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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.
1. In a stunning abrogation of academic freedom and free speech core principles, the University of Pennsylvania has severely sanctioned, though not fired, Law Professor Amy Wax.
Princeton ProfessorRobert P. George had this to say on X: “The Academic Freedom Alliance (@AFA_Alliance) joins @TheFIREorg and @HdxAcademy in condemning the hypocrisy and double standards of the University of Pennsylvania in the Amy Wax case. Our nation's three leading academic freedom organizations are, as usual, standing together for robust freedom of thought, inquiry, and discussion on campus.” Anticipating that Amy Wax will sue her employer, Professor George added, “The case will take time to make its way through the courts, but she will in the end prevail. It would serve Penn right if the result were one the magnitude of which made an example of the University to deter this sort of behavior by other institutions.”
See“Penn Professor Amy Wax Punished for ‘Inconvenient Facts’” by Peter Zavodnik, The Free Press, September 25, 2024In a stunning abrogation of academic freedom and free speech core principles, the University of Pennsylvania has severely sanctioned, though not fired, Law Professor Amy Wax.
2. This month FIRE released its 2025 College Free Speech Rankings. It drew from over 58,807 students at 257 US colleges and universities. Princeton, along with University of Chicago, Harvard, Yale, Stanford and Berkeley are featured in the report. Princeton ranks “below average” at 223. See Princeton’s details and links to FIRE’s methodology.
3. University of Chicago News reports that an anonymous donor has given the The University of Chicago Forum for Free Inquiry and Expression $100 million to advance its mission to “promote the understanding, practice and advancement of free and open discourse.” Founded only last year, this Forum’s activities have had an impact nation-wide.
A priority at PFS is to promote an alumni movement that encourages Princeton to become a national leader in restoring academic freedom and free speech in higher education. President Eisgruber might consider founding at Princeton an institute of similar stature and funding to the University of Chicago’s Forum. Considering Princeton’s continuing dismal performance in FIRE’s free speech rankings, there’s a good chance that Princeton’s loyal donors would turn their attention and their largesse to supporting such an initiative. It could jump-start PFS’s recently-released Top Ten recommendations to Princeton’s leadership to help restore a culture of free speech, open discourse and viewpoint diversity on campus.
AFA Statement on Penn’s Suspension of Amy Wax - Academic Freedom Alliance
… “The AFA calls on Interim Penn President J. Larry Jameson to reconsider his decision to impose the harsh sanctions recommended by the Penn Hearing Board, rescind Provost John L. Jackson, Jr.’s public letter of reprimand, and demonstrate that Penn intends to earn back the respect it has lost over the past few years.”
Heterodox Academy Statement on Sanctions Against Law Professor Amy Wax
… “Penn’s decision to disregard Wax’s academic freedom sets a precedent that undermines the ability of faculty across the country to speak on matters of public concern as they see fit.”
How Free Speech Failed at Harvard — and How to Rescue It
Academic freedom must be free from politics.
By Ryan D. Enos, Chronicle of Higher Education, September 27, 2024
Some Penn affiliates applaud Amy Wax sanctions — while others warn of free speech implication
By Elea Castigleone and Ethan Young, The Daily Pennsylvanian, September 26, 2024
Don't be disoriented: activism's value does not lie in resistance
By Abigail Rabieh, The Daily Princetonian, September 18, 2024
Opinion | A Princeton Professor’s Advice to Young Conservatives
By Princeton Professor Robert P. George, The New York Times, September 22, 2024
Campus Protest Encampments Are Unethical - The Atlantic
By Conor Friedersdorf, The Atlantic, September 16, 2024
University Cancels Panel Because Author Is a ‘Zionist’
‘Refusing to participate on a panel with a Zionist is a bare-assed excuse for anti-semitism.’ For state-funded colleges it also might be illegal.
By Joe Nocera, The Free Press, September 23, 2024
How Harvard Divinity Teaches Hate
I attended the country’s first nonsectarian theological school and got an unexpected immersion in the antisemitism overtaking higher education.
By Robert L. Friedman, The Free Press, September 23, 2024
Group behind affirmative action ban says decline of Asian students is evidence of discrimination.
