Princeton Free Speech News & Commentary

Alexandra Orbuch
Princeton Tory

Excerpt: Over the past two weeks, I have had a lot of conversations with classmates, friends, and other Princetonians. In a heartwarming show of support, many of my non-Jewish friends reached out to let me know that they have been thinking of and praying for me, my family, and my people. Over 400 people gathered together for an Israel vigil to honor the memory of those who perished at the hands of Hamas and to express support for the State of Israel just last Thursday.

Despite the immense light brought to Princeton and its Jewish community by students like these, there has also been darkness. Some classmates I spoke to refused to condemn Hamas and attempted to persuade me that if I were Palestinian, I would understand that Hamas’ actions could be justified in pursuit of liberation.

Guest Contributors
Daily Princetonian

Excerpt: We write as bereaved members of the Princeton community — faculty, students, alumni, and staff — to express our unequivocal outrage over the tragic loss of Israeli and Palestinian lives during the past week as the region seems to careen uncontrollably towards an all-out regional conflagration. There is never any justification for the targeting of civilians, whether it be assaults on Israeli towns or the aerial bombardment and total siege of the Gaza Strip.

Julie Bonette
Princeton Alumni Weekly

Editor’s note: Yale Law School’s gain of Professor Whittington, a leading champion of and scholar of free speech and academic freedom, is Princeton’s loss.

Excerpt: After more than 25 years on Princeton’s faculty, politics professor Keith Whittington announced Oct. 16 that he will be leaving Princeton to join Yale University next fall as a professor of law and director of a new free speech and academic freedom center.

“I think in this particular moment in time, really trying to fully understand and defend academic freedom principles is terribly important, certainly to the university community, but I think to the country more generally, and I’m optimistic we can do some exciting things there,” Whittington told PAW.

American Council of Trustees and Alumni

Excerpt: On October 17, 2021, Princeton University alumni Stuart Taylor, Jr., and Edward Yingling published a call to arms in the Wall Street Journal, decrying the illiberal intolerance gripping academia and heralding the rise of a grassroots alumni movement aimed at restoring free speech and academic freedom on American college campuses.

Julie Bonette
Princeton Alumni Weekly

Fifteen academics convened by Princeton’s James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions are going beyond the well-known “Chicago Principles” in protecting free speech on college campuses by creating their own “Princeton Principles.”

Elazar Cramer and Yonah Berenson
Daily Princetonian

Excerpt: On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorists from the Gaza Strip killed, raped, kidnapped, and wounded thousands of innocent civilians in Israel’s Southern District on the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah. They took over one hundred and fifty civilians hostage, including American citizens, and they have threatened to begin executing them.

It brings us only distress to detail these horrific events, but we must because too few on this campus have expressed the repugnance that these murders must prompt.