Commentary: Is There Any Hope for the Ivy League?

October 25, 2024 1 min read

Ted Balaker
The Coddling of the American Mind, Substack

Excerpt: Every time I think the Ivies are completely doomed, a ray of sunshine pierces the darkness. There’s Steven Pinker at Harvard. Randy Wayne
at Cornell, and at Princeton, there’s Princetonians for Free Speech (PFS).

Each has done so much to advance free speech, open inquiry, and viewpoint diversity, and each has been instrumental in bringing The Coddling movie to campus. Pinker, as well as Harvard Undergraduates for Academic Freedom, made our first Ivy League special screening possible. Wayne, along with the Cornell chapter of Heterodox Academy, made our second Ivy League special screening possible. And, along with along with Whig Clio, we have PFS to thank for our third Ivy League special screening.

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Also in Princeton Free Speech News & Commentary

Student Leaders Champion Free Speech as Princeton Open Campus Coalition Celebrates a Decade of Defending Expression

October 04, 2025 3 min read

Amelia Freund
Princetonians for Free Speech

My name is Amelia Freund and I am honored to be serving as President of the Princeton Open Campus Coalition (POCC) this year. An Army brat hailing from the DC-Maryland-Virginia area, I am a member of the great class of 2028, the Butler College Class Council, and the Politics Department. In high school I read On Liberty by John Stuart Mill several times over in my philosophy courses, each time I found it engaging and inspirational. I was particularly drawn in by Mill’s defense of free speech. He believed that for an idea to be true, it must be continuously discussed and debated, requiring broad protections for civic discourse. His argument resonated with me a great deal, and has carried me to countless engagements with freedom of speech since then, both in and out of the classroom. 

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Commentary: By the way, Fizz is not real life

October 01, 2025 1 min read

Isaac Barsoum 
Daily Princetonian

Excerpt: Leftists at Princeton cheer the assassination of Charlie Kirk — at least, that’s what you would think if you’ve been reading the Opinion section of this newspaper lately. On Sept. 17, Tigers for Israel President Maximillian Meyer ’27 declared that Princeton’s progressives exhibit “a willingness to cheer violence itself.” Princeton Tory Publisher Zach Gardner ’26 didn’t go quite so far, but did say that students “treat bloodshed flippantly,” at least in the context of Kirk’s assassination.

Here’s one problem: large portions of both their arguments rest on evidence drawn from Fizz. For the uninitiated, Fizz is a campus social media app where any Princeton student can say anything at all, true or false, behind the veil of anonymity. It is remarkable that I have to say this: Fizz is not real life.

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In ‘Terms of Respect,’ Eisgruber attempts to set the higher education record straight

October 01, 2025 1 min read

Cynthia Torres
Daily Princetonian 

Excerpt: About three-quarters of the way into an interview with The Daily Princetonian, University President Christopher Eisgruber ’83 made a bold pronouncement: “American universities are the best that they’ve ever been.”

Eisgruber has been in the business of speaking up for universities since the beginning of the Trump administration, which has put unprecedented pressure on Princeton and its peer institutions. His new book, “Terms of Respect,” argues, as the book’s subtitle reads, “how colleges get free speech right.” Despite the perception of intolerance on American college campuses, Eisgruber writes, colleges still host thriving and robust discourse.

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