Keep Holding the Line

Dear President Eisgruber:

The Trump administration’s demands of various universities under threats to their federal funding are not rooted in the proffered concerns about, e.g., antisemitism at Columbia University or transgender athletes at Penn, but rather, are driven by a lust for control and suppression of dissent in the academic universe generally, as instructed by the authoritarian playbook.

Thank you for holding the line, which will become more difficult yet even more important as the administration increases its extortionate pressure and as others capitulate. As you stated in your recent PBS interview (paraphrased), once you start making concessions, it is difficult to stop. Indeed, as the appetite driving the administration’s threats and demands is authoritarian, it is by definition voracious and insatiable. I anticipate, but loathe, watching as Columbia University eventually realizes that its concessions have failed to quench that appetite.

As you stated in that same PBS interview, academic freedom is a fundamental principle of universities. I, for one, can say it is the primary reason for which I attended Princeton and for which I have made Annual Giving contributions over the years, modest as they may be. I must posit, if Princeton’s bountiful endowment (of which it is rightly so proud) does not enable the school to defend academic freedom against the financial threats of the glorified schoolyard bully that is the collective Trump administration, then what good is it?