Charlie Yale
Daily Princetonian
Excerpt: The Trump administration has used its power to marginalize transgender people to the point of rejecting the fact of their existence. If the Senate passes the language of H.R.28, legal protections against discrimination for trans students across the country could be in jeopardy, and the situation for trans students — including those on our own campus — could become far more dire than it already is.
That is why Princeton must take action to bolster resources and current protections for transgender students outside of Title IX as well as release a statement clearly condemning the legislation.
Robert P. George
American Enterprise
Excerpt: A disturbing trend I have observed over the course of my academic career is the general decline in classical education. The slow demise of classical learning—particularly in core liberal arts fields—has hit our universities hard, damaging an entire generation’s understanding and embrace of civic thought and classical wisdom.
Even our nation’s so-called “elite” institutions—such as Princeton University, my own academic home—have moved away from classical education. Most strikingly, Princeton’s Classics Department eliminated bedrock Latin and Greek language requirements for students majoring in classics as part of an effort to become more interdisciplinary and “inclusive.” At the same time, signs of hope are emerging—especially in the past few years.
Isaac Barsoum
Daily Princetonian
Excerpt: On Jan. 27, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued a memo halting all federal grants and loans indefinitely. Justified as a measure to halt funding for “foreign aid, nongovernmental organizations, DEI, woke gender ideology, and the green new deal,” the Trump administration’s order threatened wide-ranging consequences, including for universities like Princeton.
Vitus Larrieu
Daily Princetonian
Excerpt: An executive order signed by President Donald Trump and released on Wednesday, Jan. 29 calls for Princeton and other universities to “monitor” and “report activities by alien students and staff” for actions that constitute antisemitism.
The executive order gives various federal agencies — including the Department of Education — 60 days to create a list of all cases involving a university alleging civil rights violations related to antisemitism that occurred following the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. A Title VI case related to antisemitism at Princeton was opened by the Department of Education in January 2024, referencing chants at pro-Palestine protests in October 2023.
Frances Brogan
Daily Princetonian
Excerpt: This spring, Princeton imposed the kind of penalties that Giberson escaped on students involved in the Princeton Gaza Solidarity Encampment. Jordan Johnson ’24 was a bystander at a pro-Palestinian protest in the Richardson Auditorium that disrupted President Eisgruber’s Reunions address. Larry Giberson ’23 was an active participant in a violent insurrection intended to prevent the peaceful transfer of presidential power.
Yet in a blatant perversion of justice, Johnson had his Princeton degree withheld for over a week, and Giberson was quietly granted his diploma on time even after he’d been charged with six violations of the U.S. code.
Frank Strasburger
Daily Princetonian
Excerpt: As a former Princeton chaplain, I’m eager to respond to Sasha Malena Johnson’s thoughtful Opinion piece urging that Opening Exercises be made secular. While I’m sympathetic to much that she says, my own understanding of Princeton’s religious pluralism leads me to a different conclusion.