Princeton Gets $30-Million from eBay

TRENTON, N.J. – February 4, 2002 — Using a $30 million gift from the head of online auction site eBay, Princeton University will substantially expand its undergraduate ranks for the first time since it began admitting women. Princeton will use the gift from eBay chief executive Meg Whitman and her family to build a new residential college with room for 500 students. Although the Ivy League university adds faculty members each year, it does not have the dormitory space for more students.

"Our applicant pool is so deep and contains so many extraordinarily talented students that we would just be remiss if we weren't trying as hard as we could to accommodate more students," university president Shirley M. Tilghman said Monday.

Princeton had 3,400 undergraduates in 1969, the first year it admitted women, spokeswoman Marilyn Marks said. Six years later, enrollment shot up 28 percent to 4,336. It stands at about 4,600 today.

A Board of Trustees committee recommended two years ago that Princeton increase the number of undergraduates by 10 percent and build a sixth residential college.

Princeton has searched for the funding since then, Tilghman said.

Whitman, a trustee and 1977 Princeton graduate, participated in the discussion. She started talking about making the gift last summer with Tilghman, who was named university president last May.

"I had told her that, in my mind, this was the most important project for myself, but also for the college," Tilghman said.

All freshmen and sophomores live in one of Princeton's five residential colleges, where they are joined by a handful of upperclassmen. The colleges include libraries, coffee houses and theaters.

Whitman College will be the first residential college built specifically for the purpose; others were made from existing buildings. A few graduate students will live among the undergraduates, and residents will have the option of staying for their entire college careers.

"We've sensed that, over time, there have been a growing number of students who like the college experience and would like to stay in their college all four years," Tilghman said.

An architect will be chosen within the year, and construction is expected to begin south of Dillon Gymnasium in 2004.

Whitman took over eBay four years ago, and helped turn it into a global marketplace with 42 million registered users. She also held senior positions at Hasbro Inc., Walt Disney Co. and Bain & Co.

She has donated money to Princeton in the past, eBay spokesman Kevin Pursglove said.

Whitman also is involved in Princeton's Women in Leadership Initiative, which was founded on the 25th anniversary of the university's first co-educational class.

The group encourages alumnae to stay involved in campus life through philanthropy and volunteer work.

Said Tilghman: "We're enormously proud of the fact that our alumnae, since the 1970s, have left the university and really made a mark in the world."

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Author: 6 ABC - AP