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Princetonians for Free Speech will restore freedom of speech, academic freedom, and viewpoint diversity at Princeton University by establishing, educating and empowering a nonpartisan community of alumni to demand Princeton embrace these core values, while supporting faculty and students who join our cause.
At Princetonians for Free Speech, we envision a world where higher education fully and fearlessly embraces the principles of free speech, academic freedom, and viewpoint diversity so students will graduate as well-rounded, critical thinkers who can become the leaders of tomorrow that our country needs.
Free Speech Rankings
Move Princeton to the top 25% in the FIRE speech rankings, including improving Princeton to a “green light” rating
Reduce the current 60+% student "fear" to speak out on issues down to 25%
Strengthen support for on-campus Free Speech groups
Support student group events and initiatives that promote academic freedom and free speech
Assist in increasing membership in all groups
Make Free Speech a permanent part of Freshman orientation
Achieve greater free speech content on campus (orientation, curriculum, etc.)
Have Princeton adopt the Kalven report, or equivalent policies
Empower alumni to communicate support for free speech to the Princeton administration
We work closely with faculty and student groups supporting free speech, academic freedom, and viewpoint diversity. In September of 2022, we, along with a group of Princeton faculty and students in the Princeton Open Campus Coalition formed the Princeton Free Speech Union, the first formal group on any campus bringing together alumni, faculty, and students to support free speech. Keep reading...
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Some of the most important voices of our generation are being silenced and canceled. Answer the call to help us return academic freedom to Princeton.
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A “red light” institution has at least one red light policy that both clearly and substantially restricts freedom of speech.
On November 12, former ACLU Legal Director David Cole delivered the annual Tanner Lecture on Human Values. His talk, entitled “A Defense of Free Speech from Its Progressive Critics,” drew a crowd to the Friend Center. Cole has litigated several major First Amendment cases and currently serves as a law professor at Georgetown. A self-identified progressive, Cole explicated an argument in favor of the First Amendment.
Cole outlined the main progressive critiques of the First Amendment. “What unites these critiques is the sense that the First Amendment is too protective at the cost of another very important value in our society: equality.” He also acknowledged the progressive skepticism of free speech’s “core demand” of neutrality – the idea that the government “must be neutral as to the content and viewpoint of speech when it is regulating private speakers.”
On Jan. 2, the Office of the Vice President for Campus Life released a set of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) regarding a new University policy regulating audio and visual recording. The policy classifies any recording made at events deemed private — where not all participants have consented — as “secret or covert,” placing such recordings in violation of University rules.
However, recording at public events, such as advertised public speaker events, is permitted unless the speaker, performer, or party hosting the event explicitly states otherwise. “The policy does not cover meetings open to all current members of the resident University community or to the public,” according to the FAQ website.
Last month’s issue of the Princeton Alumni Weekly (PAW) fawns over Michael Park ’98, a right-wing lawyer and, since 2018, a U.S. circuit judge. Park’s portrait commands the cover, while the accompanying long-form profile, titled “The Contender,” speculates that he could become Donald Trump’s next nominee to the Supreme Court. The author is P.G. Sittenfeld ’07.
But Sittenfeld is not just any old journalist. Last May, President Donald Trump pardoned Sittenfeld, a one-time rising star in Cincinnati politics, following his conviction on federal bribery and extortion charges in 2022. Sittenfeld, a Democrat, owes his freedom to Trump — the man who nominated his subject Park to his judgeship, and the man with the power to elevate Park further to the nation’s highest court. Nowhere does PAW disclose this striking conflict of interest.
