Princeton Free Speech News & Commentary

Olivia Sanchez
Daily Princetonian

Excerpt: On Sept. 5, the University retracted its decision to ban protests on the front lawn of Nassau Hall. Cannon Green and the Prospect House grounds remain off-limits locations to protest.
According to University spokesperson Jennifer Morrill, the change was made because the walkways in front of Nassau Hall “have long been an approved protest site.”

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By Princetonians for Free Speech
PFS original content

President Eisgruber and his administration appear to have made a very good start on the new academic year. They conducted a first-year orientation that sent all the right messages on free speech, academic freedom, respect for diverse viewpoints, and the need for the university and its departments to avoid taking institutional positions on controversial public issues. They did the same in a new website on free speech which provides clarity on the free speech rules and where students should go with questions and concerns.

Olivia Sanchez
Daily Princetonian

Excerpt: The first Princeton class admitted following the Supreme Court decision banning race-conscious affirmative action has experienced little change in racial diversity, according to enrollment statistics released by the University on Wednesday.

In an emailed statement to The Daily Princetonian regarding how the numbers managed to stay stable, University spokesperson Jennifer Morrill wrote, “We can’t speak to the admissions processes of other institutions, either before or after the Court’s ruling. At Princeton, we are adhering to the limits set by the ruling and continuing to use a holistic admission process that involves a highly individualized assessment of the applicant's talents, achievements and his or her potential to contribute to learning at Princeton.”

Christopher Bao and Miriam Waldvogel
Daily Princetonian

Excerpt: Following the first day of classes, pro-Palestine organizers held the first protest of the academic year. Around 150 demonstrators attended, touring many of the major sites of Princeton’s “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” from the spring semester, starting the march on McCosh Courtyard before moving to the front of Clio Hall and Nassau Hall.

The protest comes amid a newly launched University website on protests addressing frequently asked questions regarding time, place, and manner restrictions, including tightened protest regulations. The newest rules introduced were a recurring topic of the protest, although administrators have asserted that the website introduces no significant changes to the University’s rules.

Judah Guggenheim
Daily Princetonian

Excerpt: In Princeton Israeli Apartheid Divest (PIAD)’s 66-page proposal for divestment, there is not a single mention of Hamas, unless you count the titles of articles in the footnotes (which I don’t). The proposal references “Israel’s response,” but never explicitly mentions the horror of the Oct. 7 attacks that Israel is responding to or the fact that the terrorists who carried them out are deliberately hiding in places of worship, schools, and private homes. Israel is currently fighting a war against a terrorist organization that indiscriminately killed, raped, tortured, and kidnapped over 1400 people of many nationalities. That sentence should break your heart.

But the PIAD proposal gives no indication as to how boycotting or divesting from Israel will lead to a better future for Palestinians, because it never addresses what that future will actually look like.

Jamie Saxon
Princeton Office of Communications

Excerpt: In his third year leading an Orientation session on academic freedom and free expression, President Christopher L. Eisgruber encouraged transfer and first-year students to make the most of the “transformative” opportunity they’ll have at Princeton to meet and learn from others with whom they disagree.