Make the Board of Trustees Transparent

April 21, 2023 1 min read

Make the Board of Trustees Transparent

by Alex Norbrook, Daily Princetonian

Princeton’s Board of Trustees rules the University. Trustees determine the University’s contested investment decisions, direct campus architecture and design, elect the president, and oversee faculty appointments. Through it all, these 39 individuals claim to wield impartial and apolitical judgment in their decision-making, having taken an oath to perform their duties “faithfully, impartially, and justly.” The University envisions trustees as unbiased, apolitical, and benevolent in their capacity to make decisions.

However, the Board sabotages this aspiration by blocking transparency and public participation during its deliberations. Furthermore, trustees employ the aura of impartiality to shut out voices of the school community by weakening Alumni and Young Alumni trustee elections and barring representation from the wider community. These factors make trustees unaccountable to the community they purport to serve and weaken their legitimacy.


Leave a comment


Also in Princeton Free Speech News & Commentary

Censorship at Princeton

November 13, 2025 1 min read

Chris Cleveland, Substack

Excerpt: In the September issue of the Princeton Alumni Weekly (PAW), there was a remarkable article. Alumni participation in Annual Giving had dropped dramatically over the last decade. This is a four-alarm fire -- not only for financial reasons, but because alumni participation is a key indicator for the national college rankings.

Read More
University denies Piegaro’s demand, motions to dismiss complaint

November 13, 2025 1 min read

Luke Grippo
Daily Princetonian

Excerpt: Nearly two years after tumbling down the steps of Whig Hall and being charged for simple assault and trespassing, seven months after he was found not guilty of the final remaining charge, and two-and-a-half months after he sued the University and Assistant Vice President for Public Safety Kenneth Strother over the incident, David Piegaro ’25 finally has Princeton’s response to his lawsuit: They want to dismiss it. 

The response, submitted on Nov. 12 by University lawyer Lawrence S. Lustberg, asks the court for a pre-motion conference in advance of filing a motion to dismiss the complaint or, alternatively, immediate leave to file a motion to dismiss.

Read More
New policy will broadly prohibit recordings of University settings, events without explicit approval of all attendees

November 11, 2025 1 min read

Cynthia Torres and Benedict Hooper
Daily Princetonian

Excerpt: The Council of the Princeton University Community (CPUC) voted overwhelmingly on Monday to prohibit any recording of a broad category of campus activities without the permission of all participants, with few exceptions. 

“Princeton prohibits the installation or use of any device for listening, observing, photographing, recording, amplifying, transmitting or broadcasting sounds or events occurring in any place where the individual or group involved has a reasonable expectation of being free from unwanted surveillance, eavesdropping, recording or observation without the knowledge and consent of all participants subject to such recordings,” the policy reads.

Read More