Supporting Students Free Expression

Jamie Saxon
Princeton Office of Communications

Excerpt: In his third year leading an Orientation session on academic freedom and free expression, President Christopher L. Eisgruber encouraged transfer and first-year students to make the most of the “transformative” opportunity they’ll have at Princeton to meet and learn from others with whom they disagree.

Annie Rupertus
Daily Princetonian

Excerpt: Nassau Hall has long been an iconic location for campus protests.

Princeton’s website on systemic racism uses an archival photo of a student protester in front of Nassau Hall as the cover image for its page celebrating campus activism. The building has served as the site of numerous protests that successfully spurred change at the University on issues such as racism, ethnic studies, the Vietnam War, Title IX reform, and more.

Thomas Catalano
Daily Princetonian

Excerpt: Regan Crotty ’00 will serve as Princeton’s new dean of undergraduate students, according to a University announcement made July 15. Crotty will now lead the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students (ODUS), which is responsible for co-curricular and extracurricular aspects of student life.

Crotty brings to the role a decade of experience serving in various capacities at the University. After graduating from Princeton in 2000, she went on to earn her law degree from the University of Chicago Law School before returning to Princeton as an ODUS investigator, responsible for investigating alleged violations of University policy. Following that role, she was Interim Executive Director for Planning Administration in the Office of Vice President for Campus Life (VPCL) where she managed travel oversight, supervised ROTC and Outdoor Action, and represented the VPCL on various committees.

Jess Deutsch
Princeton Alumni Weekly  

Excerpt: While 120 hostages remained captive and the death toll in Israel and Gaza continued to rise, President Christopher Eisgruber ’83 described the last year as the “most turbulent and difficult on college campuses in the U.S. since the late 1960s.” With world news weighing heavily this spring and campus protests broadcasted widely, I wondered about the impact of the war and protests on the mental health impact Princeton students and alumni.

At Princeton’s encampment, students seemed to talk within their own bubbles or make statements using a megaphone. Students, faculty, and staff often walked by, heads down. As the semester was ending, more than one student who had no involvement told me they couldn’t wait to leave campus, scared to say the wrong thing. I worried about the conversations that didn’t happen.

By Ed Yingling '70
PFS Co-Founder

The Princetonians for Free Speech (PFS) second annual survey of Princeton students is now available. This survey provides information on student attitudes on key free speech issues. Because the survey is being done annually, comparisons can be made to see if Princeton is making progress. Unfortunately, with three important exceptions, on most issues the survey shows little or no progress from the troublesome results in the first survey. In a few cases, the results are worse than last year. Clearly Princeton still has work to do.

Christopher Bao and Annie Rupertus
Daily Princetonian

Excerpt: Two seniors will have their degrees held in relation to the pro-Palestine walkout at Eisgruber’s annual Reunions address in Richardson Auditorium last Saturday, May 25. They will still be able to attend Commencement on Tuesday, May 28. At least one other student — an underclassman — is also under investigation in relation to the disruption of the address.

Princeton Israeli Apartheid Divest (PIAD) posted on X at 6:32 p.m. on Monday, May 27 that “at least two Black seniors are having their degrees withheld” for participation in the walkout, and claimed that “they were not given any disciplinary warnings” throughout the protest.