<p>No, I think Alumother is right. Things are changing at Princeton, but Princeton is still Princeton. Pres. Tilghman's genius is that she's able to navigate an elegant course between change and tradition that both progressives and conservatives can support. Princeton will never be Harvard or Yale in terms of public proclamations of progressive virtue. But if I were a asst. prof. or a grad student, especially a woman in the sciences, especially if I wanted to think about children I'd sure rather be at Princeton than either of the others.</p>
<p>Pres. Tilghman is able to sell the alumni from the 1950s and 1960s on why initiatives like the partnership with Smith are a good thing for the university, and then the power of the alumni body mobilizes behind the engineers from Smith. Princeton is still strong and still Princeton, but just a little bit different. She's the right leader in the right place at the right time, and she has the sense to listen to and work with people with whom she doesn't always see eye-to-eye.</p>