James Huffman
Quillette
Excerpt: Efforts to censure campus speech have occurred in almost every American state. The problem is not new. Advocates of academic censorship would do well to review the arguments of our predecessors. A little book published 74 years ago, in 1949, by Harvard University Press provides an opportunity to do just that. While the book focuses on American history, its insights are of worldwide relevance.
by Olivia Sanchez, Daily Princetonian
Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Anthony Romero ’87 discussed the importance of the First Amendment at the final Princeton Progressive Law Society (PPLS) event of the 2022-23 academic year.
by Sally Satel, Persuasion
A foundational principle of truth-seeking is the norm of universalism: the concept that work must be judged on its own merits.
The North Carolina chapter of the American Association of University Professors released an open letter Wednesday opposing a slate of higher education-related bills the group says will threaten academic freedom, diversity efforts and non-partisan university governance.
Open Video of James Madison Program Panel Discussion on “The Fight for Free Speech at Princeton and Beyond” During 2022 Princeton Reunions configuration options
by Joshua Katz
The university claims it fired me for a long-past offense -- for which I was already punished -- but the truth should worry everyone.
by Scott Jaschik, Inside Higher Ed
The university cited “core values and Christian tenets.” The Supreme Court has indeed ruled that private and religious college need not recognize unions, but some colleges do recognize them anyway.
by Emily Bobrow, The Wall Street Journal
When the Philippine investigative journalist Maria Ressa won the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize, the committee called her “a fearless defender of freedom of expression” who “exposed the abuse of power, use of violence and increasing authoritarianism” of Rodrigo Duterte,
By Edward L. Yingling, Cofounder of Princetonians for Free Speech
INTRODUCTION:
It is now widely understood that for years many of our country’s colleges and universities have been losing their way; they are no longer bastions of the core values of free speech, open discourse, and academic freedom, nor are they focused on promoting learning and the advancement of knowledge. Instead, they have increasingly become focused on a specific agenda and advancing that agenda, in the process often repressing these core values.
Cancel culture is a myth. It’s brought to you by conservatives who want to malign higher education. The real danger to freedom at our universities is President Donald Trump and his Republican henchmen, who have tried to censor any speech they don’t like.
That’s what you’ll hear from a lot of my colleagues on campus. They’re right about Trump and the GOP, but they’re wrong about cancel culture. It’s alive and well. Look no further than last week’s controversy at Columbia University, where a forum about press freedom was called off because of objections to a student editorial.
Amelia Freund
Princetonians for Free Speech
My name is Amelia Freund and I am honored to be serving as President of the Princeton Open Campus Coalition (POCC) this year. An Army brat hailing from the DC-Maryland-Virginia area, I am a member of the great class of 2028, the Butler College Class Council, and the Politics Department. In high school I read On Liberty by John Stuart Mill several times over in my philosophy courses, each time I found it engaging and inspirational. I was particularly drawn in by Mill’s defense of free speech. He believed that for an idea to be true, it must be continuously discussed and debated, requiring broad protections for civic discourse. His argument resonated with me a great deal, and has carried me to countless engagements with freedom of speech since then, both in and out of the classroom.
Eyal Press
New Yorker
Excerpt: In 2005, a “working definition” of antisemitism was posted on the website of the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia, a research institute founded by the European Union. It described antisemitism, somewhat vaguely, as “a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews.”
On July 23rd, Columbia reached a settlement with the Administration which required it to pay the government two hundred million dollars over the next three years and to broaden its “commitment to combating antisemitism,” in exchange for having hundreds of millions of dollars in federal grants reinstated. Ten days earlier, Columbia had incorporated the I.H.R.A. definition of antisemitism into both its anti-discrimination policies and the work of its Office of Institutional Equity.
Michael C. Bender, Alan Blinder, Michael S. Schmidt
New York Times
Excerpt: Harvard University has signaled a willingness to meet the Trump administration’s demand to spend as much as $500 million to end its dispute with the White House as talks between the two sides intensify, four people familiar with the negotiations said.
According to one of the people, Harvard is reluctant to directly pay the federal government, but negotiators are still discussing the exact financial terms. The sum sought by the government, which recently accused Harvard of civil rights violations, is more than twice as much as the $200 million fine that Columbia University said it would pay when it settled antisemitism claims with the White House last week.
David French
New York Times
Excerpt: Like many of its conservative alumni, I have a complicated relationship with Harvard. I grew up in a small town in Kentucky, where I went to public school. I attended college at a small Christian university in Nashville. I never had a thought that I could attend Harvard Law School. But friends urged me to try. When I got in, it was so shocking that it felt miraculous. I knew it would change my life — and it did. It gave me some of my closest friends, it gave me career opportunities I couldn’t previously fathom, and it kindled in me a love for constitutional law. At the same time, the school had profound problems.
The more things changed, the more they stayed the same. In the 30 years since my graduation, the school has continued to change lives, and it has maintained one of the least tolerant cultures in American higher education.
by Stuart Taylor Jr. & Edward Yingling
National Review
Excerpt: Princeton University is tiptoeing toward canceling its greatest president and a founder of our nation in a process that its trustees and president Christopher Eisgruber accelerated on October 2 by announcing that they would leave the statue of John Witherspoon in its prominent place on Firestone Plaza — but probably only for now. The issue has been punted to the “Campus Art Steering Committee” to decide whether the statue should be moved, or removed.
by Edward Yingling
Real Clear Politics
Results of a new survey of Princeton students sponsored by PFS has just been released. Today Real Clear Politics published an article by PFS co-founder Ed Yingling that highlights the survey’s key findings
Elyse C. Goncalves and Akshaya Ravi
Harvard Crimson
Excerpt: Harvard Medical School canceled a planned Jan. 21 lecture on wartime healthcare and a subsequent panel with patients from Gaza receiving care in Boston in response to objections that students would hear from Gazans impacted by the war and not also Israelis.
Course instructors and students were notified Tuesday morning that the events — scheduled for that evening — would not be held. Medical School Dean George Q. Daley ’82 wrote in a Wednesday email sent to first-year students and obtained by The Crimson that his office began receiving complaints from students and faculty within days after the session was first publicized last week.
