Monmouth University to Remove Woodrow Wilson’s Name From Building

Monmouth University in New Jersey said it would remove Woodrow Wilson’s name from its marquee building after administrators, professors and students said that the former president held abhorrent views on race and reinstituted segregation in the federal work force.

The decision contrasted with a vote by Princeton University’s trustees in 2016 to keep Wilson’s name on campus buildings and programs, despite student protests that led to a review of his legacy there.

Monmouth’s trustees also voted in 2016 to keep Wilson’s name on an elaborate 1929 mansion that is the campus’s crown jewel. But in the four years since, “the context has changed,” Monmouth’s president, Patrick F. Leahy, said on Saturday.

“Wilson was a controversial politician, and I think it has heightened awareness in 2020 about some of his racist policies,” he said.