THE TORY SALUTES THE CLASS OF 2003 April - May 2003 PRINCETON TORY On the legacy of Dean Fred Hargadon, and the administration trying to rewrite it... - BRAD SIMMONS ’03

PLUS: JENN CARTER ’03 on the Emptiness of “The Princeton Experience” PETE HEGSETH ’03 on Victory in Iraq DANIEL MARK ’03 on Abortion, Slavery, and the Democratic Party And much more! HE RINCETON Notes from the Publisher T P Amoebas on the Slide TORY Engineering is everywhere you look at Princeton. No, I’m not April - May 2003 just talking about my department, ORFE, or the E-Quad. I’m referring to Volume XX - Number 3 social engineering. Publisher Editor-in-Chief The racial “diversity” of the entering class is engineered to some John Andrews ’05 Evan Baehr ’05 arbitrarily-designated optimal ratio. The life of the athlete is engineered to some quota of practice and, well, anything-but-practice. The bounds of Managing Editors acceptable campus speech and religious practice are engineered to a non- Brad Heller ’05 Duncan Sahner ’06 offensive beige by a gauntlet of advisers, peer educators, and deans. Web Manager Financial Manager What’s scary about this social engineering is not its current level Eric Czervionke ’05 Ira Leeds ’06 of control but the conclusion that this engineering is increasing, a conclu- sion made inevitable by recent events. Some examples are ones with Graphics Editor which you may be familiar: Tilghman’s athletics moratorium and amicus Deb Brundage ’03 brief, and the Bush-bashing fest sponsored by the Wilson School. I hope Pete Hegseth ’03, Publisher Emeritus you’ll read this issue and find more examples, from Murray-Dodge to the Brad Simmons ’03, Editor-in-Chief Emeritus Office of Admissions to a subjective and multiculturalist curriculum. If the performance of the current administration is any indication of the Staff Writers future, this social engineering will only increase. Jennifer Carter ’03 C.R. Mrosovsky ’04 For example, extending the residential college system to six col- Ryan Feeney ’03 Arvin Bahl ’05 leges and four years increases bureaucracy, tightens administrative su- Nat Hoopes ’03 Julie Toran ’05 pervision, and diminishes the importance, indeed, the possibility, of vol- Daniel Mark ’03 Powell Fraser ’06 untary associations. Nathaniel Norman ’03 Stephen Lambe ’06 It’s no wonder liberal administrations from Wilson to Tilghman Matt O’Brien ’03 Jurgen Reinhoudt ’06 have tried to marginalize voluntary associations like fraternities and eating John Ference ’04 Paul Thompson ’06 clubs: these free associations are beyond their engineering capacity. These Betsy Kennedy ’04 Paul White ’06 groups are often portrayed as “elitist.” Far from it. Rather, they are the few groups humble enough to take a reasoned and democratic approach Board of Trustees to self-organization rather than presuming the God-like wisdom and power Peter Heinecke ’87 Anna Bray Duff ’92 necessary for social engineering. David Daniels ’89 Brian Tvenstrup ’95 This engineering fits nicely with the impressive academic cre- Mark Banovich ’92 Wickham Schmidt ’99 dentials of the University’s current President. Capable of manipulating Timothy Webster ’99 life at the most basic, subcellular level, it is no surprise that her pipette is is a journal of conservative now extended into our particular colony. We are specimens in the tank; and moderate political thought written, edited and we are amoebas on the slide. produced by students and deliv- As conservatives, we realize that this engineering is an affront to ered free of charge to all Princeton students and fac- ulty. The Princeton Tory is a publication of The the dignity of the individual, who, by intrinsic value and achieved merit, Princeton Tory, Inc. Opinions expressed herein are deserves to be more than just a science experiment. those of the authors and not necessarily those of the In this spirit, I’d like to salute four of editors, trustees, Princeton University, or the the finest individuals I know, Pete Hegseth, Brad Princeton Tory, Inc. The Princeton Tory accepts letters to the editor. Simmons, Jenn Carter, and Deb Brundage. You Direct correspondence to: P.O. Box 1499, Princeton, have my deepest respect, warmest regards, and NJ 08542; or by e-mail: [email protected]. Adver- best wishes. Together, you represent a great tisement rates for The Princeton Tory are: $75 for a Class and a great generation of warriors, inves- quarter page, $150 for a half page, $250 for a full page, and $350 for the back cover. Donations to The tors, lawyers, and builders that will achieve Princeton Tory are fully tax-deductible. Please mail much for our great nation. donations to: P.O. Box 1499, Princeton, NJ 08542. The Princeton Tory is a member of the Colle- John Andrews giate Network. The Princeton Tory gives special thanks to the Intercollegiate Studies Institute and Princeton [email protected] Alumni Viewpoints. The Princeton Tory, Inc. is a non-profit corpo- ration registered in New Jersey. No part of this publi- HAVE AN OPINION ABOUT THE TORY? cation should be construed to promote any pending legislation or to support any candidate for office. No Send Letters to the Editor to: part of this publication may be reproduced without express written consent of the Publisher. [email protected] Copyright © 2003, The Princeton Tory, Inc. Letters need not be in reponse to articles; the Editors welcome letters on all subjects.

2 · THE PRINCETON TORY APRIL - MAY 2003 THE PRINCETON TORY April - May 2003 www.princetontory.com LETTERS 4 Students respond to Tory: ¾ Bemoaning Plight of Janitors, Affluence of Editors ¾ A Message from “Mister Rogers” ¾ The Religion of Peace

THE RANT 6 The Tory comments on: ¾ Take Back the Night ¾ Bums, Monkeys, and Free Exercise of Religion ¾ Laci Peterson ¾ The demise of ... Again and more... COVER STORY NATION Finding Fred Hargadon 8 Abortion, Slavery, and the Death of the Democratic Party A look at the career and legacy of Dean For the party of Stephen Douglas, history repeats itself. Hargadon, a dubious scandal and an Daniel Mark ’03 uncertain future for the University. Brad Simmons ’03 AMPUS C PAGE 10 15 The Princeton Non-Experience Firing the Western canon at the “liberal” arts. Jennifer Carter ’03 Approval Ratings A Presidential Comparison INTERNATIONAL 17 Building an American Iraq Shirley M. Tilghman Democracy Under Construction in the Middle East. President of Princeton University Brad Heller ’05 LAST WORD 33% 19 Meditation on a Statue of a Tyrant Daily Princetonian The success of American ideals in Mesopotamia. poll, April 7 Pete Hegseth ’03

NLINE AT WWW RINCETON ORY COM O .P T . George W. Bush President of the United States of America Why do House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and Chair of the International Relations Com- mittee Henry Hyde want the U.S. to end its membership in the U.N.? Why would Charles 71% DeGaulle, a Frenchman, agree with them? Wall Street Journal/ Find out in our online exclusive! NBC poll, April 13 Jurgen Reinhoudt ’06

