In his second term, President Trump has waged an all-out war on higher education by, among other

things, freezing billions in federal grant funding, launching investigations into dozens

of institutions over DEI practices, targeting and detaining students who hold pro-Palestinian

views, and more recently developing a plan to change how universities are awarded research

grants, giving a competitive advantage to schools that mirror President Trump's values.

But a new book by Princeton University President Christopher Icegruber argues that despite criticism,

colleges and universities are meeting the moment when it comes to permitting free speech on campus.

I spoke with Ice Gruber recently about his book, Terms of Respect, How Colleges Get Free Speech Right.

Christopher Icegruber, welcome to the News Hour.

Delighted to be here. Thank you.

In this book, you argue that despite much criticism, American colleges are largely doing free speech

right. What observations led you to that conclusion? Some of it is about observations on my own

campus at Princeton University, where I find students and faculty very engaged on issues and able to

talk civilly with each other. Some of it's about

broader observations. There's a lot of attention that gets paid to, I think, the relatively

rare incidents where things go wrong. And I understand why those attract attention. But there's a lot

going right. And it's going right at a time when our country along with our college campuses

faces a crisis where people find it hard to talk to one another. Well, critics make the point

that universities have betrayed free speech, that professors indoctrinate students, that conservatives

are silenced. You have urged university leaders to be what you call visibly open to conservative

viewpoints.

What does that look like in practice?

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