The Ideal of the University
Philosophy Professor Jennifer A. Frey of the University of Tulsa delivered a lecture on October 21, 2025 titled “What is a University and How Can We Recover It?” as part of the James Madison Program’s Stuart Lecture Series on Institutional Corruption in America. Professor Frey explored the historical vocation of the university and the crisis […]
Columbia’s ‘Listening Table’ Band-Aid Can’t Heal Institutional Rot
Columbia University is trying, at least in part, to heal. Some students and faculty sincerely want to restore a sense of shared community after a year of turmoil. Others remain defiant and still steeped in the same antagonism, ideological rigidity, and anti-Semitism that poisoned campus life to begin with. The university’s latest experiment, the Listening […]
Stop Meeting Students Where They Are
Over the past several years, a common refrain in education has been that educators need to “meet students where they are.” Equally common is the promise to do just that—and we’re hearing it more and more in North Carolina. The idea of “meeting students where they are” is most commonly invoked in non-academic contexts… Continue […]
Turning the Tide: A Candid Conversation with Dr. Robert George
Princetonians for Free Speech recently hosted a timely conversation featuring Dr. Robert George, Director of the James Madison Program at Princeton University. In this wide-ranging discussion, Dr. George reflects on the principles that sustain a free and open university, civil discourse, moral courage, and the pursuit of truth amid growing polarization. The event, recorded on […]
U. of Virginia Will Adopt Trump’s Interpretation of DEI in Federal Deal
The University of Virginia on Wednesday reached an agreement with the Trump administration to suspend five investigations into allegations that the university’s diversity policies and programs violated civil-rights law. In a community message, Paul G. Mahoney, the interim president, announced that through 2028, UVa will send the U.S. Department of Justice quarterly updates on its […]
The Right Needs to Conserve Free Speech
The latest national battle over speech follows the assassination of Charlie Kirk. Jimmy Kimmel, a TV personality of modest talents, opined on his ABC show on Sept. 15 that the murderer was associated with the “MAGA gang”—which he wasn’t. The wrath of the right descended on Mr. Kimmel, who was suspended for a week, then […]
The Right Needs to Conserve Free Speech
The latest national battle over speech follows the assassination of Charlie Kirk. Jimmy Kimmel, a TV personality of modest talents, opined on his ABC show on Sept. 15 that the murderer was associated with the “MAGA gang”—which he wasn’t. The wrath of the right descended on Mr. Kimmel, who was suspended for a week, then […]
Manhattan Institute: US College Rankings
College shapes a student’s mind and character—for better or for worse. It forms the person you become. It educates—or miseducates. Yet rankings typically focus on factors that say little about how a school will influence your future. They tell you almost nothing about the content of the education, the campus environment, or the institution’s core […]
The University Elite, Reconsidered
The definition of an elite education has been undergoing revision of late, as top universities from Harvard to Columbia to Northwestern have too often betrayed their commitment to free inquiry on campus. A new ranking system aims to better capture excellence in key tenets of a college education. The Manhattan Institute’s City Journal looked at […]
Viewpoint Diversity Could Soon Be One-Sided
Viewpoint Diversity Could Soon Be One-Sided Higher ed critics say colleges lack viewpoint diversity. And to some extent that’s true. For decades faculty have skewed left politically. But there’s a problem with how we are—or are not—defining viewpoint diversity that could lead to less, not more, plurality on campuses. Much like God, money or Taylor […]
