<p>Check it out... Princeton had a pretty disappointing history.</p>
<p>Princeton has evolved. If there is a future Supreme Court justice among todays undergraduates, it is at least as likely, and probably more likely, that the undergraduate is at present an outspoken liberal rather than a conservative.</p>
<p>can you post the entire text? I don't feel like registering with NYTimes</p>
<p>what's so disappointing about that?
It just shows that princeton isn't just a liberal, ie cambridge like atmosphere, that there's more to it. Also, the fact that so many distinguish right wing thinkers came from Princeton is a testment of its strentgh ** NOT ** its weakness.</p>
<p>And that there will be many more right-wing leaders in the future days... <em>points to himself</em>.</p>
<p>what's most disappointing is in this quote (and successive ones, but this is the first one I found)... </p>
<p>"The group had been founded in 1972, the year that Judge Alito graduated, by alumni upset that Princeton had recently begun admitting women. It published a magazine, Prospect, which persistently accused the administration of taking a permissive approach to student life, of promoting birth control and paying for abortions, and of diluting the explicitly Christian character of the school."</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Princeton graduates upset that Princeton was admitting women.</p></li>
<li><p>Princeton graduates defending a hard-line Christian school with no respect for other religions.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I think that that's a sad comment on what should've been a voice for progressive inclusive values.</p>
<p>... not to say that Princeton is at all like that today, I just think that it's a sad portrait of a really good school only thirty years ago.</p>
<p>you're free to defend the concerned alumni group, but I don't think you'll get very far.</p>
<p>People are always a little apprehensive about change.</p>
<p>And remember, this is 1972. The radical sixties had just come to a close, and the seventies -- the age of pet rocks, disco, and free love -- were rolling in. Who could blame conservatives for feeling a little overwhelmed?</p>
<p>To those defending:
Princeton is a great school. I love Princeton. I'm applying to Princeton. Many of you are too. That doesn't mean that you have to blindly stand up for it in everything. If you think that this group that tried to limit women and minorities from being admitted was fine, then that's one thing, but if you're just saying stuff because you've applied to Princeton and want it to be perfect, don't be ridiculous. No school is that great.</p>
<p>What elite school doesn't have a "disappointing" history? The only Ivy that started out coed was Cornell. Like other long-established institutions, they mirror and magnify the inequities of the society as a whole. The beautiful architecture of Columbia's quad and chapel were part of a direct effort to attract more WASP students. The Chosen tells much of this sorry tale with regard to HYP, and many women and people of color are still alive to remember the way things were in those days, and to recognize that we are still not where we should be. There is no point in looking for any sort of mythically ideal past. There have been bigots throughout history, and they don't tend to yield power voluntarily.</p>
<p>thanks aparent5 for speaking my thoughts :)</p>
<p>I disagree for two reasons.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>The difference here is that it was a wide-spread alumni group, not the administration. A lot of schools have conservative administrations that may implement discriminatory policies, but at the point where it was an alumni group, I think that makes it a unique situation.</p></li>
<li><p>Compare the dates! Harvard / Princeton / Yale enacted anti-semitic policies in 1922. Columbia's architecture was completed in the nineteenth century! This alumni group was critical in the 1980's, way past the date where their views would be considered very far from mainstream.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Overall, I think we should use the clearly unacceptable views of the past to drive change for the future- a time where we can realize the important progressive values the civil rights movement fought for. Many institutions (colleges and government as well) were guilty of injustices, I happened opon this article last night and found it interesting.</p>
<p>I graduated from Princeton in 1978. So I was there for this. They were a fringe group. We as students didn't take them seriously. And yet, what the existence of this fringe group indicated, was that the median political view at Princeton was and is to the right of Yale and Harvard. About the same as Stanford. And to the left of Dartmouth as it was then. </p>
<p>I have written before of my feelings about being an alumna from those days. It was still largely male. Still very white. Conservative. When I went back for my 25th Reunion ( yes, I did go back to Old Nassau), I had tears in my eyes for the P-Rade as I saw the Indian kids, the Chinese kids, the women's lacrosse NCAA champions, the gay and lesbian alliance, all waiting for us at the bottom of the hill.</p>
<p>Princeton is so fortunate in that the best of it lives on, the less then best withers. My D is there now, as a more left person than I. She loves it.</p>
<p>Thanks, Alumother. That was a really interesting post, although it seems that among the ivies, Princeton still leans right- but right now is less right than it was 30 years ago, if that makes sense.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>I am a conservative/moderate conservative, and I was unaware of any such right leanings, I thought it was saturated by the left. Not that I endorse any of the garbage of those fanatical crazies, but I made it a point to be as poltically neutral as possible throughout my app. Despite the status quo, I think left thinking students can put up with an equitable right presence in an elite college. You know, hearing the other side as much as yours should be a coveted facet of an Ivy league.</p>
<p>I digress</p>
<p>is anyone else extremely tired of people who group others into "left" and "right" as if everyone in that group has the same political views? Politics is more multifaceted then I think a lot of you belive.</p>
<p>Whenever people start attacking the "liberals" or "conservatives" I always sense that there is a lot of bigotry in the air</p>
<p>Great post alumother. Makes me like Princeton even more...</p>
<p>My d is a liberal Democrat who did not want to attend college only with other people like herself. How would that be an education? There is a broad range of political views on the Princeton campus, including some very outspoken and organized conservatives, although any survey I've seen shows that the majority lean to the left. The student Democrats are one of the largest groups on campus. It would not be fair to conclude that the activities and views of the particular group in the article cited above represent those of even the most conservative students on the Princeton campus today.</p>
<p>I agree with that, aparent. Most campuses are liberal by nature. </p>
<p>To matt- I disagree with what you said because there is a solid "liberal" or "conservative" ideology that can be attacked- big government vs. small government, individual liberty vs. collective security- something along those lines is usually at the core of many debates.</p>