1976, is a modern, state-of-the-art facility that houses the University’s archives as well as a highly regarded collection of 20th-century public policy papers:

• More than 2,000 scholars from around the world use the facility every year. Last year they made requests for photocopies totaling more than 40,000 pages.

• In the last fiscal year, the staff responded to more than 1,900 pieces of correspondence and 1,400 phone calls. In that time the library also processed 850 linear feet of material.

• Mudd Library received 125 new collections or additions to its collections in the last fiscal year. Donated items included:

—Thirty cartons from former U.S. Secretary of State and 1952 Princeton graduate James Baker containing material documenting his early political career, his relationship with George H.W. Bush, the 1988 and 2000 presidential campaigns and other topics.

—Notes taken by Stanley Root, class of 1904, for professor Woodrow Wilson’s course on constitutional law.

—Thirty-five letters written by 1837 alumnus John Witherspoon Woods, the grandson of Princeton’s sixth President John Witherspoon, to his mother.

—A football commemorating Princeton’s 1951 win over Brown University, signed by the renowned 1951 team, which included Heisman Trophy winner Dick Kazmaier.

By the Numbers