Defending Core Values

Published online Oct. 23, 2017

President Eisgruber’s explanation of his practical approach to “when and how I speak to public controversies” prompted me to wonder about the broader question of how much a great university is called on to risk in defense of its core values. When the powerful betray those values, expedience provides multiple rationales for silence. Historically, when that silence appears to have resulted from mere political or economic calculation, we have judged it to be morally repugnant.   

So when mendacity, intolerance, and willful ignorance gain a dangerous foothold in our popular and political cultures, what should we expect from Princeton?