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Sasha Malena Johnson
Daily Princetonian
Excerpt: Donning “Butler Bee” antennae, I joined the many students fighting for camera attention as I waited for Opening Exercises to begin. After a long orientation, I was excited to take part in a seemingly monumental and ancient rite of passage at Princeton. What I did not expect was the level of religiosity.
While Princeton was founded by Presbyterian pastors, it has always been a secular institution — a legacy best upheld by secular Opening Exercises. According to the most recent Frosh Survey from The Daily Princetonian, around 45 percent of the Class of 2028 identifies as agnostic or atheist. In consideration of the significant numbers of Princeton students who do not identify as religious, the University should move towards secular Opening Exercises.
The last two years have seen a dramatic increase in the scrutiny of free speech and academic freedom on university campuses, largely in response to the protests that followed the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel and the Israeli invasion of Gaza. There has been important progress during this period that bolsters awareness of the importance of free speech and academic freedom principles.
However, progress on these core values will mean little if there is not a major effort to address a pressing long-term and deeply embedded problem – the almost total lack of viewpoint diversity among faculty at many universities.
On Jan. 5, the University released its annual Report of the Treasurer. Following a tumultuous year for higher education across the country, the report emphasizes the University’s lab partnerships with federal departments, close ties to active-duty soldiers and veterans, and involvement in AI and public service.
The report, entitled “In the Nation’s Service,” comes after approximately $200 million in research-specific funding was suspended last year by the Trump administration, then partially reinstated over the summer.
Princeton is an undemocratic place. Its premier open deliberative body, the Council of the Princeton University Community (CPUC), is fraught with attempts to filter legitimate dialogue and debate between various campus interests. Indeed, as my colleague Siyeon Lee argued last fall, CPUC meetings “mostly functioned as a Q&A, the decision already made, and the damage already done.”
However, in just under two weeks, at the upcoming Feb. 9 CPUC meeting in the basement of Frist Campus Center, the University community — students, faculty, and staff — will have a rare opportunity for unfettered access to University President Christopher Eisgruber ’83.
