Wrestling With the Free Speech Question

From Princeton Alumni Weekly, March 2024: Columnist Fareed Zakaria argued in a CNN video that universities have become “institutions pushing political agendas.”

Princeton President Eisgruber ’83 rejected this critique not by examining the facts and reality of the situation but, instead, by brushing off the critique as the work of those with “dewey-eyed nostalgia, baleful ignorance, or an ideologically-driven determination to erase history.”

To which an observer must respond by comparing his statement to the shell game in which the question “Where is the pea?” is asked. 

It seems to me the answer to the free speech question on campus is obvious: “Don’t ask, don’t tell.”

I say this because every argument about Israel and the Palestinians, about the nation’s history of racism, about abortion, about Trump, about Biden, and about all the other issues that have divided the nation are voiced with fervent conviction. A conviction that inevitably demonizes the other side.  

Human psychology has demonstrated consistently throughout history that emotions take priority over rational thinking when the fight or flight response is involved. Emotions that almost always translate into aggression. It is for this reason that U.S. diplomatic efforts around the world have consistently failed to resolve conflicts in all the years since World War II. It is interesting that the U.S. has not, in any strategic sense, won any of its large number of wars during those 79 years. On the contrary, most of them have resulted in U.S. defeats. Even today, we dismiss Putin’s stated reasons for his invasion as mere propaganda, thus dismissing the fact that he really believes what he has been saying. True or not, the point is that emotions rather than rational thinking are the forces driving the issues that divide us so profoundly.

In the Navy there has long been a policy that officers should not discuss religion, politics, or women with their colleagues. This policy is the only solution for the universities because they are responsible for creating a harmonious atmosphere on campus.