‘Washington Post’ Commenters Not Impressed With Princeton University Professor’s Opposition to Proposed Inclusionary Housing Development

Professor Sean Wilentz, (photo: Hannah Beier/ Washington Post), and some ‘Defend Historic Princeton Signs’ on Stockton Street near the development site (photo: Walkable Princeton)

Members of the Princeton University Community coming into town for Reunions this weekend may be puzzled to see a bunch of signs around the town saying “Defend Historic Princeton”. The signs have been put up by a group connected to Princeton University Professor Sean Wilentz, who featured in a lengthy report earlier this week about how a proposal to build apartments on Stockton Street has caused “civil war” in the town of Princeton.

In practice, there is no civil war, all that has happened is that some neighbors, including Professor Wilentz, are suing the town to try to stop construction of an inclusionary apartment development. Such opposition is absolutely mundane in Princeton, and is seen with almost any effort to build new housing. The particular apartment plan that has incensed Professor Wilentz was first announced in 2023, and was covered extensively by ‘Tap Into Princeton’ at that time (Report: A Concept for the Princeton Seminary Site: 238 Apartments, 48 Affordable).

This is not the first time that Professor Wilentz has fought against redevelopment at this site. The land belonged to Princeton Seminary, who tried to build new dorms for their students there in 2018, Wilentz was a chief opponent. Despite extensive efforts to work out a compromise with neighbors, the Seminary’s proposal collapsed, and Seminary students have to drive or take a bus from lodgings in West Windsor instead. The Seminary subsequently offered the lands for redevelopment, leading to the current plan, which is part of the town of Princeton’s 2024 Fair Share Housing plan.

Professor Wilentz has been outspoken in the media against the proposed apartment community, which would add 48 below-market-rate affordable units. At the end of April, he got to write a column in the Washington Post listing his objections. This came after an earlier Washington Post article about redevelopment of the old Princeton Seminary lands, which also quoted Wilentz. People around the USA are therefore getting plenty of opportunities to find out about local land use disputes in Princeton. Readers were not sympathetic, however. One commenter responded to Wilentz’s editorial with “A bunch of rich nimby’s trying to keep everyone out as usual.”

“NIMBYism, plain and simple. We don’t live in a museum, and we need housing now, of all kinds. Get over yourselves” was the view of another commenter. Another described Wilentz as “the face of condescending, snobbish elite liberalism”. Doubt was cast on Wilentz’s description of the proposed apartments as “high-rise”: “A four-story building is, by definition, NOT a high rise”.

Professor Wilentz did find some defenders in the comments section, including one who wrote, “There are lovely neighborhoods all over the country being defaced with “affordable housing””. Somebody else simply said, “I like Princeton as it is.” But the overwhelmingly-negative tone of the comments gave an interesting perspective on how people from outside of town view our land use disputes.

Meanwhile, Jamie Ding, a Princeton University graduate from the class of 2013, who recently became one of the greatest-ever champions on ‘Jeopardy!’, offered his own perspective on the debate. Mr. Ding works in housing, helping to arrange finance for low-income housing projects. In an interview with the ‘Daily Princetonian’ earlier this month, he said “The world is for the living, and if we build more housing, it’s still going to be Princeton. It’s another chapter in the story of Princeton and the story of New Jersey and the story of America.”