Old Graduate College 3

Among the public social spaces in the Graduate College, the Old Common Room is the most spacious. It is the setting for a weekly Social Hour, organized by the House Committee, casual bridge club meetings, and various receptions throughout the year. On weeknights, study groups often assemble here. Above the windows on the south wall are stained glass armorial medallions executed by Connick that Dean West selected "as being most directly significant for the history of Princeton." Shown are the arms of Carteret and Berkeley, the royal proprietors of the colony; Sir Edmund Andros, Governor of New Jersey and other colonies; William Livingstone, first Governor of the State; and the arms of East Jersey, West Jersey, and New Jersey. ~ * ~ In entryway 12, there is a suite of two rooms that will still be known to many alumni as the Breakfast Room. Continental breakfast is now served in Procter Hall. The Breakfast Room has become known among current students as the Coffee House, a low-key social hangout and study space staffed daily during the semester from 9 p.m. to 12 midnight. It the setting for occasional concerts or literary readings, and it serves as a gallery to showcase graduate student art work. This picture shows artwork from the Metamorphosis exhibition by Elena Peteva.

Van Dyke Library is another popular study space. A lovely room with one of the largest, most intricately adorned fire places, the stone capitals on which the ceiling beams rest sport owl and curiously lamb-faced bats. ~ * ~ The wood carvings surrounding the fire place honor St. Thomas Aquinas and Aristotle as well as the Seven Liberal Arts, giving pride of place to the study of Grammar.

When one has studied too much indoors, the abundant New Jersey plant life itself seems to remind the resident to come outside for some recreation - otherwise they just may come in to get you ...