University President Christopher Eisgruber ’83 serves as the most visible intermediary between the University community, the Board of Trustees, and the turbulent national political landscape. Despite being rarely personally outspoken, his role is to absorb and refract the frustrations, expectations, and executive orders leveled by these stakeholders. At the first Council of the Princeton University Community (CPUC) meeting of the year on Feb. 10 — a rare gathering of the University’s top administrators — the typically reserved President deployed homefront rhetoric from the second world war to project an image of calm while delivering an outwardly lighthearted speech acknowledging the intense pressure on higher education from the Trump administration.
Calvin Kenjiro Grover / The Daily Princetonian
Eisgruber recapped his annual letter to the community, placing particular emphasis on the growth of the University endowment (the largest per student in the world) and the role endowments play in making “America more prosperous and more secure.” The Trump administration has recently spoken of expanding taxes on university endowments.
Calvin Kenjiro Grover / The Daily Princetonian
During Eisgruber’s lighthearted quips about discussing endowments with friends “in those lulls in conversation at cocktail parties or over breakfast,” several audience members held signs alleging connections between Princeton’s endowment and weapons manufacturers supporting the state of Israel, which has been accused by the International Criminal Court of committing crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Calvin Kenjiro Grover / The Daily Princetonian
Eisgruber quotes WWII era British homefront messaging, later clarifying in an interview that he chose to include the posters for “comedic relief” rather than to cast himself as a wartime president.
Calvin Kenjiro Grover / The Daily Princetonian
Michael Q. May GS asks a question about the impacts of federal anti-DEI policy on the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) which is a US Department of Energy Laboratory run in partnership with Princeton University. May alleged that multiple PPPL staff have been fired, and that administrators have torn down pride flags.
Calvin Kenjiro Grover / The Daily Princetonian
Eisgruber paces while answering a question from the audience related to the recent USG referendums calling for divestment from weapons manufacturing, disassociation from fossil fuels, and higher pay for student workers on Feb. 10.
Calvin Kenjiro Grover / The Daily Princetonian
Student organizers play a recording of President Eisgruber’s response to a question about the recent progressive USG referendums, attracting boos from the crowd demonstrating outside Frist Campus Center on Feb. 10.
Calvin Kenjiro Grover is a head Photo editor for the ‘Prince.’
Correction: A previous version of this article said that the Trump administration has recently suggested placing a tax on endowments. There is in fact already a tax on Princeton’s endowment, and Trump has recently spoken of expanding this tax. The ‘Prince’ regrets this error.
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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