As Princeton student, Eisgruber '83 remembered for his ?keen intellect?

Along with nine years of experience as University provost, newly elected University President Christopher Eisgruber ’83 will also bring a new perspective as a former undergraduate to his leadership of the University.

“My four years here were transformative, happy,” Eisgruber told The Daily Princetonian following the announcement of his presidency on Sunday. “They were years that stretched me, that gave me friendships that have lasted a lifetime since then that forced me to rethink the ideals that I brought to the University and enabled me to come away with understandings of ideas and of people and of places that I didn’t have before I came.”

Originally from Corvallis, Ore., Eisgruber was a concentrator in the physics department while at the University. He wrote a 100-page thesis entitled, “The Global Implications of Local Violations of the Energy Conditions.”

His thesis adviser, Malcolm Perry, who is now a professor at Trinity College of Cambridge University, could not be reached for comment.

Eisgruber’s friend and former roommate Stuart Moore ’83 said he remembered Eisgruber as “very, very studious” and said Eisgruber could always be found studying in the library later than other friends.

Charles Johnson ’83, another friend and former roommate, echoed this characterization, describing Eisgruber as a “prolific reader” whose room was filled with books. According to Johnson, Eisgruber took numerous graduate level physics courses as an undergraduate and was "not remarkably athletic."

Despite his concentration in physics, Eisgruber had many interests outside of the sciences. He would go on to earn his M.Litt in Politics from Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar and his J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School, but he also began to demonstrate an inclination for politics and law in his time on campus.

“He had a keen intellect, a very quick mind and a remarkable ability to hold his own in debate and in conversation on any topic,” friend and former roommate Hyam Kramer ’83 said. Kramer added that he admired how “smart, perceptive and understanding” Eisgruber was on a variety of topics ranging from campus-wide issues to international politics.

Outgoing Dean for Research A.J. Stewart Smith, who was Eisgruber's physics professor, said his interests "were already changing toward policy issues [while at the University]," referring to Eisgruber’s thesis, which also touched upon policy matters.

“It’s pretty unusual when your student turns out to be your boss,” Smith added.

Eisgruber’s work ethic and love of learning were acknowledged by many, including current University of Texas at Austin professor Jeffrey Tulis, who taught Eisgruber about the presidency and constitutional order.

“He was probably the best student I’ve ever had at the undergraduate level,” Tulis said. “It’s sometimes not the case that kids like the smartest kid in the class; it’s the opposite sometimes, and I never got that sense with him. I think that people, even if they were in awe of him, liked him, and that’s a tough thing to pull off actually.”

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Tulis said he was both thrilled and relieved to hear about Eisgruber’s selection. “I thought he would be a candidate for this since he was such a terrific provost. I can’t imagine anybody in the country better than him for this job.”

Outside the classroom and library, Eisgruber was a member of Elm Club during his junior year. He then went independent while living in the Spelman dorms in a four-person suite alongside Paul Schmidt ’83, Johnson and Kramer during his senior year.

Kramer said he met Eisgruber his junior year at Elm Club, where the two engaged in much conversation and debate on “a wide potpourri of ideas” that he said Eisgruber usually won. Kramer explained that as a result of those conversations and debates, which he called “the embodiment of the Princeton experience,” the two decided to room together.

“I relish the fact that our political views were different,” Kramer said, explaining that Eisgruber had a “grace” to disagree or debate and yet always settled the conversation as friends. Kramer recalled that the two often had “very robust disagreements,” but their friendship “grew out of being able to engage in conversation.”

“I wish I had a terrible, scandalous story to tell about him, but I don’t,” Moore said. “He was very serious; he was a really nice guy.”

Eisgruber also wrote two columns for The Daily Princetonian during his senior year examining the positives and negatives of the core requirements at the University and whether or not students were being “ripped off.”

“Princeton isn’t ripping you off either, because as a Princetonian, you’re more likely than most people to wake up some morning and discover that Socrates matters,” he wrote in the first column, “Why Princeton isn’t ripping all of us off.”

In the second, “Getting your money’s worth,” he countered, “Few students emerge from Princeton asking the questions a liberal arts curriculum should inspire. Many haven’t read Flaubert and Rousseau and Plato, and most don’t care.”

He concluded the second column by proposing five changes to improve the curriculum. These included eliminating the pass/fail option for courses taken to satisfy distribution requirements, compiling a list of 300-and-higher-level courses that involve intensive study of one or more great books, cleaning up the Area I (science) department, tightening the remaining courses in Area I and adding advanced science courses to the science curriculum for nonscientist students.

When Eisgruber takes office this July 1, he will assume the highest-ranking position at a University where he once lived and learned 30 years ago.

“He is unquestionably the best person for Princeton,” Tulis said. “He loves the place, he knows the place inside and out … He knows what Princeton is, and he knows how to think about making it better without abandoning its past and its essence, so he’s perfect.”

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