Having spent most of the past 20 years in the free speech movement, I highly recommendThe Future of Free Speech. It gives a good birds-eye view of modern speech trends in the free and unfree world alike, where authoritarian countries have become more authoritarian and liberal democracies less liberal and democratic. The U.S. remains the gold standard, but the book leaves me wondering if we have the political will to keep it that way.Below are some of my key impressions and takeaways from the book.
Princetonians for Free Speech (PFS) today released a first-of-its-kind study showing that 98% of reported political contributions by current Princeton faculty went to Democratic candidates or affiliated groups during the 2023-2024 election cycle. Independents and their affiliated groups received 2% of contributions, while Republicans and their affiliated groups received none.PFS said the findings point to a near-total absence of viewpoint diversity among the university's faculty.
It’s time for conservative faculty to stop “keeping their heads down until tenure.” Universities need bold, excellent conservative scholars—not undercover ones—to strengthen their institutions. Having worked at a free-market think tank before academia, my sympathies were clear. Yet as the only openly right-wing faculty member in my college, I earned tenure, served as program director, and became department chair. Here is my advice.
Last year at an event hosted by the DC Center of Princeton’s School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA), the host of NPR’s “Weekend Edition Sunday” Ayesha Rascoe asked President Eisgruber if today’s students are “fragile flowers who can’t deal with anything challenging their preconceived notions?” In response, Eisgruber shared that he in fact has observed quite the opposite.
The truth about free speech on college campuses and in civic discourse in American society is more complex than individuals’ inability to handle opposing viewpoints. In reality, it is external complications that influence whether an individual decides to speak openly about a belief or position they hold. Students and leaders are consistently weighing whether openly expressing their opinion is worth the political, social, or financial repercussions that could arise as a result.
Can universities be reformed? Princeton’s Professor of Mathematics Sergiu Klainerman is a pessimist. In the absence of powerful external pressures, reform from within is “very close to zero” due to what he sees as the deep corruption of the universities’ core mission.
Klainerman was born in Romania and graduated from the University of Bucharest in 1974. He earned his PhD in Mathematics at NYU in 1978 and has taught at Princeton since 1987. A MacAurther Fellow (1991) and Guggenheim Fellow (1997) he was awarded the Bôcher Memorial Prize by the American Mathematical Society in 1999 "for his contributions to nonlinear hyperbolic equations."
Klainerman presented his bleak perspective on the state of higher education in an address at the recent opening of the University of Iowa’s Center for Intellectual Freedom, a new institution dedicated to the study of civics.
The George Washington University law professor and prominent legal commentator says our study confirms what many already suspected about Princeton's faculty.
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s civics school has been controversial since early 2023, when the campus Board of Trustees called to “accelerate” its development before faculty even knew it was underway. The board’s then-chairman said on Fox News he was trying to “remedy” a lack of “right-of-center views” on campus.
The university said it selected the international law firm K&L Gates last summer to review “allegations and concerns” regarding the school. Over more than seven months, the review team analyzed hundreds of thousands of documents and interviewed dozens of people. The report is complete, reportedly at a cost of $1.2 million and running more than 400 pages. But the university is refusing to release any of it—despite calls from students, faculty and media to at least reveal some contents.
Last month, Yale University released a striking report acknowledging that public trust in higher education is eroding — and that universities themselves bear responsibility. The report’s authors offer a candid recognition of the depth of this crisis, citing a recent Pew Research Center poll indicating that 70% of Americans believe higher education is heading in the wrong direction.
Reports like Yale’s point to real issues: cost, transparency and questions about academic culture. But recognition is not the same as a reckoning.
Collin Binkley
Associated Press
Some of the country’s most prestigious colleges are enrolling record numbers of low-income students — a growing admissions priority in the absence of affirmative action.
At Princeton University, this year’s freshman class has more low-income students than ever. One in four are eligible for federal Pell grants, which are scholarships reserved for students with the most significant financial need. That’s a leap from two decades ago, when fewer than 1 in 10 were eligible. “The only way to increase socioeconomic diversity is to be intentional about it,” Princeton President ChristopherEisgruber said in a statement. “Socioeconomic diversity will increase if and only if college presidents make it a priority.”
Jennifer Jennings
Daily Princetonian
Excerpt: Universities are the enemy. Or so we’ve been told.
