Syngman Rhee hall to be built in Princeton

By Yun Suh-young

Princeton University’s Korean alumni association said Tuesday that it plans to create a Syngman Rhee lecture hall to commemorate the nation’s late founding president.

One of the classrooms at the Woodrow Wilson School will be dubbed Syngman Rhee 1910 Lecture Hall starting in October.

A ceremony and seminar to celebrate the establishment of the hall will be held on Oct. 3 at the campus.

The alumni association said it has collected 530 million won since it started receiving donations in November 2010. It carried out a campaign to collect donations to commemorate Rhee. 2010 was also the 100th anniversary of Rhee receiving a doctoral degree from the university.

“We decided to establish the hall to commemorate Rhee because at Princeton there are places that commemorate various historical figures from all over the world who are Princeton alumni but there was no trace of the founding president of South Korea,” said Kim Jong-seok, the alumni president.

The alumni association decided to use the 530 million won donation to create the Syngman Rhee hall and support international relations lectures and symposiums at the Woodrow Wilson School.

The school will make a relief of Rhee’s face on the wall of the hall. A copperplate engraved with names of the donors for the project will also be displayed.

Rhee received a doctoral degree in 1910 from President Woodrow Wilson who was then chancellor at Princeton University. Rhee had a bachelor’s and master’s degree from George Washington University and Harvard University respectively.