Eisgruber speaks on political polarization in last lecture as provost

University Provost and President-elect Christopher Eisgruber ’83 discussed American citizens' response to the polarization of elected officials and the possibility of a liberal arts education as an antidote in a lecture on Thursday night.

Eisgruber was named the 20th president of the University on April 21 and will replace outgoing President Shirley Tilghman, who served as president for 12 years, beginning on July 1. As provost, he was credited with successfully navigating the University through the 2008 financial crisis. Prior to being named provost, Eisgruber had developed a reputation as a prominent constitutional law scholar while a professor at the Wilson School and before that at New York University School of Law.

Eisgruber opened his discussion of American political polarization with a reflection on the appointment of Elena Kagan ’81 to the Supreme Court of the United States in August 2010. Not only did her appointment add a third Princeton graduate to the court’s bench, as it followed the nominations of Justice Samuel Alito ’72 and Justice Sonia Sotomayor ’76, but it also “marks a new stage in the polarization of the U.S. Supreme Court,” he said.

The Supreme Court currently has four liberal justices appointed by Democratic presidents and four conservative judges appointed by Republican presidents, Eisgruber explained. He said that these judges vote consistently with the policy platforms of the party of the president who appointed them, mirroring the polarization of the elected branches of the U.S. government.

Eisgruber noted the correlations between the positions of Supreme Court justices on issues such as abortion, tuition vouchers, gun control and affirmative action.

“If I can give you the justice’s position on one issue, you can give me their position on all these other sets of issues,” Eisgruber explained.

Rather than stemming from philosophical or institutional principles, the correlation between these policy standings can only be justified by their correspondence to the policy platforms of the parties that appoint them, he said.

“These kinds of divisions ought to worry all of us,” Eisgruber said. He emphasized that he did not feel that the Supreme Court should always agree, but rather that it should disagree about basic constitutional values rather than “dividing up into political teams.”

Eisgruber concluded his lecture by considering the implications of a liberal arts education for citizens living under this polarized political system. “The liberal arts education can be and should be an antidote to the kind of polarization that plagues our society,” he said.

He explained that Princetonians are given the opportunity to form many networks that reach beyond traditional social boundaries, allowing students to look beyond the established political divisions. He called on students in the audience to “sustain engagements that remind you and should remind all of us of the values and aspirations that we share as a society.”

The lecture, titled “Constitutional Citizenship in a Polarized World,” was organized by the Class of 2013 as part of the Last Lecture series and took place at 7:30 p.m. in McCosh 46.