Igor Pak's blog

The readers of this blog know know that I stay away from non-math related discussions. It’s not that I don’t have any political opinions, I just don’t think they are especially valuable or original. I do however get triggered by a clear anti-Semitism, discrimination of Jews by the universities, and by personal disrespect. The story below is a strange mixture of these.

As I was visiting the IAS in Princeton, I had the dubious fortune to attend a speech by Christopher Eisgruber last week. Eisgruber has been Princeton’s President since 2013 and a long time Princetonian. To say I was disappointed is to say nothing — I was appalled by the condescension and the lack of empathy. But I think President Eisgruber left feeling that it was a successful event. Let me set the scene first before I explain what happened.

Last Saturday was Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, the day of atonement and repentance. This is also a day of remembering the dead, and there were a lot of deaths to remember this year. This is also a day to recognize rising antisemitism and pray for peace.

President Eisgruber was invited to speak at the Jewish Center, Princeton’s leading Conservative congregation. I think he was invited not as an expert on Constitutional Law (which he is), but as a President of a major research university with a sizable Jewish community that has been suffering for the past year and is in desperate need of healing.

It seems, President Eisgruber had not noticed. The speech he chose to give was on freedom of speech and how great (well, excellent!) Princeton is doing in that regard (oh, joy!) And how happy and satisfied was the Princeton Jewish community in the past year (wait, what? really?)

President Eisgruber explained at great length the importance of free speech, including the offensive speech. That it’s vital for productive debate. That as a private university Princeton could do more, of course, but he is absolutely uninterested in policing speech beyond constitutional requirements.

Now, I spent over 30 years in academia in the US, so I heard it all before. Probably everyone in academia has. It’s fine in the abstract. The reality is different. By now, everyone on a major university campus is well familiar with universities’ proclivities towards protecting one kind of speech and not protecting the other. Eisgruber’s speech was epitome of this hypocrisy, highlighted by the setting and aggravated by insensitivity of his answers.

During the Q&A, President Eisgruber clarified that all those anti-Israel slogans like “from the river to the sea…” and “globalize the intifada” that were heard on campus are nothing to worry about. Because you see, they have a committee which looked at those slogans and concluded they are not anti-Semitic, at least not always (depending on the context, perhaps?) Because even The New York Times (apparently, a reputable authority on the subject) concluded that these slogans mean different things to different people, so it’s all good. In fact, he continued,

I sincerely believe that even the majority of those who said these things are not anti-Semitic.

Whether he believes it’s ok to have an anti-Semitic minority on Princeton campus was never clarified.

At this point President Eisgruber hedged and said that “we must remember” that it’s not about whether the Jewish community is offended, but rather whether the speech is constitutionally permissible. Without ever disclosing his personal views, he double-hedged and mentioned one Middle Eastern scholar at Princeton, who suggested that these slogans are simply in bad taste. And like all things Princetonian, that scholar must be the world’s leading authority (I am paraphrasing).

President Eisgruber then triple-hedged and mentioned that he “promised to the general council” to say that those who are still aggrieved should not ask him (“I don’t decide these things”), but rather can again petition that all-powerful committee presiding over permissible speech. He slyly smirked at the audience and suggested that if we lose that’s also ok, because being offended is just part of life…

When a brave Princeton faculty asked for his views on speech against other marginalized communities, he was unable to get out of the hole he just dug for himself. So he chose to lie. He said he would be ok to have such an offensive speech, that it really doesn’t matter against what community is the speech. Not a soul in the audience believed him, obviously, even the 13 year olds knew better.

Asked to give examples, he stiffened for a second, but then started stalling. He recalled a booth on a sidewalk which spewed ani-gay propaganda at students. He admitted that of course that booth was on public property, so even if he wanted to shut it down he couldn’t. But even if he could, maybe he wouldn’t, that even though he hated that speech, it was allowed under the Constitution, although it did make bad news at the time, but that’s ok. Ugh… At that point, the answer lasted long enough for the audience to forget what was the question, which was the intent I presume.

Most appallingly, President Eisgruber explained to us that apparently the Princeton Jewish community is “thriving”. Are you sure that Princeton students are any different in their views from the UC students, Mr. President? Although this is his first time ever giving a talk in a synagogue (he thought he was bragging, I think), he “had seen student surveys” which proved that

Last year, the Jewish students at Princeton were more satisfied than in previous years.

He didn’t give any numbers, so it’s hard to know what level of satisfaction is he even talking about. How bad exactly were these numbers to begin with, that they hadn’t significantly dropped? Please make them public, so we can take a look! For example, in 2022 UCLA did make their surveys public and we can easily read the bottom of this table:

What President Eisgruber is saying is so much contrary to common sense, you have to be blind, deaf and have no access to social media to believe that. A simple Google search would suggest that Princeton Has Become a Hostile Place for Jews and produce this report card. There is even an official Title VI investigation by the US Department of Education into into Princeton over alleged antisemitism on campus. Great job, Mr. President!

I would be amiss to say that President Eisgruber showed no empathy at all. He did, when he lamented:

I feel so bad for presidents of other universities who had to testify for three hours under bright lights!

I don’t think either of these presidents were in the audience, but I am sure they would have appreciated the sentiment. (Full disclosure: UCLA former Chancellor Gene Block also testified to the House Committee.)

Now, university presidents are basically politicians. Good politicians know how to read the audience and can fake empathy. Bad politicians recycle old speeches written for donors and dwell on tedious legal details. Clearly, President Eisgruber is either a really terrible politician, or has been at the job for so long that he simply stopped caring.

I have several theories of what happened. Maybe he thought that his story of a Holocaust survivor grandfather would give him cover to say anything. Or maybe he thought that this was a private event closed to outsiders, and these Princeton Jewish folks are just too invested in the community to voice a protest. Or maybe he just loves Constitutional Law and has nothing else to say. Perhaps, all of the above.

But my favorite theory is that he thought he was helping. Clearly, after you tell people who are suffering “don’t feel bad” they will feel an instant relief, right? Because, you see, whatever we are feeling is not Princeton University’s fault, it’s all fault of the ever so binding US Constitution…

I hate to speculate if President Eisgruber gives the same kind of speeches to other marginalized communities. But if that’s the case, maybe it’s time to follow all those “other university presidents” and resign. Let us grieve and suffer in peace without you lecturing us on how we should feel and admonishing us for wanting equal treatment or just to feel safe on campus.

You clearly care a great deal about the law, Mr. President, so maybe you can get back to doing it full time? Please leave the presidency to someone who has at least an ounce of empathy.