Whether or not the administration satisfies CAP on the faculty issue, the recent decision by the university's Board of Trustees to eliminate sex-based admissions quotas jolted these conservative alumni, many of whom wanted Princeton to remain an all-male institution in the first place.

When the trustees approved co-education in 1969, there was a widespread understanding that the male enrollment would be maintained at 800 per entering class. The subsequent adoption of an equal-access admissions policy last Jan. 19, along with the decision to retain undergraduate population at current levels, are expected to result in a decrease in the number of males matriculating each year.

"Many Princeton graduates are unhappy over the fact that the administration has seen fit to abrogate the virtual guarantee that 800 would continue to be the number of males in the graduating class," Mr. Bushnell said.

"Co-education has ruined the mystique and the camaraderies that used to exist," Mr. Jones added. "Princeton has now given into the fad of the moment, and I think it's going to prove to be a very unfortunate thing."

...

Alumni response to the equal-access decision may offer a reliable gauge of CAP's influence among the university's graduates. The changing composition of the undergraduate population concerns many Princeton alumni, especially those who cherish memories of a relatively homogenous student body. Both supporters and critics of the new policy have initiated extensive campaigns to publicize their arguments.

CAP leaders trace this year's 10 per cent decline in gift-giving to alumni disaffection that emerged during an era of liberalization, an era that reached its culmination in the equal-access decision.

"Annual giving has been hurt very substantially by the equal-access vote," Mr. Jones said. "And it will be hurt more next year as more people find out about it. For many alumni, it was the last straw."