President Eisgruber and ACLU’s Romero urge incoming students to embrace free expression

August 31, 2023 1 min read

Denise Valenti
Princeton Office of Communications

Excerpt: Anthony Romero was once a Princeton undergraduate struggling with how to confront hurtful speech he experienced on campus. Today, as executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, he zealously defends Americans’ right to use that same kind of speech.

Romero traced his journey during an Orientation event on Tuesday for first-year students where he joined President Christopher L. Eisgruber to explore the importance of academic freedom and free expression on campus. The event marked the second consecutive year Eisgruber has led an Orientation session on the topic.

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Also in Princeton Free Speech News & Commentary

Israel’s Ambassador to the U.S. Gives Lecture on Israel and Anti-Semitism

April 23, 2025 3 min read

By Marisa Warman Hirschfield ‘27

On April 22nd, Yechiel M. Leiter, Israel’s Ambassador to the U.S., delivered a lecture entitled “The Demonization of Israel and the Rise of Anti-semitism” to approximately seventy-five attendees in McCosh 10. The event was co-sponsored by Chabad, the Center for Jewish Life, B’Artzeinu, and Princetonians for Free Speech. Around twenty P-safe officers and Free Expression Facilitators populated McCosh courtyard in advance of the talk. Every entrance was monitored by security, and fences were set up outside the lecture hall as boundaries for protestors. I attended in my capacity as a Writing Fellow for PFS.

The talk began with an announcement about free expression rules. An administrator shared that disruptions to the lecture might constitute a violation of university policy, subject to disciplinary action and New Jersey trespass law. After a brief statement by Danielle Shapiro, the president of Princeton’s pro-Israel group B’Artzeinu, Leiter took the stage, fresh off a trip to the State Department. As he spoke, protesters could be heard from outside, chanting “shame” and “free Palestine” for the duration of the event.  

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Commentary: Who’s self-censoring at college now?

April 23, 2025 1 min read

Isaac Barsoum 
Daily Princetonian

Excerpt: The idea that conservative students are forced to self-censor has dominated right-wing discourse about universities ever since. Princeton professor Robert P. George wrote last year about the topic, arguing that “self-censorship among students, and even faculty members, has become a common feature of campus life.” Recently, outside agitator Christopher Rufo went on The New York Times’ podcast The Daily and said “I actually know quite a few members of the Princeton faculty, some of whom are conservatives … [who] don’t even feel comfortable stating their opinions in public.”

But now, liberals are being arrested for, it seems, their speech. Four weeks ago, the Trump administration detained Rumeysa Öztürk seemingly because she wrote an op-ed in the name of Palestinian freedom.

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Talk with Israeli ambassador met with protests and increased PSafe presence, but no disruptions inside

April 22, 2025 1 min read

Kian Petlin 
Daily Princetonian 

Excerpt: Two weeks ago, former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett visited campus to protests and a full lecture hall. His talk was interrupted several times, including by a walkout and a fire alarm — a remarkable spate of disruptions that prompted a University investigation, a public apology from University President Christopher Eisgruber ’83, and even a stand-alone editorial in The Wall Street Journal.

On Tuesday, another prominent figure in Israeli politics — this time the Israeli ambassador to the United States — came to give a talk. This time, he was met by a scaled-down audience, a smaller protest, and no disruptions inside — as well as a small army of Public Safety (PSafe) officers, University security, and free speech coordinators to ensure nothing went awry.

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