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PFS Editorial
May 19, 2026
Princetonians for Free Speech (PFS) today announced a landmark achievement: its email subscriber list has officially surpassed 26,000 verified subscribers, approximately 80% of which are alumni, representing one of the most significant milestones in the organization's history since its founding in late 2020. This high number represents a highly engaged network of supporters committed to preserving the fundamental value of free speech at Princeton.
Why are alumni subscribing to PFS? The landscape of higher education remains in flux. At a time when the principles of open inquiry and free expression are increasingly debated on campuses across the country, PFS stands as a meaningful and growing voice for reform. Princeton's standing in FIRE's 2026 College Free Speech Rankings reflects the urgency: the university ranks 160 out of 257 schools and still earns a grade of "F", even as it moves up from prior years. Alumni have a unique ability to help shape the future of Princeton. PFS promotes objective facts and information, engages students and faculty, and has become the leader in alumni free speech advocacy.
Of the 26,000 subscribers, approximately 80% are alumni (roughly 20,000). That represents approximately 29% of all undergraduate alumni and 21% of all post-graduate alumni. The remaining 20% (approximately 6,000) include parents, spouses, faculty, staff, and general supporters, reflecting PFS's expanding reach well beyond the alumni base. These figures were validated through a comprehensive database project completed in early 2026.
The growth of PFS's email community tells a compelling story. At its inception in late 2020, the organization had 1,400 email subscribers. Between December 2024 and December 2025, the list grew from 1,444 to 16,500 — and has since surpassed 26,000 today. PFS's outreach to subscribers has become a major source of needed awareness of the diminished free speech climate at Princeton. This growing subscriber community is also PFS's most valuable strategic asset: a direct, trusted channel to thousands of Princeton alumni and supporters who can be informed, engaged, and mobilized on the issues that matter most to the future of the University.
"Twenty-six thousand subscribers is not just a number. It is a testament to how deeply this community cares about the principles that make Princeton great, as well as the issues of free speech, viewpoint diversity and academic freedom," said Todd Rulon-Miller ‘73, President and Treasurer of PFS.
If you believe in free inquiry at Princeton, now is the time to make it official: add your name alongside 26,000 alumni and supporters by joining PFS's subscriber community today.
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Prestigious universities and leading state schools across the nation have embraced viewpoint diversity by building new institutions—civic education centers and the like—which are simultaneously on yet apart from the campus. Harvard has quietly taken a different tack. Over the past several months, the university’s top brass have been asking major donors for $10 million gifts to endow new professorships under the banner of “viewpoint diversity.” Provost John Manning, a scholar often associated with the conservative legal movement, has led the effort, aiming to place between 20 and 30 new faculty across schools and departments rather than siloed in a standalone institute.
Why Harvard would need additional funding for this is an open question, but putting that partly aside, we ought to ask what to make of this unique initiative. It stands a chance of being either the most consequential reform attempt in elite higher education this decade, or a sophisticated piece of reputation management serving double duty as a clever fundraiser. Which one it turns out to be depends on whether Harvard has thought carefully about what viewpoint diversity means, and whether it intends to execute in line with a considered answer.
Are some schools better at fostering intellectual diversity than others? The study clearly reveals that the most elite universities are among those with the least ideological diversity. Princeton is ranked 13 out of the 55 in the study, with its faculty slightly more ideologically diverse than, for instance, UC Berkeley, Brown, Dartmouth and Harvard, and slightly less diverse than Stanford, Cornell, UCLA or Georgetown.
There is little doubt that this study provides another opening for politicians and critics to attack higher education, perhaps in unfair ways. Princeton could help neutralize this by joining those reform-minded university leaders in the now burgeoning effort to regain the public’s trust in higher education.
A federal judge ruled last month that the National Endowment for the Humanities’ (NEH) termination of more than 1,400 grants in April 2025 had violated the Constitution on several counts. Princeton researchers await the effects of the verdict, which ordered that the NEH must rescind its termination notices.