APRIL - MAY 2003 THE PRINCETON TORY · 3 LETTERS TO THE EDITORS

BEMOANING PLIGHT OF JANITORS, qualified applicants is male, accusations of sexism based solely AFFLUENCE OF TORY EDITORS on a male majority of appointments fall flat. Here’s the difference. Tilghman has declared her in- Dearest Tory, tention to appoint women qua women to administrative posi- Two things. Number 1: Why is it that you never tions, and her appointments have been consistent with this accused Hal Shapiro and all of his male predecessors of “sex- ideology. That is, she’s making gender a factor in her ap- ist administrative appointments” when they appointed only pointments. That is sexism. That is unjust. males to all of the administrative positions? The fact that you Now, to your second point: We won’t get started on immediately assume that the only reason these extremely quali- the suspect nature of statistics taken by a student organization fied women got their jobs is because with a vested interest in the outcome and based they’re women is what is sexist. on a survey given only to unionized employees Number 2: I would just LOVE and on company time, motivated by the possibil- to see all of you try to support your- ity of more pay. selves on a Princeton University/Yale What I’d like to focus on is the basic eco- University janitor’s salary for a year. nomic argument against raising the lowest pos- WithOUT any help from Mommy and sible price of labor. Daddy. 30% of all unionized Princeton We’ve imagined with you what it must be University employees have to hold down like to be a janitor. Now, please imagine what it’s another job in addition to working full like to be unemployed. It’s much, much worse. time for the university. (Imagine hav- If you raise Princeton’s minimum wage, then ing to work for 12 hours or more every the demand for minimum-wage labor decreases. day just to be able to support yourself. The University can then hire fewer workers, and And no, you don’t get days off when fewer employment opportunities exist. More you’re scraping to survive.) 30% of all people are miserable. workers do not earn enough money to A more economically sound idea would be make ends meet and 38% earn “just to create a bonus system which rewards productiv- enough.” 62% of employees are the pri- ity. But WROC opposes holding workers to stan- mary wage earners for their families. When you work full dards of accountability -- well, concerning their productivity time, you should be able to support yourself. And when you if not their complaints. can’t, that is unjust. Finally, I’m not rich; I live (and was raised) in Oliver Now, I understand that working for Princeton is a Springs, Tennessee, and there are pigs, chickens, and desti- much better job than working for McDonald’s, or something tute people in trailers on my road. like it, but that does not change the fact that our workers are One reason I’m a conservative is that I know that suffering. I know I will not be able to convince you that our wealth-creating, free-market capitalism is the better way to workers should be paid more, but I would like to try to con- help the poor, both in my home state and in Princeton, New vince you to change your attitudes toward the workers. In- Jersey. It’s not a question of attitude. It’s a matter of eco- stead of self-righteously assuming that they are complaining nomics. for nothing and are better off than most, please acknowledge that their circumstances are very difficult... Cordially, The problem with many rich Americans (including John Andrews ’05 you), is that they tend to see the poor as the enemy. They assume that their poverty is their own fault, caused by lazi- ness instead of by unfortunate circumstances... A LETTER FROM “MISTER ROGERS”

Thanks, Dear Princeton Tory, Sarah Rivlin ’03 It is a beautiful day in my neighborhood, thanks to your thoughtful staff. I can’t express enough my gratitude Dearest Tory responds: for the lovely tribute to me in your March 2003 issue. Not only was it high praise from a respectable source, but you Dear Sarah, had the courtesy and tact to make it an item in your “Rant” As to your first point: It’s completely untrue that section, your sarcastic and biting diatribe against everything Shapiro and predecessors appointed “only males to all of the you hate on campus and in the country. Sandwiched be- administrative appointments.” As an ’03, can you remember tween a dismissive criticism of Professors Paul Krugman and seeing no female administrators your freshman or sophomore Stephen Marglin and a condescending jab at OWL and cam- years? pus liberals, I couldn’t ask for more suitable treatment by We won’t confuse you with statistics, considering your your editorial staff. Thank you for giving my memory the current track record. Suffice it to say that if the majority of respect it deserves.

4 · THE PRINCETON TORY APRIL - MAY 2003 LETTERS TO THE EDITORS

Nothing could make me happier than looking down First and foremost, terrorism is for us part of the political from this Beautiful Neighborhood above and seeing my legacy battle being conducted under the present circumstances... and praised and preserved by such a worthy heir. I mean, if it has a great part to play... in our war against the occupier.” anyone embodies my lessons of “compassion and generos- [sic] They were written in 1943 by Yitzhak Shamir, later ity,” it’s you, Tory. Like you, I too consider war protesters Prime Minister of Israel. (See pages 485-6 in Noam with disdain, since they are lazy and stoned most of the time. Chomsky’s Fateful Triangle: The United States, Israel and And yes, let’s do hope the miracle of life the Palestinians.) will “knock some sense into NARAL’s” Sarah Love, because if it doesn’t, then Sincerely yours, I’ll come down there and do it myself. Charles W. McCutchen ’50 Sometimes to be a good neighbor you have to get your hands dirty—I’m sure you of all people know what I mean. To the Editor: Right on with your jab at Jesse Jackson With regard to The Religion too—not only is he “irrelevant,” but what of Peace by Ira Leeds and Powell does he know about compassion and gen- Fraser ’06, when was the last time erosity? I wouldn’t want to be his neigh- they read the Torah? It makes the bor, I’ll tell you that much. And good Koran look like the Boy Scout move on that Pat Robertson point—way manual. Israel Shamir, the Israeli to praise Whig-Clio for sticking by their writer, points out that the Torah is controversial speaker while elsewhere in God’s permission to Moses to en- your magazine criticizing Princeton for gage in genocide and ethnic cleans- sticking by their controversial appoint- ing, so He can give Canaan to the ment of Peter Singer. And as for “fan- Hebrew tribes. tasy, orgasm, and pleasure”—all that The great Jewish sage, wacky OWL nonsense—suffice it to say Maimonides, argued that the Torah those are three sure factors for decid- was entirely metaphorical. He edly unfriendly neighbors. You start giv- served as court physician to Saladin ing women ideas like that, and then see in Egypt, where he wrote his great- what happens to your neighborhood. est works, including The Mishna Women will start demanding careers, Torah and The Guide to the Per- equal pay for equal work—and then plexed, in which he interpreted Jew- what’s next, the right to vote? ish tradition in Aristotelian terms. The Mr. Rogers legacy is alive The problem with Islam is and well on this campus, and I have you, not the Koran, which is basically a the staff of the Tory, to thank for it. I poem and a work of art. It is that Jonah Goldberg, National Review can’t imagine a better, more compassion- Suleiman the Magnificent, the Sul- ate, more generous neighbor than you. tan of the Ottoman empire, closed the gate of interpretation to the Koran in the Fifteenth Century, engendering a fundamen- Your eternal neighbor, talist approach to Islam’s text. Fundamentalism is the enemy Fred Rogers of civilization. Religious texts must be historized and inter- Neighborhood in the Sky preted, something Leeds and Fraser fail to comprehend. We [a.k.a. David Segal ’03] have Christian fundamentalists in this country who have done things like blow up the federal building in Oklahoma City. The Tory responds: Other fundamentalist Christians, as members of the KKK, lynched countless black people because they believed it to be Dear David, their Christian duty... You’re absolutely right. We’ll never say anything If you are going to be Tories, then you should be nice about anybody ever again. above such things as petty suburban prejudices. When I was at Princeton, there was so much anti-Semitism it was practi- cally a Hitler youth camp. To see the same kind of bigotry THE RELIGION OF PEACE directed against Moslems is deeply disappointing…

Re: the article on Islam and terrorism by Ira Leeds Richard Cummings ’59 and Powell Fraser, here is a view on terrorism from Islam’s competition in Palestine. “Neither Jewish ethics nor Jewish [Mr. Cummings is a contributer to The American tradition can disqualify terrorism as a means of combat... Conservative and LewRockwell.com.]

APRIL - MAY 2003 THE PRINCETON TORY · 5 THE RANT ¾ So much for the free exercise of religion. Princeton’s Center tells reporters at the time: “I think that porn own Office of Religious Life closed the doors of shows profound disrespect and disregard for the rights Murray-Dodge to a visiting preacher who wanted to and feelings of women… The message of pornogra- pray with a small group of students. Murray-Dodge phy tends to be that it is legitimate to treat women is open to all the religious groups that meet Dean brutally.” Breidenthal’s standard of political correctness, but Rev. Pat Robertson’s group was deemed “offensive” Daily Princetonian, February 11, 2003: “After a and shut out. Providentially, the cast of “Bums and turbulent day in the face of inclement weather and Monkeys” next door welcomed Robertson and planned protests, [the Organization for Women students to pray in Theatre~Intime. We know who Leaders] yesterday postponed its ‘pleasure seminar’ the real monkey is here, and he should do Princeton a featuring Cake, an entertainment company ‘devoted favor and resign. to the promotion of female sexual culture,’ which was originally set to take place at 8 P.M. in the Whig ¾ “Yes means yes and no means no, whatever we senate chamber… The co-founders of Cake… had wear, wherever we go.” Wrong. While our hearts go contacted OWL and arranged a discussion on sexual out to victims of sexual violence, Take Back the fantasy, orgasm and pleasure.” Night misses the point. Shouted slogans, victims’ testimonies, and purple ribbons fail to confront the Same senate chamber, same filth, same outcome. In reality of the sexual climate on campus. If Take two decades, the only difference is that the real Back the Nighters are serious about changing that feminists have neither a wealthy, university-recog- climate at Princeton, we’re all going to have to make nized student group nor, it now seems, a voice in the some real changes in our own lives. What we wear, Women’s Center. what we drink, how we talk — let’s stop pretending that these things don’t matter and start to take ¾ Whether President Tilghman has truly been “blind” to responsibility. gender in her appointments, most can agree that three of her four prominent female appointees are near of ¾ An arrest has been made in the case of the Christ- the top of their respective fields. Most insiders agree mas Eve 2002 disappearance of a pregnant California that it’s the fourth, Dean of the School of Engineering woman. Laci Peterson’s body and the body of her and Applied Sciences Maria Klawe, who is suspect. unborn son Connor recently washed up near San Klawe, if you remember, said publicly: “I have an Francisco, and her husband Scott now faces the unusual background for a dean of engineering be- death penalty. We cannot help but notice the tragic cause I’m not an engineer.” This is like English contradiction in California law that this case high- Department Chair Michael Wood telling students: lights. Scott Peterson is being charged with a double “Soy único porque no hablo inglés.” We could be homicide for the murder of a pregnant woman wrong on this, but from numerous conversations with resulting in the death of her child. But had Connor engineering students, there’s a lot of reporting to be Peterson been killed by, say, a doctor performing an done here. Don’t we have a “newspaper” on campus abortion on that same day, he would have had no for this kind of stuff? chance at justice under California law. We pray for all those involved in this case and hope that justice ¾ We at the Tory are firm believers in informed democ- will be served where it is due. racy, yet recent election practices show the Under- graduate Student Government (USG) feels differ- ¾ Daily Princetonian, March 4, 1983: “The Women’s ently. In the days prior to the recent election, no- Center met last night to plan protests against Whig- where on the USG site could one find a list of the Clio’s March 26 showing of Debbie Does Dallas, an candidates running, let alone a statement or photo- X-rated film…” Shelley Rigger ’84 of the Women’s graph. True, such information appeared the night of

6 · THE PRINCETON TORYCompiled by the Editors APRIL - MAY 2003 the actual election; yet imagine if this happened in (note well, no-blood-for-oilers) the conspiracy any official municipal, state or federal election, no theorists are right. voter information released until the polls open! This only makes the election even more a popularity ¾ 1,600 selected Princeton students were asked to contest, and gives the advantage to those who send take a survey on “The Princeton Experience.” out more unsolicited emails or more effectively Question number 24: “For analysis purposes, it blanket the campus in neon election fliers. Further- would help us to know your sexual orientation. more, in this time of unbridled political activity by the Please click a button below that reflects your self- USG, we question the complete lack of discussion of identification.” Choice A: “I identify myself as gay, political views of each candidate, a topic quite lesbian, or bisexual.” B: “I do not identify myself as relevant to the selection of leaders who claim to gay, lesbian, or bisexual.” And finally C: “I decline speak for us. to respond or neither of the above fit.” So, at Princeton these days, we’re all either “gay” or “not ¾ And you thought the right-wing conspiracy was vast. gay” – homosexuality is a positive, “diverse,” quality Captured Iraqi documents, according to London that straights, like whites, lack. Were the adminis- newspapers, prove three crucial transactions: be- tration not preoccupied with pandering to the fringe, tween Paris and Baghdad, Baghdad and al-Qaeda, maybe it wouldn’t need such surveys in the first and Baghdad and Whitehall. They prove that the place. French government shared the contents of private diplomatic meetings and correspondence (including ¾ The president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Bush’s post-September 11 meeting with Chirac) with Animals (PETA) has requested in her will that her Baghdad and that Hussein’s intelligence service corpse be barbecued. Ingrid Newkirk also asks that communicated with bin Laden and invited him to her skin be made into leather and her liver into foie Baghdad. Finally, they report that Labour MP gras, a move she hopes will raise awareness of George Galloway, perhaps the most vocal critic of animal cruelty. Roasting the left (figuratively) is Tony Blair and Gulf War II, received $10 million over good fun, but when it comes to cannibalism, we’ll nine years from the Iraqi Foreign Ministry and is now pass… under investigation. Sometimes, but only sometimes - Compiled by the Editors

~ Special Promotion ~

APRIL - MAY 2003 THE PRINCETON TORY · 7 NATION

SLAVERY, ABORTION, AND THE DEATH OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY conditional good whose goodness de- In Dred Scott, Chief Justice Roger Taney, pends on a cost-benefit analysis of the speaking for the Court, pronounced that Daniel Mark ’03 consequences of driving at that speed. people could not be dispossessed of their The comparison to speed limits is in- property, including slaves, when they With the “laser-like mind of a structive in illustrating Douglas’s under- moved to the territories from the states. philosopher and the cadence of a poet,” standing of the question of slavery as an This created quite a conundrum for Dou- Abraham Lincoln simultaneously amoral one. As in Lincoln’s timeless re- glas. On one hand, he had to support smashed a major political party and minder, no one may have a right to do a the decision for the sake of his Southern Stephen Douglas’s presidential hopes.1 wrong. Nor may people be restrained base. On the other hand, Dred Scott In a series of debates culminating in from doing that which is their right. Ac- pulled the rug out from under Douglas’s Alton, Illinois, Lincoln exposed cordingly, a champion of popular sov- popular sovereignty thesis because it Douglas’s position as untenable both to ereignty, Douglas had to maintain that meant that a majority could not prohibit the slave-holding South and the free slavery from a territory. Though Taney’s states of the North. To the North, he decision applied explicitly only to the ter- demonstrated that Douglas’s views ritories, Lincoln readily observed that the could not be reconciled with the North’s logic of the decision would carry it over efforts to contain slavery to the slave to the states. If slave-holding were a states. To the South, Lincoln showed, constitutional right, as the Court opined, famously, “there is not such an Aboli- then the exercise of that right could not tionist in the nation as Douglas, after be prohibited anywhere in the country. all.”2 Crucially, Lincoln’s political acu- Such a conclusion made Douglas unac- men was rooted in his moral clarity. ceptable to the North. Drawing on this clarity, he did far more With Northern support waning, than split the party along its fault lines, Douglas attempted to minimize the Dred ensuring Douglas’s defeat. In identify- Scott’s implications. To do so, he pos- ing the irreconcilability of the Democratic ited that the residents of a territory had platform with the principles of the Ameri- the power to combat slavery through so- can republic, he catalyzed the dissolu- called unfriendly legislation, meaning tion of the Democratic Party itself. To- laws that effectively eliminated slavery day, nearly a century and a half later, in that territory. Yet if there were, as that occurrence is poised to repeat it- Taney said, a constitutional right to hold self. slaves as property, then surely a major- The centerpiece of Douglas’s slavery, like a particular speed limit, was ity could not contravene that right position on slavery was popular sover- neither right nor wrong. Only in this through unfriendly legislation. And if eignty—“each State having the right to way could he profess the right of a majorities could circumscribe constitu- prohibit, abolish, or sustain slavery, just territory’s people to vote slavery either tional rights through unfriendly legisla- as it pleases.”3 In other words, it mat- up or down. Although this does not tion, then the free states of the North tered not whether or not a polity chose prove the wrongness of defending sla- could refuse to return runaways as the slavery so long as it was free to make very, it does show that Douglas was not Fugitive Slave Clause of the Constitu- the choice.4 In our day, Douglas might truly neutral on the question of slavery; tion demanded. The South cared deeply have compared the issue to speed lim- he considered slavery to be “not wrong.” about its constitutional right to recover its, arguing that it is of no moral mo- Inevitably, Douglas’s opinion fugitive slaves, but if Douglas was cor- ment whether people may drive fifty-five discomfited both the North and the rect about unfriendly legislation, then or sixty-five miles per hour on the New South, the former which wanted to keep Lincoln was also correct that Douglas’s Jersey Turnpike as long as the citizens slaves from territories regardless of argument for undermining constitutional of New Jersey get to decide. Easily rec- popular sentiment and the latter which rights in the territories endangered all ognizing the flaw in Douglas’s argument, wanted just the opposite. Yet if Douglas constitutional protections for slavery. Lincoln knew that freedom from bond- found himself stretched thin before 1857, That conclusion made Douglas unaccept- age, an intrinsic good, is unlike the free- then his career began to truly unravel able to the South. dom to drive at high speeds, merely a with the notorious Dred Scott decision. Douglas’s candidacy imploded

8 · THE PRINCETON TORY APRIL - MAY 2003 NATION precisely because in his flailing he per- house divided: “I do not expect the primary contests and maintaining the verted the logic of the law. The law de- house to fall—but I do expect it will wide base that enables victory in gen- rives its authority from the logic of mor- cease to be divided. It will become all eral elections. als; that is, the law may prohibit actions one thing, or all the other.”6 Moreover, the pro-abortion po- that ought not to be done. If it were The current abortion debate par- sition unifies a party that increasingly morally wrong to own slaves, then the allels the slavery debate of Lincoln’s gen- comprises diverse special interest law could prohibit or at least punish eration. With the 2002 Born Alive In- groups. If so, the abortion issue may slave-ownership.5 Or, if there were a fants Protection Act and the upcoming finally be the wedge that comes between right to own slaves, then the law could partial-birth abortion bill, President the party and its solidly supportive black not justly rescind that right. In order to George W. Bush and Republicans have constituency, which is consistently more straddle both sides, Douglas had to posit begun to bring the untenable pro-abor- religious and more anti-abortion than its both a right to slavery and right to inter- tion position to center stage. The new white counterpart. The loss of minority fere with slavery through unfriendly leg- laws, which restrict only the rarest and backing would prove devastating to the islation. Nevertheless, if it were a ques- most horrifying forms of feticide (and Democratic Party. tion of rights, then it could not be in the infanticide), divide the ideological pro- Fundamentally, the fatal flaw in hands of popular sovereignty. In that abortion apologists from the more mod- the Democratic position resembles that way, he divorced the logic of the law erate libertarian-type voters who prefer of the party’s antebellum predecessor. from the logic of morals. to limited abortion. This division recalls At its core, the pro-abortion stance con- Even before Dred Scott, Dou- the eventual separation of the slave-hold- tradicts the principle of human equality glas and the Democratic Party teetered ing Southern Democrats from the live- that is the basis of republican govern- dangerously at the edge of a steep preci- ment. As human beings, fetuses pos- pice. Dred Scott merely exposed the sess a natural right to equality. Denying contradictions inherent in their position. their equality is to deny nature as the The Democratic Party was doomed be- basis of equality and, in turn, to deny cause it stood at odds with the funda- the premises of self-government, which mental premises of the American regime. ultimately rely on natural equality. Thus, As Harry Jaffa demonstrates forcibly in a party that denies the truth of human A New Birth of Freedom, American in- equality also denies the basis of the dependence was predicated upon a right American regime. Perhaps once again of self-government. That right to self- the house will not fall but will cease to rule and freedom from tyranny, in turn, be divided. rested upon human equality, namely a rejection of claims of inherent authority Endnotes: to rule over others. In violating that prin- 1 Hadley Arkes, lecture, 13 February 2003. ciple of equality, slavery was irreconcil- 2 The Lincoln-Douglas Debates of 1858, able with republicanism. Just as a free Robert Johannsen, ed. (Oxford: Oxford people may not rightly vote to abandon University Press, 1965), 322. democracy, major political parties must 3 Ibid., 288. eventually be reconciled to the founda- 4 Lincoln did not dispute the constitutional tion of the regime, either through change right of a state to choose slavery, yet he in the party or change in the regime. For wanted to see the federal government keep example, a democratic party in a totali- and-let-live Northern Democrats. When slavery out of the territories so as to limit the tarian regime must either remain pow- Congress considered the Born Alive Act, support for slavery in those regions when erless or seek power by undemocratic many Democrats wished to see it pass they became states. means. So too, a totalitarian party in a quietly while activists groups like NARAL 5 The logic of morals does not establish the democratic regime must: remain pow- raised the alarm. NARAL comprehended wrongness of slavery but the wrongness of erless, seek power by democratic means that the bill, like a ban on slavery in the prohibiting the exercise of rights. (the totalitarian party ceases to exist), territories, advanced principles and poli- 6 Johannsen 309. or seize power by force (the democratic cies that closed the window on the im- Daniel Mark regime ceases to exist). When a party moral positive law supporting abortion. ’03 is a Politics and a regime embody diametrically op- In contrast, most Democratic strategists major from posed principles, only one can survive. worried that opposing the Born-Alive Act Englewood, Slavery and secession threatened the and a partial-birth abortion ban at the New Jersey. survival of the republic. The question behest of the radical left would drive Next year, he of whether the pro-slavery party or the moderate liberals from the party. This hopes to become anti-slavery regime would survive was fracturing of the party forced politicians a high school the question to which Lincoln addressed to choose between gratifying the teacher in New himself in his speech on the crisis of a grassroots activists who often decide Yory City.

APRIL - MAY 2003 THE PRINCETON TORY · 9 COVER STORY FINDING FRED HARGADON A Tale of Prudence, Longevity, and Scandal

minorities in the admissions process is predominantly white male school.” The slowly transformed into a conservative new dean declared in the fall of 1988: “I Brad Simmons ’03 bogeyman, something is amiss. First, a think in everything we do we need to let look backward – at Hargadon’s arrival, women know they are as welcome at Fred Hargadon is no conserva- his operating procedure, his national Princeton as everybody else.” tive. From the criticisms of this reputation, his role on Princeton’s cam- Like it or not, Hargadon was a longstanding dean of admissions, pus, and his mishaps. Then, a look for- hired gun who aimed to make Princeton though, one might mistake him for Sena- ward – at President Tilghman’s arrival, a more “progressive” community. tor Trent Lott. Hargadon’s departure, and an appropri- Posters protesting the an- ate lens through which to view his Operating Procedure nouncement that he will deliver this legacy. year’s Baccalaureate address read: “Why Tell-all books about admissions Hargadon? Accountability Now.” A Daily “No Strings Attached” at Duke, Wesleyan and other selective Princetonian staff editorial about the colleges give the impression that com- same issue suggested that Hargadon is Take the current emphasis on mittee-based decisions are the norm in “not the best possible choice” for the multiculturalism, race, and gender at admissions offices. Readers are told that event, owing in part to the “cloud over” Princeton and amplify it about three the “tough cases” are decided through his term. A number of students privately times: this is a fair approximation of the passionate rhetorical exchanges, as ad- discussed Hargadon’s regrettable asso- University’s climate in 1988. missions officers fight and negotiate ciation with the “old boys” club. In a A brief summation of the time: over the fates of their favorite applicants. scathing op-ed titled “What are we re- University of Michigan president and Not so at Princeton. Fearing ally saying ‘Yes’ to?”, a campus gay economist Harold Shapiro had recently that, with committees, the outcome of rights activist wrote that “Hargadon does succeeded the highly-regarded William students’ applications will hinge on the not represent the values that we as a Bowen in ; having been ad- community should be respecting and mitted for less than two decades, women promoting.” comprised only 40 percent of the stu- That one of the most experi- dent body; and, though a variety of is- enced and nationally revered university sues showed up on the campus radar administrators has been conflated with from year to year, the headlines of the Princeton’s “old guard” – and that such Daily Princetonian were reliably race- an association is immediately suspect – and gender-related. suggests much about the state of the Enter President Shapiro’s most university. Primarily, it suggests a need prominent appointee, a former to reexamine the history of Dean Swarthmore and Stanford admissions Hargadon’s term in West College. But dean with no prior affiliation to the more than that, it reminds us of the in- Princeton community. Shapiro told terest many Princeton activists have in Prince reporters that the newly-ap- continually redefining the institutional pointed Hargadon could use his clout on history of the University. the college admissions scene to modify As unsparing condemnation of Princeton’s often-unwelcoming image. Princeton’s traditions and culture has Hargadon, never one to mince words, reached its apex with the arrival of a new even told reporters that his major goals president (and the first not to receive a revolved around “the recruitment of degree from Princeton since the ante- women and minorities, an area in which bellum period), the time is ripe for this Princeton has encountered difficulties debate. And, if the topic is Princeton’s recently.” By making the admissions of- history, then the twilight of Hargadon’s fice more visible and revamping its in- career is the right place to begin. When formational brochures, Hargadon hoped Read ‘em and weep: The agenda behind a public advocate for women and racial to tear down its “lingering image” as “a

10 · THE PRINCETON TORY APRIL - MAY 2003 COVER STORY

oratorical abilities of their advocates, sonal statements creates a genuinely sity admissions, Hargadon inserted him- Dean Hargadon emphasizes thoughtful unique applicant, even if just on paper. self into the field at precisely the right written communication. If comments Another former admissions officer told time, assuming control of Swarthmore’s about a particular applicant diverge me that Hargadon would always de- admissions office in 1964 and then widely, Hargadon makes the final call. mand that staffers avoid distractions Stanford’s five years later. Procedures This has the effect of creating more hi- while reading files. No phone calls, no had not yet been fine-tuned and policies erarchy than might be expected in an e-mail, no talking with friends – the dean had not yet been debated with sufficient admissions office receiving well over understood that “the next file” always vigor – an overwhelmed army of admin- 10,000 applications annually. Former represents a significant portion of istrators needed a general. admissions officer Rachel Cederberg someone’s life on the line. Known for his strong convic- reveals the practical result: “He closets Cederberg mentions two other tions and stronger work ethic, Hargadon himself in an office for three weeks be- unique aspects of the Hargadon operat- set the national tone for undergraduate fore the notification deadline.” This lends ing procedure. First, in Hargadon’s admissions early on. His colleagues and some credence to the widespread cam- eyes, there is “a right answer” to every peers have referred to him as the “dean pus half-truth that Hargadon knows ev- admissions case, a proposition at odds of admissions deans” and “the father of ery undergraduate by name, for, as with the claims of admissions officers admissions.” The wealth of praise for Cederberg says, “he takes personal re- who – typically while defending race- Hargadon’s career resembles that des- sponsibility for every decision.” oriented preferences – emphasize the ignated for a pioneer. And appropriately From here, another laudable at- intrinsic subjectivity of the process. Sec- so. tribute of the Hargadon system reveals ond, Hargadon believes strongly that ex- itself: treatment of each applicant, no perience matters. On this understand- First Encounter matter his or her background, as a com- ing, the length of an admissions officer’s plex individual deserving special consid- tenure is directly related to his or her A Princeton student’s first en- eration. A candidate for admission to a ability to make sound decisions. counter with Hargadon is the beloved top university, from this perspective, is Each of these characteristics “Yes!” letter sent – in the big envelopes not simply a “middle-class swimmer with helps to foster an admissions culture that – to nervous high school seniors. From good grades” or “a Puerto Rican girl with is at once caring and straightforward. there the relationship deepens, even a terrific SAT verbal.” All of that, though And, while every new admissions dean without personal contact. He is, at only crucial, risks missing the larger picture. brings a new set of quirks to the office, the slightest risk of exaggeration, ubiq- The combination of recommendations, Hargadon’s meticulous, hierarchical ap- uitous at campus athletic and artistic activities, biographical and demographic proach largely stayed with his succes- functions. No longer married and his information, academic promise, and per- sors in Palo Alto, as former Stanford children fully grown, Hargadon has admissions dean Jean Fetter suggests in placed the University community at the her book Questions and Admissions. center of his professional and personal With new blood in Princeton admission lives. He has been known to make guest beginning this fall, significant compo- appearances at comedy performances, nents of the Hargadon culture are likely to photograph sporting events and send to remain in West College as well. participants copies, and to engage in sur- prisingly detailed conversations with stu- Dean of Deans dents whose names he came across years ago. Selective undergraduate admis- I first heard Dean Hargadon sions is a relatively new thing. In the speak at a Sunday evening meeting of early 20th century, the Registrar and Dean the Undergraduate Student Government. of Admissions positions typically over- The topic was the decline in campus in- lapped. Absent the contemporary per- tellectualism; the question for Hargadon, ception that financial success requires a tacitly understood by all present, con- university degree, the size of the appli- cerned the prudence of his admissions cant pool in, say, 1920 was not nearly decisions. Specifically, concerns among as intimidating as it is today. Increas- faculty members about the role of ath- ingly, after World War II and the Civil letics in the admissions process had Rights Movement, prestigious universi- gained prominence through the voices ties required teams of staffers and ad- of their student protégés. (The point ministrators to weed through the thou- about Hargadon having a distinctive ap- sands of applications sent to campus preciation for student-athletes is essen- every term. tially beyond dispute. A Princeton men’s the scandal and punishment is revealed. If his goal was to achieve maxi- heavyweight crew coach told a New mum influence on the future of univer- York Times reporter in 1996 that

APRIL - MAY 2003 THE PRINCETON TORY · 11 COVER STORY

Hargadon is “like another athletics direc- in society, has been marred with con- manded more evidence, analysis, and tor,” a comparison likely to draw fire troversy from its inception. Anti- specificity in the claims on both sides of from professors. Hargadon is quoted semitism, racism, sexism, the admissions spectrum. Those tran- subsequently as saying, however, that multiculturalism, Vietnam, grade infla- scribing the event write of Hargadon’s coaches know not to attempt to “fool tion, legacy admits, athletics recruiting, remarks: “He said there was still an ur- him” with students with borderline aca- and standardized testing have posed gent need for more data on minority popu- demic credentials.) unique problems for admissions offic- lations, on their progress or lack of it, Admissions decisions had not ers. Hargadon has withstood these tests, and cited this as a special research prior- yet been finalized at the time of this meet- staying at the vanguard of higher edu- ity;” he thought “better fundamental ing, perhaps explaining his apparent fa- cation admissions while simultaneously preparation was needed for minority stu- tigue. With a full head of white hair, an avoiding the radicalism characterizing dents;” he recognized a “real dilemma in old-fashioned assertiveness, and a many administrators of the past thirty the issue of individual versus group happy-go-lucky attitude, he was equal years. rights;” he supported the use of “objec- parts John Madden and Santa Claus. Take, for example, the after- tive tests” as a means for “democratiz- Belying his tired appearance, however, math of the 1978 Bakke case, which is ing” the nation’s student populations; he were both precision and vigor in his re- now interpreted by most admissions of- inquired about “how an institution might marks. ficers to permit the use of preferences best define ‘diversity’ because of the While questioning him, many forces contributing to or in- USG members fell back on gener- fluencing an institution’s defini- alizations about the applicant pool tion.” – too many athletes, too straight- Sensible observations, all edge, too conservative – which of them. As other participants in Hargadon batted away with a de- the conference sought to validate mand for specificity reminiscent of their predispositions about race, a professor managing a chaotic pre- Hargadon acknowledged uncer- cept. “I don’t like to generalize tainty. Neither conformist nor about the entire applicant pool,” he ideologue, he seemed intent on in- retorted frequently. “Each applica- terpreting the Court’s decision ob- tion must be judged individually.” jectively and methodically. And yet After tossing in a few one can imagine, rather easily, how pointed comments about the role of a gradualist approach like his can the curriculum in shaping the be contorted into a call for com- University’s intellectual climate, he placency. Questioning minority left a room that was, for the most Pair of Kings, Dethroned: students’ level of preparation sud- part, genuinely impressed. He had In the absence of broken laws or filed charges, denly morphs into ignorance of a taken an hour during the busiest Hargadon and LeMenager were unfairly larger “institutional racism;” point- portion of the admissions process, punished. One wonders if Yale, who shares in ing to potentially large downsides treated USG members as peers the blame, treats her faithful so ungraciously. of “group rights” is interpreted as rather than subordinates, and re- a lack of sensitivity; and so on. sponded to questions forcefully and Even if meant constructively, mod- directly. No one agreed with the entirety for underrepresented racial minorities. erate skepticism about the path toward of his remarks, but respect and admira- In the weeks after the monumental de- racial diversity in higher education is gen- tion for his demeanor were palpable. cision, hundreds of professors and col- erally a poor career move for an admis- lege administrators met to hash out in sions officer. That Hargadon did exactly …And the Controversies seminar-format the implications of the this at such a pivotal time in affirmative Court’s opinion. From a report by the action’s history is remarkable. As is the case with any leader College Board summarizing these meet- Other controversies during in a nascent field, responsibility for the ings, it becomes clear that a great deal Hargadon’s career were more procedural successes and failures of higher educa- of confusion enveloped the discussions. than ideological. For example, the lead tion admissions tend to fall on Hargadon’s Most administrators are quoted as re- from the April 30, 1993 edition of the already cluttered desk. About the criti- marking, not at all jokingly, that the only Prince reads: “‘No!’ says Hargadon: Uni- cism he regularly receives, Hargadon certainty in the post-Bakke era was the versity admits miscalculation; must told me: “In my job, especially if you job security of constitutional lawyers. refuse 53 expected members of the Class stay at it a while, you invariably get shot Only Hargadon – then of 1997.” However, in Princeton’s his- at from each of the 360 degrees in a Stanford’s admissions dean – and a few tory books, as written by President circle.” others pierced the touchy rhetoric with Shirley Tilghman, this embarrassment is Selective undergraduate admis- grounded observations about the inter- but a footnote to the 2002 Yale website sions, by virtue of its “gatekeeper” role section of race and admissions. He de- scandal.

12 · THE PRINCETON TORY APRIL - MAY 2003 COVER STORY

steps are needed, a Hargadon-style ap- ing to a partially web-based notification Stacking the Deck proach would at least invoke extensive process for applicants; Yale had been one research findings in their defense, as well of the first universities to institute one Recently, members of the ad- as a straightforward presentation of the of these systems, which allowed pro- missions office – though not Hargadon, broader vision those steps are meant to spective students to check their “admit/ specifically –admitted to accessing sen- bring about. In short, it seems likely reject” status by typing in their Social sitive information about applicants by that the difference between Hargadon Security numbers and birth dates; capitalizing on a poorly-designed Yale ad- and Tilghman is partly about ideas, but Princeton admissions officers, aiming to missions web site. President Tilghman mostly about contrasting styles of lead- install a similar system, tested the Yale reacted quickly and loudly, condemning ership. web site using information from the incidents and, in a rare move, send- This is no small matter. When Princeton applicants (including a few ing individual letters to Princeton alumni Tilghman initially took over the admin- high-profile ones), claiming they did not explaining her disapproval. It is now istrative reins from Shapiro, it was hard expect the applicant’s status to be as commonly thought, and an administra- not to notice that the first departures from simple to access; when Princeton offi- tive source at another univer- cials told their Yale counter- sity has claimed, that parts at a subsequent Ivy Hargadon’s term ended one Condemning the entire office in a League conference of the in- year earlier than he had ex- effectiveness of Yale’s online pected on account of insti- letter to alumni, Tilghman ensured security measures, word tutional pressure arising from the succession of an outsider. leaked to Yale student journal- the Yale scandal. ists, who went straight to the Hargadon’s departure and the Nassau Hall were those whose moder- New York Times with it. That week’s ascent of Tilghman to the presidency are ate views seemed destined to conflict headlines were public relations disasters. mostly happenstance, though their con- with a bold, liberal agenda for Hargadon was permitted to stay currence is emblematic of a deeper shift Princeton’s future. For example, Vice on, at least one high-level staffer was underway in the Princeton community. President of Finance Richard Spies, ma- removed from the office, and the Times Students tend to overlook the magnitude ligned by many activists as hostile to the had Tilghman as saying that “everyone of events occurring under the auspices recent workers’ rights movement, was involved in the break-in would be disci- of the new administration: the forthcom- ousted immediately. plined.” Headlines in major national pa- ing influx of 500 undergraduates, the It seemed a matter of time until pers decried the “break-in,” alleging that construction of a new residential college the strongest dean – he who controlled it violated the privacy of applicants and and the gradual move to a four-year resi- the ideological, athletic, racial, artistic and confirmed the decline in the ethics of dential college system, a number of academic contours of the University’s admissions offices. strikes against fraternities and the eating 5,000 undergraduates – would depart. Those who have studied the in- clubs, the introduction of a seven-week Hargadon’s reputation for championing cident since understand that this reac- moratorium on varsity athletic practices varsity athletics, his reluctance to jump tion was overblown. Laws were prob- (as well as rumors that ably not broken, because Princeton sports teams the information acquired might be downgraded to Hargadon’s legacy is constructive – whether a given appli- Division III in the near fu- skepticism, an adversion to cant had been accepted or ture), the appointment of a rejected – is not legally new team of deans and de- change for change’s sake. protected under the Fam- partment heads, and a Su- ily Educational Rights and preme Court decision about the future on the affirmative action bandwagon Privacy Act (FERPA). The claim of un- of affirmative action that will likely be until substantive policy concerns were authorized computer access seems more subject to interpretation by the adminis- addressed, and his stronghold on admis- credible, according to Lee Tien, a pri- tration, to name a few prominent ones. sions decisions did not appear to lend vacy specialist and attorney affiliated It is conceivable, though un- themselves to a presidential vision em- with the Electronic Frontier Foundation. likely, that Hargadon might support each phasizing racial and gender diversity, But, as Tien explained in a phone con- of these moves. It is virtually certain, greater appreciation for the arts, and a versation, that argument would encoun- however, that his approach to the issues reduced role for the rough and tumble ter difficulties in court, for it requires of athletics, the augmentation of the stu- of athletics. that the harm done rise above a fairly dent population, and affirmative action On this account of Tilghman’s high damage threshold. “The real issue in undergraduate admissions would be decisions, the Yale admissions scandal here is not legal,” he emphasized, but different in tone if not substance. This makes a great deal of sense. To reca- rather thoughtlessness on the part of doesn’t make Hargadon a conservative; pitulate the basics of the incident: Ivy Princeton and Yale administrators. “So it merely reflects his well-documented League admissions officers had been often in the security world we see the aversion to radicalism. If aggressive discussing openly the possibility of mov- same basic pattern: poor, thoughtless

APRIL - MAY 2003 THE PRINCETON TORY · 13 COVER STORY security, then someone exploiting it. The reluctance to change for change’s sake. tional pressures he encountered after question of whether it was legal is bark- I suspect something similar was signing thousands of rejection letters ing up the wrong tree – let’s come back at work in Hargadon’s alleged unwilling- yearly. Hargadon, defying the odds, to the law book when people are really ness to create separate admissions ma- stayed at both Stanford and Princeton doing what they’re supposed to do for fifteen years. (Even now, in terms of securing information.” he tells me that most of his The incident can be sur- nights are spent responding mised thus: no laws broken, no to e-mails and letters from charges filed, and shared culpabil- frustrated parents.) His acute ity by two elite institutions. Yet, institutional memory – with counterintuitively, Hargadon and a respect to Princeton and potential successor who had worked higher education generally – with him, Stephen LeMenager, were is rivaled only by the profes- uniquely targeted for punishment. sorial and administrative di- The entire admissions office was nosaurs of our day. condemned, tainted even, in a letter Unfortunately, in a uni- to Princeton alumni. As a result, no versity system whose face is one is astonished that the next dean constantly changing with the of admissions is an outsider to the times, always aiming to be- Hargadon system. By the terms of come more “progressive,” Tilghman’s own response to the Yale experience carries with it as incident, promoting one of much suspicion as respect. Hargadon’s subordinates – all of There are, to be sure, no three whom she had indirectly implicated dirtier words in the dictionary in public statements – would be of elite higher education than senseless. It’s all very convenient. “old,” “white,” and “male.” Put together, they have par- The Big Picture tially masked the positive con- tributions Hargadon has made The man who, in 1988, The King of Hearts to the higher education com- symbolized a newly progressive ap- Take care, Dean Fred. munity. proach, a heavyweight in admis- His attention to the sions circles snatched by President terials and events for incoming gay stu- applicant as an individual rather than Shapiro to change Princeton’s conser- dents. From his decades of experience merely a group member, his decision to vative image, now leaves the University and observation of similar efforts at other shoulder responsibility for the fate of ev- amidst charges that he marches with the schools, he may have concluded that ery undergraduate matriculant to the in- old guard. The dean who fought to main- orientation and recruiting efforts work stitution he served, his demand that con- tain a 50-50 ratio of females to males at would be harmed by singling out gay victions be rooted in thoughtful research, the University is now pooh-poohed by freshmen. The Princeton admissions and his participation in the whole of the an administration for which gender is and orientation formula has a long record Princeton community should not be for- central. The guy who is at nearly every of unifying students and alumni more gotten. Take care, Dean Fred. The artistic, cultural, and athletic event on than any other American university. It’s hearts of all Princetonians go with you. campus, and whose politics seem much something some administrators and ac- more in line with Bill Bradley’s than tivists simply don’t get: a presumption Steve Forbes’s, has been stuck with that in favor of school tradition. nasty “conservative” label. Despite the controversies, I More than anything else in recent have no doubt that Dean Hargadon has Princeton history, Hargadon’s final years enjoyed his tenure immensely. He once show that moderate liberals have a tough told a reporter, just after completing a Brad Simmons time in the academy. When compelling spring’s worth of admits and rejects, that ’03 is a Politics evidence points to a need for reform, as he “has the best job in the world.” major from San it did with early race-based affirmative The five admissions deans pre- Jose, Califor- action efforts and the problematic 60/ vious to Hargadon maintained their posts nia. Next 40 gender split at Princeton in the 1980’s, for an average of five years. Former year, he will be Hargadon’s activist credentials have been dean James Wickenden once said of the an investment unmatched. When the evidence is admissions deanship: “It is the type of banking ana- mixed, his positions have been marked job you do for four to six or seven years lyst at Goldman by a constructive skepticism – a and move on,” citing the tasking institu- Sachs.

