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By Princetonians for Free Speech
PFS original content
President Eisgruber and his administration appear to have made a very good start on the new academic year. They conducted a first-year orientation that sent all the right messages on free speech, academic freedom, respect for diverse viewpoints, and the need for the university and its departments to avoid taking institutional positions on controversial public issues. They did the same in a new website on free speech which provides clarity on the free speech rules and where students should go with questions and concerns.
Furthermore, all students received an email from the university discussing the importance of free speech, Princeton’s rules thereon, and the new website.
We hope to see continued deft handling by the administration of the resumption of raging pro-Hamas, anti-Israel protests, flagrant violations of university rules, and the accelerating cacophony of what seems sure to be an extraordinarily divisive presidential campaign.
“I hope that you will lean in to this community where we have these opportunities for discussion of sensitive and hard subjects in a way that I think is rare in our society right now,” Eisgruber said on August 27, while leading for the third year an orientation session focused on the Class of 2028 and incoming transfer students. He urged them to take advantage of the “transformative” opportunity at Princeton to meet and learn from others with whom they disagree.
Eisgruber stressed that the University’s Statement on Freedom of Expression“guarantees all members of the University community the broadest possible latitude to speak, write, listen, challenge, and learn.”
He also seemed to come closer than ever before to endorsing the kind of institutional neutrality on contentious public issues that other schools, including Harvard and Cornell, have adopted, and that Princeton Professors including Robert P. George, Emmanuel Bourbouhakis and others have advocated. He said: “There will come a time, I suspect, when some of you want the University to issue a statement endorsing some position that you cherish or condemning some practice that you abhor. You might ask me for a statement, and, if you do, I will almost certainly refuse because free speech presupposes self-reliance.”
Joining Eisgruber in the discussion and in warmly welcoming new students was Vice President for Student Life W. Rochelle Calhoun, She had faced a demand on May 3 for her resignation by 128 faculty members in a letter to the Daily Princetonian after she had issued a letter accusing students who occupied Clio Hall of “abusive” treatment of University staff members” in “an escalation ... into unlawful behavior that created a dangerous situation for protesters, University staff, and law enforcement.”
At the August 27 orientation, Calhoun urged students to visit the University’s new Protests and Free Expression website, which she said “gathers all of the information you need to know about how we actually exercise our right to free speech.” It also specifies the campus locations where protests are not allowed, including the lawn in front of Nassau Hall.
As this academic year starts, we hope that Princeton’s administration will consider the PFS Top Ten action items, designed to embed into the everyday experience and outlook of all students, faculty and administrators those core principles that inform Princeton’s free speech and academic freedom rules. One of those items was for Princeton to commit to a robust orientation on free speech every year.
While we applaud the actions of Princeton at the beginning of this school year, more needs to be done to build on this start. We note that this week Princeton was ranked near the bottom, 231 out of 251 colleges surveyed, in the highly respected annual free speech survey conducted by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.
And we dare hope that the disturbing events on campuses across the country since the barbaric Hamas murders of more than 1,200 people last October 7 have given the leaders of Princeton and other universities a better understanding of the dire need for reform of higher education.
August 19, 2025
By Tal Fortgang ‘17
Columbia University’s recent settlement with the Trump administration represents a long-awaited watershed moment in the ongoing battle between the federal government and American universities. Its arrival is enormously symbolic within the ongoing saga and is a sign of things to come. How would the federal government treat free speech and academic freedom concerns? Was it looking to avoid going to court, or would it welcome the opportunity to litigate formally? And how much would each side be willing to compromise on its deeply entrenched positions?
A settlement – better described as a deal, not merely because dealmaking is the President’s preferred framework for governance but because the feds did not actually sue Columbia -- was always the most likely outcome of the showdown. It is not inherently inappropriate as a resolution to legitimate civil rights concerns, though the administration probably could have achieved its objectives more sustainably had it followed the procedure set out in civil rights law. Nevertheless, a deal has been struck, and assessing it is more complex than simply deeming it good or bad by virtue of its existing – though many certainly wish each side had simply declined to negotiate with the other.
Digging into the deal – and attending to its silences -- reveals a combination of promising reforms, distractions, and even some failures. Most critically, the agreement’s silence on admissions and hiring practices suggests that the underlying issues that precipitated this crisis will likely resurface, creating a cycle of federal intervention that will relegate this episode to a footnote.
Sena Chang
Daily Princetonian
Excerpt: Antisemitic graffiti of a gray swastika was found on the wall of a graduate student apartment building inside the Lakeside housing complex in mid-July. The graffiti was removed immediately following multiple reports, with the Department of Public Safety (DPS) opening an investigation into the incident and increasing foot patrols in the area in response, according to University spokesperson Jennifer Morrill.
Construction was underway inside Lakeside at the time of the incident, and the University has not yet determined whether the graffiti was the work of a student or contractor. No suspects have been named.
Samuel J. Abrams
Minding the Campus
Excerpt: When Princeton President Christopher Eisgruber turned on his fellow university leaders at an April panel discussion, all but accusing Vanderbilt and Washington University chancellors of “carrying water for the Trump administration,” he revealed the dangerous delusion gripping elite academia.
This wasn’t a debate about abstract principles. It was Eisgruber’s desperate attempt to maintain the fiction that elite universities are victims rather than perpetrators, that accountability is oppression, and that denial can substitute for leadership.
