PRINCETON — The battle to save the Princeton Battlefield has a new soldier: nationally syndicated columnist George Will.

In a column published Monday, the conservative pundit says the battlefield has been “scandalously neglected” by the state and that it is “being vandalized” by the Institute for Advanced Studies, which has received approval to construct campus housing on 7 acres of the land.

“The battle to save this battlefield, one of the nation’s most significant and most neglected sites, is not yet lost,” Will says. “The government in today’s Trenton, and in the city named for the man who won the 1777 battle, should assist the Civil War Trust,” which has offered the institute $4.5 million to buy the land.

The development proposal has been litigated for years. Lawmakers of both parties have criticized the development and have tried to get the state to intervene.

The Battle of Princeton is considered a pivotal moment in the Revolutionary War.

Jerry Hurwitz, president of the Princeton Battlefield Society, told New Jersey 101.5 morning host Bill Spadea in December that the Princeton battle was Washington's “high point” during the war.

“Princeton was absolutely brilliant on the part of Washington. He almost single-highhandedly crippled the British Army at Princeton.”

Sergio Bichao is deputy digital editor at New Jersey 101.5. Send him news tips: Call 609-438-1015 or email sergio.bichao@townsquaremedia.com.

More From New Jersey 101.5 FM