July 1, 2024
To Princetonians for Free Speech Subscribers, members and friends,
The Princeton campus, and others, have quieted down for the summer. But the drama of recent months seems likely to resume this fall, and PFS will be keeping you posted.
PFS’s second annual survey of Princeton students, conducted by College Pulse, was released in early June. As PFS Co-Founder Ed Yingling ’70 wrote: “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.” Read More
Our very own Matthew Wilson '24 has been promoted to Programs Associate. Matthew joined our team over a year and a half ago as an undergrad, and we are excited to be working with him for another year before he heads to law school.
In other student news, Writing Fellowship applications are now open for the fall 2024 term. For instructions on how to apply, please head to our student portal.
Confidence in colleges and universities hits new lows, per FIRE polls
By Nathan Honeycutt, FIRE, June 11, 2024
Confidence in higher education has plummeted to its lowest level ever according to the results of two new national polls commissioned by FIRE and conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago.
Harvard’s ‘Abysmal’ Year Continues
By Samuel J. Abrams & Steven McGuire, Minding the Campus, June 17, 2024
Harvard’s year has been one for the history books. It ranked last in the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression’s annual college free speech survey, earning its own category of “abysmal.” It had quite possibly the worst response to Hamas’s October 7th terrorist attack on Israel in all American higher education.
Bureaucracy Is Eating Higher Education. Just Look at Yale
By Lauren Noble, National Review, June 27, 2024
In the last year alone, the university added nearly three times as many bureaucrats as undergraduates and twice as many bureaucrats as educators.
‘Momentum undeniably growing’: More elite colleges look to end DEI hiring mandates
By Katlyn Anderson, The College Fix, June 26, 2024
Yale, Columbia still use DEI in hiring as other elite colleges like MIT, Harvard abandon practice.
To Princetonians for Free Speech Subscribers, Members and Friends,
Happy Giving Tuesday from PFS! We are grateful for the support we've received over the past 4 years from alumni like you and many others. As our Special Feature this month, we are proud to present the PFS 2024 Annual Report, which showcases our achievements over this year. We hope you will continue to help us grow our reach and impact during this season of giving!
To Princetonians for Free Speech Subscribers, Members and Friends,
PFS hosted two events this month, one in Santa Barbara, California, and the other on campus. See details in the Special Feature below.
Additionally, our next PFS Inner Circle event is coming up. On November 21 at 4 pm EST Abigail Anthony '23, journalist and graduate students at Oxford University, will discuss free speech in journalism, her experience as a student activist, and more. You can event this event and all of our Inner Circle events by joining the Inner Circle subscription.
To Princetonians for Free Speech Subscribers, Members and Friends,
As the academic year begins at Princeton and on campuses throughout the country, an extraordinary array of newsworthy events has already occurred. In the wake of last semester’s sustained campus disruption and a contentious national election around the corner, this may be just the beginning. We start not with the usual one, but three Special Features.