So let me take you behind enemy lines to my undergraduate lecture course of about 100 students, called “Schooled: Education, Opportunity, and Inequality.” It’s cross-listed in Sociology and the School of Public and International Affairs, which is already a red flag to those who use “woke” as both adjective and diagnosis.
Cynthia Torres
Daily Princetonian
Excerpt: At the Council of the Princeton University Community (CPUC) meeting on Monday, Eisgruber was confronted with queries on the Trump administration and University governance from several students who had skirted the committee’s rules on submitting questions on advance.
The first question came from Vasanth Visweswaran ’28, who asked Eisgruber how he could use his position as chair of the Association of American Universities (AAU) to “defend all members of the University community from the recent Trump administration attacks on free speech, funding cuts and threats for deportations.”
Elisabeth Stewart
Daily Princetonian
Excerpt: Princeton released its fourth annual diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) report on Thursday, Jan. 30. The report, which covers the 2023–24 academic year, includes new data on the University’s DEI programming, partnerships with Native American and Indigenous initiatives, outreach to transfer and veteran students, and the fostering of belonging across faith-based identities.
The report’s release comes amid the latest onslaught of anti-DEI policies from the new presidential administration.
Bill Hewitt
Princeton Tory
Editor’s note: As the Naming Committee and the University approach the end of their deliberations on the vitally important decision whether to replace or remove the 10-foot bronze statue of the indispensable early Princeton president John Witherspoon (1768 to 1794), a signer of the Declaration of Independence, over his ownership of two slaves, we are featuring the latest of several articles (this one in the Princeton Tory) by Bill Hewitt ’74. The November 3 symposium, “Monuments, Memory, and the John Witherspoon Statue,” is the last scheduled public exploration of the issues. Hewitt has acquired encyclopedic knowledge of the historical facts, which he says show Withespoon to have been a heroic figure and enlightened for his time about slavery and its eventual abolition. The statue has stood in Firestone Plaza outside East Pyne Hall since being installed in 2001 under the leadership of Princeton President Harold T. Shapiro.
President Eisgruber has flagrantly failed his own stated standards of conduct – and abandoned his duties to the Princeton community. He refuses to prevent publication of multiple statements on University websites that falsely defame the reputation of John Witherspoon, Princeton’s indispensable early president and a founder of the United States. Moreover, these defamations’ profound misdirection about Witherspoon’s true relation to slavery have sown anguish and dissension across the University community.
Evan Goldstein and Len Gutkin
Chronicle of Higher Education
Robert P. George, the conservative legal scholar and moral philosopher, has spent the past four decades at Princeton University assiduously cultivating an ever-widening network of influence. For parts of the religious right, he’s an intellectual lodestar on issues including gay marriage, abortion, and stem-cell research. The Catholic journal Crisis once quipped that “if there really is a vast right-wing conspiracy, its leaders probably meet in George’s kitchen.”
Over the course of two interviews — the first conducted from his home and the second from his office on the Princeton campus — George discussed the risk of indoctrination from the left and the right, the need for a more ideologically diverse professoriate, and how academe made itself vulnerable to attack by the Trump administration. Our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Nikoloz Inashvili
Daily Princetonian
Excerpt: Princeton’s sweeping new policy passed Nov. 10 that would ban recordings in most settings without the consent of all participants will not take effect until Jan. 1, University spokesperson Michael Hotchkiss said in a statement.
However, there is still limited information about how the policy will be implemented, particularly regarding its enforcement and the scope of recording permissions. Hotchkiss wrote that “The University is preparing guidance on the implementation of this policy, which will be made available well ahead of the Jan. 1, 2026 implementation.”
Luke Grippo
Daily Princetonian
Excerpt: Nearly two years after tumbling down the steps of Whig Hall and being charged for simple assault and trespassing, seven months after he was found not guilty of the final remaining charge, and two-and-a-half months after he sued the University and Assistant Vice President for Public Safety Kenneth Strother over the incident, David Piegaro ’25 finally has Princeton’s response to his lawsuit: They want to dismiss it.
The response, submitted on Nov. 12 by University lawyer Lawrence S. Lustberg, asks the court for a pre-motion conference in advance of filing a motion to dismiss the complaint or, alternatively, immediate leave to file a motion to dismiss.
Ryne Weiss
FIRE
Excerpt: The first step to solving a problem is admitting you have one. In his new book Terms of Respect: How Colleges Get Free Speech Right, Princeton University President Christopher L. Eisgruber reports on FIRE’s data on free speech and First Amendment norms on campus while making no effort to understand it and misusing the data of others. In other words, he’s skipped that first step — and now Princeton is tumbling down the staircase.
