CAP & ALITO

(From The Daily Princetonian, 11/18/2005)

Interviews with several alumni who were students in the 1970s paint a picture of Concerned Alumni of Princeton (CAP) as a far-right organization funded by conservative alumni committed to turning back the clock on coeducation at the University.

The group's magazine, "Prospect," seems to support this assessment. Writing in the February 1973 issue of the magazine about the increasing number of women on campus, Jones, who served as editor of the publication, wrote: "The makeup of the Princeton student body has changed drastically for the worse."

"Prospect" was founded in October 1972 by the then-newly-formed CAP, which was co-chaired by Asa Bushnell '21 and Shelby Cullom Davis '30. The latter, who was the University's largest donor at the time, was a strong traditionalist, firmly opposed to the many of the new directions Princeton was taking, including coeducation.

He wrote in "Prospect": "May I recall, and with some nostalgia, my father's 50th reunion, a body of men, relatively homogenous in interests and backgrounds, who had known and liked each other over the years during which they had contributed much in spirit and substance to the greatness of Princeton," according to an account in "The Chosen," a book by Jerome Karabel on the history of admissions at Harvard, Yale and Princeton. "I cannot envisage a similar happening in the future," Davis added, "with an undergraduate student population of approximately 40% women and minorities, such as the Administration has proposed."

Former U.S. Senator Bill Bradley '65, who served on the alumni advisory board of "Prospect," also created a stir when he quit the publication abruptly after its second issue, saying in the 'Prince' that the magazine was "filled with innuendo and unsupported allegations" about the University.

Some alumni have suggested, however, that Alito's association with CAP may not be exclusively about politics, but also about networking for the job market. A possible networking connection involves Terry Eastland, who served in the Justice Department during the Reagan administration and was involved with CAP, according to two people familiar with the group who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue.