On Saturday, Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan ’81 received the Woodrow Wilson Award for undergraduate alumni at Princeton’s 110th Alumni Day. The prestigious annual award honors alumni who have dedicated their lives to the “nation’s service.” We asked our writers to reflect on which alumni are best upholding the informal motto “Princeton in the nation’s service” and make a case for who deserves to win the award next year.
Derek Kilmer ’96 puts service before politics
By Thomas Buckley, Senior Opinion Writer
Prior to retiring at the start of the new Congress this January, U.S. Representative Derek Kilmer ’96 served Washington’s 6th congressional district — just outside of Seattle — for 12 years. Despite not being a particularly notable figure to the nation writ-large, Kilmer committed himself to the hard work of legislating instead of the flashy political theater that occupies much of the public imagination.
As a member of Congress, Kilmer was chair of the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress which proposed hundreds of new regulations to make the legislative branch more functional. Such work does not make for great ammunition in never-ending partisan trench warfare, but is essential nonetheless. Kilmer demonstrated that it is possible to put partisanship aside and just legislate. As he put it, “Let’s not have red jerseys and blue jerseys. Let’s just have jerseys that say ‘Fix Congress.’”
Kilmer’s coalition building approach extends far beyond his work in Congress. He co-founded the Olympic Forest Collaborative, a forum for discussion between the timber industry — the economic lifeblood of his hometown — and conservation groups. The collaborative has allowed the region to increase its timber harvest while ensuring that thinning is done responsibly and sustainably.
In a year when those in power are trying their best to tear down democratic institutions, Kilmer’s commitment to being “in the nation’s service” rather than “in the party’s service” is worth celebrating.
Thomas Buckley is a senior Opinion writer from Colchester, Vt. majoring in SPIA. You can reach him at thomas.buckley[at]princeton.edu.
Caroline Kitchener ’14 serves the nation through bold, compassionate investigative reporting
By Frances Brogan, Head Opinion Editor
Pulitzer Prize winner Caroline Kitchener ’14 is a journalist of staggering talent. Her work as The Washington Post’s abortion reporter reveals impressive dedication to unveiling the human stories behind one of the most contentious issues in American politics. When I met her at an event last April, she was warm, gregarious, and eager to talk to students about her career journey and challenges. I was struck by her determination to get to know women who have had abortions, who have been unable to access abortions, and who have devoted their lives to preventing other women from obtaining abortions — and to write about them in ways that transcend reductive debates.
We are living in a hostile era for both independent journalism and abortion rights. Media magnates — including Post owner Jeff Bezos ’86 — are obsequiously getting in line behind President Trump and his radical agenda. The White House is now cherry-picking which outlets can cover the President, representing a further attack on press independence. The Dobbs decision has ushered in a slew of regressive abortion laws, and Trump’s victory has reinvigorated “baby-killer” polemics from anti-abortion activists. Now, more than ever, we need reporters who humanize the vulnerable populations that are scapegoated by right-wing extremists while maintaining a commitment to fair, objective investigative practices. Bold pursuit of the truth when it is under assault, in a political climate that rewards easy answers and disincentivizes nuanced analysis, is one of the most profound forms of public service. Caroline Kitchener ’14 should receive next year’s Woodrow Wilson award.
Head Opinion Editor Frances Brogan is a sophomore prospective History major from Lancaster, Pa. She can be reached at frances.brogan[at]princeton.edu.
Pete Hegseth ’03 is aligned with the values of Woodrow Wilson. Give him the award, or stop giving it altogether.
By Isaac Barsoum, Columnist
For an award named after a racist president whose actions ordering the federal civil service to be segregated led to a substantial drop in Black federal government employees, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ’03 seems like an obvious choice. This week, President Donald Trump fired the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., a man who Hegseth once suggested was only promoted to his role “because of his skin color.” Hegseth’s comments, together with his (and the President’s) crusade against DEI in the federal government, are reminiscent of Wilson’s segregationist order a century ago.
So Hegseth should receive the award. If the University is going to keep using Wilson’s name for it, it should accurately reflect Wilson’s segregationist legacy. After all, the University’s excessively bureaucratic system for determining which figures are problematic namesakes has already acknowledged that Wilson’s racism was troublesome enough that they removed his name from both the School of Public and International Affairs and a residential college. (The official University position on the issue is that it has a legal obligation to name the prize for Wilson — but it’s not clear there is a legal obligation to continue giving the award at all.)
It’s disgraceful to bestow such an award to a figure such as Justice Elena Kagan ’81, who has been a fiery defender of civil rights during her time on the Supreme Court. To maintain an award honoring only Wilson’s positive contributions amounts, as my colleague Christofer Robles argued convincingly, to a “manipulation of Wilson’s memory on campus.” Acknowledge the reality of Wilson’s legacy, and give the award accordingly. Or, perhaps, stop conferring an award whose prestige is tainted so heavily by the painful racism of a long-gone, racist president. But you’ll need a committee for that, I’m sure.
Isaac Barsoum is a first-year intended Politics major from Charlotte, N.C. His column, “A Princeton for All,” runs every other Thursday. You can read his column here. You can reach him at itbarsoum[at]princeton.edu.
Robert Caro ’57, a prolific political biographer who embodies “in the nation’s service”
By Chloe Cresswell, Contributing Writer
In the depths of Texas Hill Country, Robert Caro ’57 quietly retraced Lyndon B. Johnson’s complex legacy. The investigative-journalist-turned-biographer spent three years in Stonewall, Texas interviewing those who knew America’s 36th president. Together with his wife Ina, Caro combed through thousands of documents, producing four biographies between 1982 and 2012 that spanned Johnson’s early life in Stonewall to his controversial rise to power and eventual presidency.
Caro’s tireless dedication to his craft permanently redefined political biography, earning him two Pulitzer Prizes — and an hour of praise from my journalism professor, Andrea Bernstein. A former managing editor of The Daily Princetonian, Caro became the most prolific biographer of the 20th century.
It takes great dedication to uproot one’s life in pursuit of the truth. By relocating from New York to Hill Country, Caro sought to gain the trust of those who defined Johnson’s childhood. His books provide unique insights into a world without power and President Johnson’s campaign to electrify rural Texas.
Caro embodies the motto “in the nation’s service.” We should all be reading his work, including his memoir “Working.” He most definitely deserves the University’s Woodrow Wilson Award.
Chloe Cresswell is a junior from London majoring in the School of Public and International Affairs. She can be reached by email at cc8553[at]princeton.edu.
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