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By Khoa Sands ‘26
Much of my writing and observations on free speech and academic freedom at Princeton over the past several years in some way revolve around the relationship between the ivory tower and civil society. I have stressed why a liberal society depends on liberal education, the tensions between civic education and the pursuit of truth, and how campus protests mirror social revolutions. Of course, as has been repeated numerous times, free speech is the only way universities can adhere to their truth-seeking missions. However, academic freedom is important from the civil society angle as well, as it legitimizes elite institutions in the eyes of a wider democratic society.
Tal Fortgang ‘17
With President Eisgruber personally leading the academic “resistance” against the Trump administration’s attack on elite universities, Princeton launched a campaign, announced in the Daily Princetonian on May 2, that “encourages alumni, faculty, students, and friends to make their voices heard in support of higher education during this challenging period.” Stand Up for Princeton and Higher Education aims to deputize a cadre of the most influential Americans – Princetonians themselves – who tend to have strong nostalgia for their alma mater, not merely to pay it forward to future Princetonians through donations but to become a kind of political force defending the university in Washington.
By Khoa Sands ‘26
The second Trump administration's attack on higher education has reinvigorated conversations around academic freedom. Concerns once relegated to the center and the right have been taken up again by the left with newfound salience. Princeton, thankfully, has managed to escape the worst of the madness, despite some major cuts to research funding. This relatively privileged situation has not stopped Princetonians from debating, discussing, and defending academic freedom at Princeton.
