Private Response from President Shirley Tilghman to the October Letter

Let me second what Dean Slaughter has said below. An important role for any great university is to engage with the important issues of the day, and we cannot do so without inviting major figures who are in positions of power and influence. Despite our best efforts, we were unable to attract a prominent member of Congress to the WWS celebrations two weekends ago, and this was a shame, I agree. However, based on the visits of a small number of administration officials over the past several years, you conclude that the university is biased toward one end of the political spectrum. Yet I would ask you to look at the Public Lectures held at Princeton over that same span of time http://www.princeton.edu/~publect/). There I believe you will find a broad cross-section of speakers, many with strong political views, including very negative views about the Iraq War. I believe that the picture that emerges from just that one website (which represents but a tiny fraction of the lectures given at Princeton each year) is one that suggests your concerns are unfounded.

With regard to the Crystal Tiger, this was an initiative by the student government, not the administration. The students conceived of the award, formed the selection committee, and selected Secretary Powell.

Thank you for writing to me, and expressing your conmcerns. If you would like to discuss this further, I would be glad to do so. I do find it ironic that I spend considerable time and effort defending the university against those who would argue that we are a bastion of liberal thought!

Best wishes,

Shirley Tilghman

This letter was privately sent, on October 12, 2005, to the authors of the letter sent to President Tilghman and Dean Slaughter the previous day.