This is a guest write-in addressed to the Princeton Class of 2025. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
The following is an opinion contribution and reflects the author’s views alone.
Dear Class of ’25:
Did you appreciate the clever way you were introduced to Princeton? Did you recognize that your orientation video was a non-advertised test, disguised as a woke clarion call to social justice activism at Princeton? Did you catch the subtle challenge to abandon critical thinking and instead embrace the camaraderie of bashing a distinguished Classics professor? Were you able to get past the faux-indoctrination and manipulation and realize that Princeton was actually trying to teach an important lesson, namely that even incoming fresh-persons have the responsibility to think for themselves and to distinguish the trendy from the true? Princeton realizes that this is a skill that will be critical for you to hone and develop and unleash on those trying to put blinders on you, not only at Princeton, but well beyond graduation.
In case you are not sure whether you passed the test, which might be called “The Battle of Classics Professors,” consider the following:
When Professor Padilla-Peralta says that free speech is a “privilege” and should be used only to advance “social justice” and “antiracist social justice” –– did you pick up on the irony and logical dissonance?
When Professor Katz is vilified for objecting to a faculty letter which demanded (among other things) that the University “reward the invisible work done by faculty of color with course relief and summer salary,” did you pick up as subtle obfuscation in President Eisgruber’s pronouncement that “[w]hile free speech permits students and faculty to make arguments that are bold, provocative, or even offensive, we all have an obligation to exercise that right responsibly.”
Isn’t Princeton wonderful? It respects your intelligence and tries to teach you with satire –– and challenges you to ferret out the real message from the politically correct one. Did you pass the test?
Alex Zarechnak
’68 Physics
Conservative Princeton Association
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