Shilo Brooks
The Free Press
Excerpt: Last year, our reporter Frannie Block told me about a lecturer at Princeton who was teaching a class on “greatness,” firmly rooted in the classic books of the Western canon. He would open his course by telling students that if “the greatest thing, the best thing, the noblest thing about you on your deathbed is that you got into Princeton, you didn’t do it right.”
His name is Shilo Brooks, and when I got to meet him myself, we spoke for hours about the problem of America’s lost boys, the dramatic decline in book-reading, and how those two things are connected. So I am thrilled to announce today that we are launching his brand-new podcast Old School, which is about books and how reading them can make us better.
On with Kara Swisher
Excerpt: Universities and free speech are at the center of America’s culture wars. And since President Trump took office, higher education has been in the crosshairs — and Princeton University president Christopher Eisgruber is one of the few college leaders speaking out.
In this episode, Kara talks with Eisgruber about his new book, Terms of Respect: How Colleges Get Free Speech Right, and the growing attacks on universities, free speech, and academic freedom.
Robby George and Cornel West
FOX News
Excerpt: Union Theological Seminary professor Cornel West and 'Truth Matters' co-author Robert George join 'Fox News Sunday' to discuss the rise in political violence and the importance of civil political debate.
Jeffrey M. Jones
Gallup
Excerpt: Americans’ confidence in higher education has increased, with 42% saying they have “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in it, up from 36% in each of the past two years. At the same time, the share with little or no confidence has declined from 32% a year ago to 23% today.
This represents the first time Gallup has measured an increase in confidence in its decadelong trend. Confidence in higher education remains well below where it was in the initial Gallup measure in 2015, when a majority of 57% were confident.
Lily Halbert-Alexander
Daily Princetonian
Excerpt: In an otherwise insightful, hopeful, and at times even beautiful, piece in the New Yorker in April, Princeton Professor of History D. Graham Burnett makes one critical error: Compared to the rise of AI, he remarks, the Trump administration’s frightening invasions into university affairs seems like a “sideshow.”
Jia Cheng Shen
Daily Princetonian
Excerpt: In his editorial “What is a Princeton degree really for?” written this past spring, Joel Ibabao ’27 treated a Princeton education as a private asset meant to be optimized for one’s own gain. This approach correctly recognizes that “finding oneself” at college can only take precedence over positioning oneself on the job market if financial security is a given.
But these personal considerations — finding yourself or achieving economic security — should not be the only ones. What Ibabao misses is that a Princeton education is aided immensely by the generosity of the University endowment and broader social compact between the federal government and society at large. Those few of us privileged to come out with those elite degrees, thus, are deeply indebted to the public.
In many ways, Marisa Hirschfield ’27 represents the typical high-achieving Princeton student. A history major, Hirschfield writes for the Triangle Club and is interested in filmmaking and public interest law. Like many Princetonians, she identifies as politically progressive.
But where Hirschfield’s resume diverges from many of her classmates is that she serves as a writing fellow for Princetonians for Free Speech (PFS), a nonprofit founded by Stuart Taylor Jr. ’70 and Ed Yingling ’70 that seeks to promote free speech and academic freedom on campus. At Princeton, the free speech issue has been contested for the past several years but mostly involved conservative students who felt that they were being silenced or bullied for their views.
Amid the ongoing showdown between the Trump administration and the Ivy League, one university president has positioned himself as a leader of the academic resistance: Princeton’s Christopher L. Eisgruber.
Earlier this month, the Trump administration suspended hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer-funded grants to Princeton as part of its investigation into racial discrimination and anti-Semitism at the New Jersey campus. Eisgruber, though, was defiant, telling the New York Times that he’s “not considering any concessions” and calling for other university presidents to follow his lead.
Preston Ferraiuolo and Jerry Zhu
Daily Princetonian
Excerpt: Higher education is in trouble. Princeton is in trouble. After Tuesday’s announcement that the federal government suspended some of Princeton’s research grants, it’s clear that we’re already in the crosshairs. At Columbia, after the university appointed an administrative official to oversee an academic department in acquiescence to Trump administration demands, it appears that the integrity of academic freedom is also under attack.
