Uploaded October 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
As president of Princeton University, Christopher Eisgruber is among the highest-profile college leaders to publicly criticize the Trump administration for its attacks on higher education. He is a defender of the sector, arguing that colleges are far better at upholding free speech and more welcoming of diverse viewpoints than critics would suggest. The recent killing of Charlie Kirk, a conservative activist, has energized a national debate about the state of free speech on college campuses — both for conservatives like Kirk, and for faculty who have been sanctioned for speaking ill of Kirk in the wake of his death. None of this, though, changes Eisgruber’s fundamental view that colleges, for the most part, are actually quite good at facilitating tough conversations at a particularly polarized moment. It’s an argument Eisgruber lays out methodically in a new book, Terms of Respect: How Colleges Get Free Speech Right.
Related Reading
Terms of Respect: How Colleges Get Free Speech Right (hachettebookgroup.com/titles/christopher-l-eisgruber/terms-of-respect/9781541607453/?lens=basic-books) , by Christopher Eisgruber (Basic Books)
With Charlie Kirk’s Killing, a New Chapter of the Campus Speech Wars Has Begun (chronicle.com/article/with-charlie-kirks-killing-a-new-chapter-of-the-campus-speech-wars-has-begun) (The Chronicle)
The Elite-University Presidents Who Despise One Another (theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/08/trump-university-presidents/683803/) (The Atlantic)
At Yale, Painful Rifts Emerge Over Diversity and Free Speech (chronicle.com/article/at-yale-painful-rifts-emerge-over-diversity-and-free-speech/) (The Chronicle)
As president of Princeton University, Christopher Eisgruber is among the highest-profile college leaders to publicly criticize the Trump administration for its attacks on higher education. He is a defender of the sector, arguing that colleges are far better at upholding free speech and more welcoming of diverse viewpoints than critics would suggest. The recent killing of Charlie Kirk, a conservative activist, has energized a national debate about the state of free speech on college campuses — both for conservatives like Kirk, and for faculty who have been sanctioned for speaking ill of Kirk in the wake of his death. None of this, though, changes Eisgruber’s fundamental view that colleges, for the most part, are actually quite good at facilitating tough conversations at a particularly polarized moment. It’s an argument Eisgruber lays out methodically in a new book, Terms of Respect: How Colleges Get Free Speech Right.
Related Reading
Terms of Respect: How Colleges Get Free Speech Right (hachettebookgroup.com/titles/christopher-l-eisgruber/terms-of-respect/9781541607453/?lens=basic-books) , by Christopher Eisgruber (Basic Books)
With Charlie Kirk’s Killing, a New Chapter of the Campus Speech Wars Has Begun (chronicle.com/article/with-charlie-kirks-killing-a-new-chapter-of-the-campus-speech-wars-has-begun) (The Chronicle)
The Elite-University Presidents Who Despise One Another (theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/08/trump-university-presidents/683803/) (The Atlantic)
At Yale, Painful Rifts Emerge Over Diversity and Free Speech (chronicle.com/article/at-yale-painful-rifts-emerge-over-diversity-and-free-speech/) (The Chronicle)
