Commentary: Princeton Professor Versus Right-Wing Hats

January 23, 2025 1 min read

Abigail Anthony
National Review

Excerpt: Kevin Kruse, a history professor at Princeton University, shared the following post on Bluesky this week:

“I’m at the Princeton Columbia MBB game, sitting next to one Columbia fan with a National Review hat and in front of another wearing a gold and white Trump 47 hat. I may need bail money later.” 

A subpar lawyer might attempt to construe these comments as threats or incitement. Even though I've previously described Kruse's (now defunct) Twitter as "so far left that it makes Vox look conservative," I don’t think he seriously contemplated committing politically motivated violence.

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Also in Princeton Free Speech News & Commentary

Letter to President Eisgruber on April 7th Protests

April 09, 2025 2 min read 4 Comments

April 9, 2025

Dear President Eisgruber:

We, the officers of Princetonians for Free Speech (PFS), are writing to express our organization’s very deep concerns about the disruption of the program featuring former Israel Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on April 7 and actions of severe antisemitism during and after that program.

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Commentary: Academic freedom is not mutually exclusive from supporting students

April 09, 2025 1 min read

Douglas Schleicher
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Excerpt: In thinking about the complex problem of academic freedom, the Princeton community must take care to avoid false dichotomies that could be harmful and restrict free speech. One such dichotomy is the idea that we can have either controversial academic inquiry or allow those impacted by that inquiry to speak up and be heard — but not both. 

In a guest contribution published on Thursday in The Daily Princetonian, Joan Scott falls into this precise trap. While defending the right to host this past Friday’s conference, entitled “The Anti-Zionist Idea: History, Theory, and Politics,” she simultaneously seeks to delegitimize and silence Rabbi Gil Steinlauf ’91 for expressing concern about its framing and impact, suggesting that his advocacy on behalf of Jewish students is somehow a threat to academic freedom rather than an exercise of it.

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Commentary: Paper Tigers? Princeton Faces Test Over Free Speech Following Disruption of Bennett Speech

April 09, 2025 1 min read

Jonathan Turley 
Jonathan Turley’s Blog

Excerpt: Three-fourths of Princeton students told one survey that they believed it was appropriate to shout down or deplatform speakers with opposing views.  That mistaken view of shout-downs as a form of free speech is obviously still prevalent on campus after a group of protesters stopped a discussion with former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. The question is whether Princeton will do anything about it or whether, when it comes to free speech, it will prove to be a mere paper tiger.

Princetonians for Free Speech have struggled to restore free speech on campus and they have had some success. However, this is an obvious test of that commitment. While some protesters wore masks, most did not. Any students who went inside the event to prevent Bennett from being heard should be suspended. Any faculty involved in such action should be terminated.

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