Princeton Free Speech News & Commentary

Commentary: Agents of Change in the Era of Trump

March 31, 2025 1 min read

John Tomasi 
Free the Inquiry, Heterodox Academy 

Excerpt: On January 20, I wrote a letter to President Trump outlining ways that his administration might enact federal polices to support HxA’s mission. My suggestions included: ending political litmus tests in the hiring and promotion of faculty; implementing Title IX regulations that prevent discrimination without infringing on academic freedom or due process; navigating campus unrest while protecting free speech; and thoughtfully addressing antisemitism on campus.

Within a few weeks, however, we campus reformers found ourselves living in a very different reality.

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Commentary: Princeton, it’s time to reflect, not to blame

March 31, 2025 1 min read

Thomas Tao 
Daily Princetonian 

Excerpt: For too long, we have willfully ignored the rationale behind the antagonism that many of the 77 million Americans who re-elected Trump feel for academia. Now, more than ever, we must listen to the public on what we think are closed debates and be open to research spurred by those new ideas.

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Statement on the Deportation of Noncitizen Scholars and Students

March 31, 2025 1 min read

Academic Freedom Alliance 

Excerpt: It is a grave threat to the mission of American universities if international scholars and students fear removal from the United States based on little more than their expression of views disfavored by people holding public office. Academic freedom is a condition of the robust exchange of ideas that drives the pursuit of knowledge in colleges and universities, and everyone in an academic community must be equally protected in their academic freedom.

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Commentary: The Disqualifying Hypocrisy of Princeton’s President

March 29, 2025 1 min read

Bill Hewitt
National Review

Excerpt: Once again, Princeton University’s president, Christopher Eisgruber, has taken to the friendly waters of The Atlantic. In his call to action on the part of universities and their leaders, Eisgruber correctly affirms “the rights of faculty members to pursue, publish, and teach controversial ideas.” Further, he makes an unintentionally noteworthy disclosure. The author’s biography mentions his forthcoming book, Terms of Respect: How Colleges Get Free Speech Right. The cruel irony is that Eisgruber’s deeds at Princeton got free speech outrageously wrong.

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Eisgruber addresses endowment challenges at annual Princeton Council Meeting

March 27, 2025 1 min read

Luke Grippo and Irene Kim 
Daily Princetonian 

Excerpt: An hour after the Council of the Princeton University Community (CPUC) meeting on Monday, March 24, President Christopher Eisgruber ’83 addressed the Princeton town community to address the state of higher education, the University endowment, and ways to maintain collaboration between the town and the University. 

The Princeton Town Hall Meeting is an event held annually by members of the Princeton Council in collaboration with Eisgruber, with the goal of facilitating open communication between the University and the town.

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Commentary: Public intellectuals owe their institutions courage. Do not obey in advance.

March 27, 2025 1 min read

Frances Brogan 
Daily Princetonian 

Excerpt: In his 2017 book “On Tyranny,” an analysis of America’s anti-democratic shift under Trump, Yale historian Timothy Snyder implores his audience, “Do not obey in advance.” “Most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given,” he writes, arguing that those who adjust their behavior to fit the demands of an oppressive regime are “teaching power what it can do.”

But this week, Snyder and two other Yale professors, Marci Shore and Jason Stanley, announced that they are leaving Yale and joining the University of Toronto’s faculty. While Snyder and Shore, a married couple, attributed their departure to personal reasons, they accepted the positions at Toronto after the November presidential election.

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