Princeton is a small school with a lot of athletes. There is a very good chance the editor of the admissions webpage is an alum who played in college.
What you’re really saying is that schools like UCLA no longer call it varsity. Which is true. But not every college is like UCLA.
1. Firstly, boo princeton.
2. But it is interesting you bring up Princeton or any Ivy. It's an example of an institution working directly against the principles you stand for (and which BTW I'm somewhat sympathetic towards in this instance). As you know, princeton earmarks certain admissions for preferences. They include athletes, legacies, oppressed minorities, foreigners, and first generation college. As you know as well, people have been complaining that the Ivies aren't a true meritocracy, since Asian candidates with higher marks have alleged they are discriminated against when these categories are used. Princeton and the other Ivies also, despite rising population and despite an increase in applications from overseas, have not been increasing the number of their admits. Given it's a fixed amount, and scarce resource, the fact that "princeton is a small school with a lot of athletes" is problematic. It means a lot of top notch recruited athletes are taking away academic space from other less athletic individuals. Those less athletic individuals won't be at Princeton to argue about intramural field access because those less athletic individuals aren't there (their space having been given preference to the recruited athletes).