Claudine Gay’s Lessons for Princeton University

As Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania, and other elite universities have lately languished in unwanted public attention, Princeton and its president, Christopher Eisgruber, have largely avoided the spotlight. While Penn president Liz Magill was forced from office soon after a disastrous congressional hearing on antisemitism on December 5 — with Harvard’s Claudine Gay following her out the door just last week — Eisgruber remains, and Princeton has emerged more or less unscathed.

But the past several years at Princeton have been troubled — indeed, political controversies have plagued the university for nearly my entire time as a student. There are a few lessons the university’s leaders can learn from the Gay affair: failures at Harvard that led to her downfall, and how similar failures at Princeton can be avoided and rectified.

About the Author

Matthew X. Wilson

Matthew X. Wilson is a former associate editor at National Review.

As Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania, and other elite universities have lately languished in unwanted public attention, Princeton and its president, Christopher Eisgruber, have largely avoided the spotlight. While Penn president Liz Magill was forced from office soon after a disastrous congressional hearing on antisemitism on December 5 — with Harvard’s Claudine Gay following her out the door just last week — Eisgruber remains, and Princeton has emerged more or less unscathed.

But the past several years at Princeton have been troubled — indeed, political controversies have plagued the university for nearly my entire time as a student. There are a few lessons the university’s leaders can learn from the Gay affair: failures at Harvard that led to her downfall, and how similar failures at Princeton can be avoided and rectified.