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Ryne Weiss
FIRE
Excerpt: The first step to solving a problem is admitting you have one. In his new book Terms of Respect: How Colleges Get Free Speech Right, Princeton University President Christopher L. Eisgruber reports on FIRE’s data on free speech and First Amendment norms on campus while making no effort to understand it and misusing the data of others. In other words, he’s skipped that first step — and now Princeton is tumbling down the staircase.
IMHO, what is so striking is the alternative universe in which Eisgruber resides. It is one in which, for some time now, he fails to see the damage he is doing to Princeton’s and the university’s reputation, combined with the alienation of other university presidents. Seemingly, the environment in which Eisgruber resides contains an oxygen level similar to that at 15,000 feet. Eisgruber appears to be balancing himself at the top of a sharply pointed obelisk, alone and vulnerable to prevailing winds.
https://www.chronicle.com/article/a-princeton-presidents-evasions
https://www.aei.org/op-eds/princeton-president-melts-down-rejects-responsibility-for-campus-anti-semitism/
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/08/trump-university-presidents/683803/
https://www.nationalreview.com/2025/03/the-disqualifying-hypocrisy-of-princetons-president/
https://reason.com/volokh/2025/08/11/the-university-presidents-who-want-to-fix-universities-before-they-get-fixed/
https://www.city-journal.org/article/princeton-university-president-christopher-eisgruber-anti-semitism-racial-discrimination
FIRE was founded by two of my Princeton ’64 classmates who went on to Harvard, where one received a law degree (Harvey Silverglate) and the other a history PhD (Alan Kors). I am proud to call them friends.
The Princeton chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) met Monday afternoon for a discussion surrounding academic freedom and the Trump administration’s attacks on higher education.
Fewer than 30 faculty members attended the meeting, compared to the over 50 members present at the chapter’s inaugural meeting. Faculty members reformed the Princeton chapter of the AAUP last March amid attacks on higher education from the Trump administration. Since then, they have convened monthly to discuss updates and to identify threats to higher education.
Four years ago, a user on a subreddit for Princeton asked, “What are some easy but interesting distribution requirement fillers for LA, SA, EM, EC? I’m basically asking for the humanities side of ‘rocks for jocks.’” This sentiment remains widespread at Princeton. During course selection periods, I often encounter inquiries on apps like Reddit or Fizz about easy classes to fulfill Princeton’s distribution requirements.
It’s time we say the quiet part out loud: many Princeton students are gaming the system. Rather than exploring the foundations and methodologies of a broad range of disciplines, they’re engineering the narrowest possible encounters with classes outside of their comfort zone and interests.
Every so often, the complexities of the world break through the orange bubble that is Princeton University. There are occasional reminders of the world outside, like the pro-Ukraine flag-waving event outside FitzRandolph Gate, reminding us that a major conflict in Europe is still ongoing four years later. Even as a veteran, it still feels like something happening in a remote place. It was only when I attended the European Cultural Studies (ECS) Faber Colloquium, a requirement for the European Studies minor I am pursuing, that I reflected on Europe’s significance and the debt Princeton as an institution owes to Europe, from its architecture to its precept system.
Doug Hensler '69
November 05, 2025
Corrected:
IMHO, what is so striking is the alternative universe in which Eisgruber resides. It is one in which, for some time now, he fails to see the damage he is doing to Princeton and the university’s reputation, combined with the alienation of other university presidents. Seemingly, the environment in which Eisgruber resides contains an oxygen level similar to that at 15,000 feet. Eisgruber appears to be balancing himself at the top of a sharply pointed obelisk, alone and vulnerable to prevailing winds.
https://www.chronicle.com/article/a-princeton-presidents-evasions
https://www.aei.org/op-eds/princeton-president-melts-down-rejects-responsibility-for-campus-anti-semitism/
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/08/trump-university-presidents/683803/
https://www.nationalreview.com/2025/03/the-disqualifying-hypocrisy-of-princetons-president/
https://reason.com/volokh/2025/08/11/the-university-presidents-who-want-to-fix-universities-before-they-get-fixed/
https://www.city-journal.org/article/princeton-university-president-christopher-eisgruber-anti-semitism-racial-discrimination