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February 2, 2026
Dear PFS Subscribers and Friends,
2026 has started with a bang. “Viewpoint diversity” is in the news. What is its role in protecting the knowledge-generating and truth-seeking mission of America’s universities? Please see our Special Feature, an original article by PFS’s Edward Yingling and Leslie Spencer, The Next Campus Battle after Free Speech: Viewpoint Diversity at America’s Elite Universities.
Also see an important new book Viewpoint Diversity: What It Is, Why We Need It, and How to Get It, forthcoming next month from Heresy Press. It is a collection of essays by some of the country’s leading heterodox thinkers who confront the rise of orthodoxy on both the left and the right.
And our Quote of the Month is from a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed, Is a Four-Year Degree Worth It? by the President of Dartmouth Sian Leah Beilock, who makes an urgent call for university leaders to take action now to “reform ourselves.”
Happy New Year from PFS!
A Special Feature
The Next Campus Battle after Free Speech: Viewpoint Diversity at America’s Elite Universities
By Edward Yingling and Leslie Spencer
Princetonians for Free Speech Editorial
"The last two years have seen a dramatic increase in the scrutiny of free speech and academic freedom on university campuses, largely in response to the protests that followed the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel and the Israeli invasion of Gaza. There has been important progress during this period that bolsters awareness of the importance of free speech and academic freedom principles. For example, in the last year, many university leaders, including the Presidents of Princeton, Stanford and Cornell, have given speeches and undertaken initiatives to promote open inquiry and academic freedom on their campuses. However, progress on these core values will mean little if there is not a major effort to address a pressing long-term and deeply embedded problem – the almost total lack of viewpoint diversity among faculty at many universities."
New Book of Interest
Viewpoint Diversity: What It Is, Why We Need It, and How to Get It
Co-edited by John Tomasi and Bernard Schweizer, with a forward by Jonathan Haidt
“Viewpoint diversity seems to be on everyone’s lips these days—yet few can agree on what it actually means. Is it about confronting academia’s dearth of conservative scholars? Is it a political slogan or the equivalent of race, gender, and class inclusivity? Or is it something deeper—a commitment to intellectual freedom and open inquiry in an age of polarization?
In Viewpoint Diversity: What It Is, Why We Need It, and How to Get It, today’s leading heterodox thinkers come together to clarify one of the most contested ideas of our time. Defending pluralism across society, politics, academia, and the arts, this timely collection confronts the rise of orthodoxy on both the left and the right—and offers practical pathways for rebuilding dialogue across lines of difference.”
Articles of Interest
Is a Four-Year Degree Worth It?
If colleges and universities want families to answer ‘yes’, they’ll need to make some changes on campus.By Sian Leah Beilock (Dartmouth University President), Wall Street Journal, January 25,2026(See quote of the month below.)
They Wanted a University Without Cancel Culture. Then Dissenters Were Ousted.Inside the Civil War at the anti-woke university backed by Bari Weiss.
By Evan Mandery, Politico, January 16, 2026
How Colleges Can't Tear Us Apart
By David French, New York Times, January 25, 2025
Four Scholars Agree, Disagree, and Agree to Disagree on Viewpoint Diversity
By Len Gutkin, The Chronicle of Higher Education, January 16, 2026
Americans Overwhelmingly Agree On What Universities Should Focus On
When values conflict, the public prioritizes “academic excellence.”
By Joseph Klein, Free the Inquiry, January 19, 2026
Garber Faults Faculty Activism for Chilling Campus Debate and Free Speech
By Hugo Chiasson and Elise Spenner, The Harvard Crimson, January 3, 2026
Quote of the Month
Sian Leah Beilock, President, Dartmouth College
Families across the U.S. are questioning whether a four-year degree is worth it. Student debt has soared. Recent graduates are struggling in a rapidly changing job market. Colleges can also be too ideological: On many campuses, students are exposed to a limited range of perspectives, signaling to them what rather than how to think.
American higher education has a trust problem. We shouldn’t pretend otherwise, and it won’t solve itself. In 2026 I’d like to see colleges and universities across the country take steps to restore trust. As president of Dartmouth College, I’m committed to this goal, and how to restore public confidence in higher education animates conversations among my presidential peers. …
Next month, I’ll join other university presidents at a summit in Washington hosted by the Association of American Universities to continue the conversation about how universities can take responsibility and be held accountable for our actions. I hope we’ll move beyond defensiveness and talk of federal compacts and instead take action.
We should leave the table having made specific commitments. We won’t agree on everything. One size won’t fit all. But we must agree that the status quo is untenable. If we’re willing to reform ourselves—to listen, change and recommit to our core mission—we can again be a trusted engine of the American dream, scientific breakthroughs and the global economy. This work can’t wait. It starts now, with us.
From Is a Four-Year Degree Worth It?
If colleges and universities want families to answer ‘yes’, they’ll need to make some changes on campus.
By Sian Leah Beilock, Wall Street Journal, January 25, 2026
Support PFS
Princeton should be a place where ideas are freely debated and students and professors can discuss controversial topics without fear. Preserving that environment requires a persistent presence pushing back. That’s PFS.PFS stands as the only independent organization of alumni and friends dedicated to holding Princeton University accountable on free speech, academic freedom, and viewpoint diversity. Our 2025 PFS Annual Report shows our impact; please consider a year-end gift by clicking HERE. Every dollar defends free speech at Princeton!
The academic year is at an end, but two major studies are keeping higher education in the spotlight:
New FIRE study finds narrowing range of political views among faculty donors
The study finds that donations to political candidates from faculty at top universities have become increasingly one-sided, with the range of opinion becoming concentrated on the left.
PFS’s response, How does Princeton Compare? explains Princeton’s ranking of 13 out of the 55 university faculties studied.
The second study, drily entitled “Report on the State of Scholarship in the Humanities and the Humanistic Social Sciences” has set off a firestorm of reaction among humanities faculty and professional organizations such as the American Association of University Professors (AAUP).
On Sunday, May 24, Princetonians for Free Speech (PFS) hosted a breakfast at the Nassau Inn — and despite dreary skies outside, the energy inside couldn't have been brighter. About 70 alumni, current students and other free speech supporters turned out for what proved to be an engaging and inspiring morning.
PFS leadership set the stage with organizational updates from Co-founder Ed Yingling '70, President & CEO Todd Rulon-Miller '73, and Executive Director Angela Smith — including the exciting news that PFS has grown to over 26,000 email subscribers (20,000 of whom are Princeton alumni). This represents remarkable growth from just 1,400 two years ago, showing a momentum that was on full display during this packed event.
PFS’s featured editorial this month is Yale Issues clarion call for change, joining other leading universities. Where is Princeton? We put Yale’s report in the context of the growing consensus amongst a widening circle of University Presidents that President Maurie McGinnis is correct. University leaders must take responsibility for their role in reaching this critical point. President Eisgruber is not among this list of reformers.
If you want to know more about why Princeton is not leading this movement to restore trust in higher education,link here to a comprehensive Five-Part Review of President Eisgruber’s book, Terms of Respect, How Colleges Get Free Speech Right, written for PFS by Tal Fortgang ‘17.