By Aaron Sibarium, The Washington Free Beacon, September 17, 2024
59 Fewer Jobs and $17 Million in Cuts: How a University System Got Rid of DEI
By Jasper Smith, Chronicle of Higher Education, September 11, 2024
Answers to 12 Bad Anti-Free Speech Arguments
By Gregg Lukianoff, Quillette, September 12, 2024
Cass R. Sunstein, law professor at Harvard University and the author of “Campus Free Speech: A Pocket Guide” published this month by Harvard University Press. Photo by Rose Lincoln
Harvard Law School Professor Cass R. Sunstein gave the Constitution Day lecture at Princeton on September 17, hosted by the Walter E. Edge Princeton University Public Lectures. We will let you know when this memorable event is available on YouTube. In the meantime here is an excerpt from Professor Sunstein’s recent essay in the New York Times that covered the same ground.
“There have been intense debates about whether antisemitic speech, as such, should be banned on campus, and about the right definition of antisemitic speech. With the new academic year starting alongside a looming presidential election, we can expect protest activity on a host of issues, raising fresh questions about free speech on campus.
To answer those questions, we should turn to the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which states that Congress “shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech.” Those words provide the right foundation for forging a new consensus about the scope and importance of free speech in higher education.
As a rallying cry, that consensus should endorse the greatest sentence ever written by a Supreme Court justice. In 1943, Justice Robert H. Jackson wrote, “Compulsory unification of opinion achieves only the unanimity of the graveyard.”…
To be sure, we can imagine hard questions here. The First Amendment provides a framework, not an algorithm. And religious schools and military academies have distinctive missions, which might justify special rules.
Still, freedom always deserves the benefit of the doubt. The educational mission does not give colleges and universities a green light to punish speech that their alumni, their donors or influential politicians abhor or perceive as harmful. As Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. put it, “we should be eternally vigilant against attempts to check the expression of opinions that we loathe and believe to be fraught with death.”
Colleges and universities exist for one reason above all: to promote learning. They are democracy’s greatest arsenal. They do not need the unanimity of the graveyard. They need the noisy, teeming pluralism of living communities that search for truth.”
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,
This week is Orientation for new students at Princeton. Students, faculty and staff are, no doubt, on edge. The encampment on Cannon Green and the arrests for criminal trespass of Clio Hall are fresh in everyone’s memory. Despite clear and intentional actions that broke Princeton’s rules of conduct and its core commitment to free expression and respectful disagreement, the administration struggled to respond clearly.
This moment requires clarity from Princeton’s leaders on the rights and responsibilities concerning free speech, academic freedom, respect for viewpoint diversity and rules of civil discourse.
Princeton boasts robust free speech protections and rules around peaceful protest. But principles and rules “on paper” are not enough. Specific actions need to be taken to regain the practice of a true liberal education, which is by necessity rooted in free expression. Diverse perspectives are what empower students to engage in challenging ideas and learn from respectful disagreement. Threats and harassment are not part of what free expression means. Princeton has a long way to go to embed core principles into the everyday experience and outlook of students, faculty and administrators. As students return to campus, we present The PFS Top Ten – the ten most important reforms Princeton’s leadership should consider.
To Princetonians for Free Speech Subscribers, members and friends,
While the nation is gripped by the uncertainty of the Presidential race, what’s happening in higher education may not be a focus of attention. But plenty is going on, even in July. Four surveys published this month track trends that have direct impact at Princeton and most universities in the country. The surveys featured here measure the following: 1) the radical decline of public confidence in higher education, 2) the dramatic rise in student and faculty concern about censorship and self-censorship post-October 7, 3) the dismantling of DEI programs, and 4) the lack of student knowledge of their country’s government and history. As universities including Princeton prepare to welcome students to campus next month, the results of these surveys will shape campus experience.
We also remind our subscribers of PFS’s own survey published in June – the second annual poll of Princeton students. Follow the link to see the results, and PFS’s recommendations for improving the campus free speech and academic freedom climate at Princeton: Princetonians Student Free Speech Survey Shows More Work Needs To Be Done.