Many university presidents have chosen to remain silent in the face of this attack on academia. Others, such as Michael Roth ’84 GS of Wesleyan University, have explicitly vilified the Trump administration. Rather than taking an overtly political stance against the administration, University President Christopher Eisgruber ’83 has chosen to take a principled stand against the most troubling facet of the recent grant suspensions: their impact on academic freedom.
Isaac Barsoum
Daily Princetonian
Excerpt: At a time when autocracy is rising nationwide, Princeton should respond with democracy here. For too long, the disciplinary and policy-making procedures at Princeton have been opaque and anti-democratic. We ought to move toward the democratization of internal processes, thereby affirming the importance of disciplinary due process and true community input in policy formation.
Guest Contributors
Daily Princetonian
Excerpt: Columbia University appears to have given in to the government’s anti-constitutional and autocratic attack on free speech and the rule of law. In the face of Project 2025-inspired demands from the Trump administration, Columbia expelled students and revoked degrees. On Friday, they announced further concessions, including, most concerningly to us, the removal of academic self-governance from the Department of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies.
Princeton, along with 59 others, is on a list of universities targeted by the administration. President Eisgruber has started the pushback, standing up on behalf of academic freedom and saying that the Trump administration is attacking higher education. Professors, students, other universities, and the public should join him.
Daily Princetonian Editorial Board
Daily Princetonian
Excerpt: Some institutions have been cowed by threats from the federal government. This acquiescence is dangerous. Complying with constitutionally contested directives before judges rule on their legality normalizes them. As Columbia’s example has taught us, even repeated concessions to the Trump administration won’t protect you. As an institution relatively insulated from financial shocks from the federal government, we have a unique responsibility to speak out. Even among the Ivy League, Princeton’s wealth, prestige, and historical reputation as the most conservative Ivy give the University unique influence.
Bill Hewitt ‘74
Tiger Roars, Substack
Excerpt: Why did Eisgruber’s administration thrust “Known and Heard” into the Memory Hole? Eisgruber’s slippery defense of the “Known and Heard” presentation remains posted on the Office of the President's website. Recently, a University spokesperson explained, “The Office of Campus Engagement decided to remove the site, given that it had not been used in programming or for educational purposes in several years.” The presentation’s unceremonious extinguishment signals a tacit admission by Eisgruber and company that the “Known and Heard” presentation had deep flaws and is no longer worth defending.
Still standing, but without a word of defense by its sponsor or President Eisgruber, is the profoundly flawed and damaging “John Witherspoon” essay by the Princeton & Slavery Project. This essay subverts Princeton’s mission for “the pursuit of truth . . . and the transmission of knowledge and learning to society at large.”
Isaac Barsoum
Daily Princetonian
Excerpt: On Jan. 27, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued a memo halting all federal grants and loans indefinitely. Justified as a measure to halt funding for “foreign aid, nongovernmental organizations, DEI, woke gender ideology, and the green new deal,” the Trump administration’s order threatened wide-ranging consequences, including for universities like Princeton.
Abigail Anthony
National Review
Excerpt: Kevin Kruse, a history professor at Princeton University, shared the following post on Bluesky this week:
“I’m at the Princeton Columbia MBB game, sitting next to one Columbia fan with a National Review hat and in front of another wearing a gold and white Trump 47 hat. I may need bail money later.”
A subpar lawyer might attempt to construe these comments as threats or incitement. Even though I've previously described Kruse's (now defunct) Twitter as "so far left that it makes Vox look conservative," I don’t think he seriously contemplated committing politically motivated violence.
Frank Strasburger
Daily Princetonian
Excerpt: As a former Princeton chaplain, I’m eager to respond to Sasha Malena Johnson’s thoughtful Opinion piece urging that Opening Exercises be made secular. While I’m sympathetic to much that she says, my own understanding of Princeton’s religious pluralism leads me to a different conclusion.
Raf Basas
Daily Princetonian
Excerpt: For centuries, Princeton has been the political and economic elite that America hates. Princetonians dominate Wall Street, with alumni earning some of Wall Street’s highest salaries. Princeton is far overrepresented in the top 1 percent, where 23 percent of Princeton students end up at the age of 34. Princeton is overrepresented in Congress, too. It’s difficult to name a set of “elites,” and not find a Princeton graduate among them.
This is concerning, because exit polls from the November election demonstrate that Princeton students prioritize neither the working class nor economic issues — we are not just elites, but elitists.
