Editor's note: Princetonians for Free Speech (PFS) held a well-attended breakfast and panel discussion at the Nassau Inn on May 28, the Sunday of Reunions. The discussion was moderated by PFS co-founder Ed Yingling and the panelists were co-founder Stuart Taylor, Treasurer Todd Rulon-Miller, Director of Outreach and Communications Kaleigh Cunningham, and graduating seniors Abigail Anthony and Myles McKnight, who are PFS board members. Topics included the precarious state of free speech at Princeton today and PFS's efforts to prevent removal of the statue of John Witherspoon, who was arguably Princeton's most important president and a signer of the Declaration of Independence, among other distinctions, because he owned two slaves which, new historical research suggests, he probably emancipated before his death.
City Journal
Excerpt:
Princeton University, like all Ivy League schools, has sunk more deeply into administrative activism over recent years. The school maintains a robust Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) bureaucracy, with more than six DEI employees per 1,000 students. The school also displays several other activist commitments that distract it from its educational mission—most notably, Princeton’s decision to intervene in the Students for Fair Admissions case at the Supreme Court in favor of affirmative action.
Elizabeth Hu
Daily Princetonian
Excerpt: University President Christopher Eisgruber ’83 addressed conflicts between free speech and censorship on college campuses during a discussion at the Princeton Public Library on Monday. He was joined in conversation by Deborah Pearlstein, Director of Princeton’s Program in Law and Public Policy.
He also addressed the difference between censorship and controversy through a reference to Judge Kyle Duncan, who was invited to speak at Stanford Law School in 2023. Duncan’s talk was interrupted by student protesters throughout and was eventually cut short. “That’s real censorship,” Eisgruber said. “It made it impossible for a speaker that some people on campus wanted to hear to be heard, and that should be recognized.”
Rodrigo Menezes
Daily Princetonian
Excerpt: Recently, Princeton University announced a policy that would require members of eating clubs and co-ops living in University housing to buy a second meal plan, costing about $900 a year. I, along with all the other members of the Graduate Interclub Council (GICC), believe that this policy would be disastrous for Princeton’s undergraduate experience.