14 · THE PRINCETON TORY APRIL - MAY 2003 CAMPUS THE PRINCETON NON-EXPERIENCE Emptiness at the Core

education means is that you got in to president responsible for reintroducing Princeton, and while I realize that may the “Great Books” curriculum to Ameri- Jennifer Carter ’03 be a terribly cynical view of the place I can universities in the last century: “If love so much, I do think it’s true. the curriculum were rational and intelli- Last week I received an e-mail Socially and extracurricularly, gible, the students might not run from it and a letter from President Tilghman Princeton students invest their time in a in such large numbers to devote them- soliciting a second installment of my re- vast array of activities, and our scholas- selves to extracurricular activities.” sponses for the Princeton Experience tic interests are equally Hutchins’s survey. diverse. This is not nec- revolutionary “Chicago I did fill out the survey, as I did essarily a bad thing, of plan” advocated restruc- two years ago when members of the course. It’s a tremen- turing undergraduate edu- classes of 2001 and 2003 were randomly dous blessing to be sur- cation based on “a course invited to participate. The questions rounded by such tal- of study consisting of the ranged from inane (rate a variety of “ex- ented, interesting, and greatest books of the periences” on a negative-to-positive con- dynamic people. But the western world and the arts tinuum) to rant-provoking (“is there any downside of all this is that of reading, writing, think- group at Princeton that you think is there is nothing we have ing, and speaking, together treated unfairly?”) and took the better in common aside from with mathematics, the best part of an hour to complete. our physical proximity to exemplar of the processes The survey missed the point, one another. There are no of human reason.” The though. While I’m sure that registering topics guaranteed to heart of his curriculum be- my negative freshman-year R.A. expe- strike up a fascinating in- Robert M. Hutchins came known as the “Great rience will somehow benefit countless tellectual conversation, Books,” the classic works future generations of Princetonians, the no subjects on which anyone you meet that have indelibly shaped Western civi- bigger picture sadly went untouched. is sure to have an opinion, or at least to lization and the way we think about our The Princeton Experience want to know yours. world. project’s fundamental flaw is its premise This problem is primarily aca- “It sounds like you’re talking that by amalgamating the responses of demic in nature, and I would isolate it to about Princeton’s HUM sequence,” you hundreds of students to questions like the absence of coherent curricular pro- might say, and you’d be right. “What has been your most significant gram. The failure here is on the part of Princeton’s best-kept secret is HUM 216- (positive or negative) academic experi- the University, not its students—I be- 219, a two-semester, four-course “Great ence at Princeton?” pollsters will be able lieve that anyone admitted to Princeton Books” program sponsored by the to answer the ultimate question: “What is capable of this sort of intellectual dis- Council of the Humanities and taught by is the Princeton Experience?” course. The substance and the forum a brilliant faculty ensemble. That question, I’m afraid, can- for a unifying academic inquiry are sim- Unfortunately, the program is not be answered by the present genera- ply not being provided. underpublicized, and uninformed aca- tion of Princetonians because the The lack of a common Princeton demic advisors do not encourage stu- Princeton Experience no longer exists. Experience manifests itself in various dents to enroll. Worse, enrollment in the I know what you’re going to well-known ways on campus: the pe- “HUM sequence” is limited to a total of say. “That’s nuts. Lots of things define rennial “anti-intellectualism” debate, the 30 freshmen and sophomores each year. the Princeton Experience. There’s the fact that 55 percent of students major in The Humanities Council is stretched too senior thesis, and the ‘Street,’ and the one of five departments, chronic grade thin, expending much of its resources residential colleges, and team sports, and inflation, political apathy, the athletics and efforts on the Princeton Atelier (cre- Reunions…” But let me explain what I “problem,” the overrepresentation of ative workshops with Toni Morrison and mean. graduates in the financial services sec- friends) and other such ventures. The one and only thing that all tor. But the real reason for not hav- Princeton students have in common is These are only symptoms of a ing a truly influential “Great Books” core Dean Fred’s “YES!” letter (and even that much deeper problem. Let us remem- curriculum at Princeton is a philosophi- is about to change). I have often re- ber the words of Robert Maynard cal one. The prevailing postmodern rela- marked that the only thing a Princeton Hutchins, the University of Chicago tivism in the twenty-first century acad-

APRIL - MAY 2003 THE PRINCETON TORY · 15 CAMPUS emy proclaims that there are no univer- “Math Alive!” (wait, that’s its real name). ing HUM sequence is a great place to sal truths and no intrinsic reasons for Increasingly, the liberal arts are being start. We could learn a lesson from the asserting the greatness, evilness, or any encroached upon by highly attractive University of Chicago, where the imme- other absolute characteristic of a text or trade-school programs like the Bendheim diate success of the Great Books course of a culture. According to this brand of Center for Finance and non-disciplines was guaranteed by having President thought, there is nothing inherently great like the School for Hutchins personally teach the inaugural about “Great Books” or “Western civili- Public and International Affairs. class in 1931. zation.” There is, however, still hope that Wait, you say, we don’t have a One caveat: this cultural relativ- Princeton has not yet fully abandoned president who is a scholar in the great ism is not to be confused with the liberal arts project. Princeton con- liberal arts tradition. True, but at Chi- multiculturalism, another pervasive con- sistently tops college rankings in large cago Hutchins himself said he hadn’t cept in today’s academy. part because of the faculty’s emphasis read most of the Great Books until he Multiculturalism is, fortunately, why we on teaching undergraduates. It is my taught the course. Curriculum reform have programs and departments like East fervent hope that newly appointed Dean will require a serious commitment from Asian Studies, Latin American Studies, of the Faculty David Dobkin will con- the very top and an aggressive restora- and Spanish Language and Culture, and tinue to support this important tradition. tion of the liberal arts project at all lev- unfortunately, why President Tilghman As the Undergraduate Student Govern- els. signed your name endorsing race-based ment, Dean Dobkin, President Tilghman, Twenty-first-century Princeton admissions policies. and the entire University community pre- desperately needs a reaffirmation of the Instead, academic subjectivism pare to address the symptoms I have search for truth as its mission and of a and the belief that no truth is universal mentioned, I hope—though not with coherent, unifying academic program. have resulted in the marginalization of great optimism—that students, faculty, Only then will we be able to speak of a the liberal arts project. (I cannot help but and administrators will see and confront Princeton Experience that is more inclu- note here that the statement that there the greater, underlying problem. sive than athletics, more enduring than are no universal truths is self-defeating But there is a fourth group in the senior thesis, and more meaningful on its own terms: if nothing is true, nei- whom I do place a great deal of faith: than the “Street.” ther is the very statement that nothing is the alumni. Arguably the most influen- true.) Knowledge for its own sake has tial of the four subcommunities, been replaced with “Princeton in the Princeton alumni could significantly Nation’s Service,” and Princeton has shape the future of the curriculum. It’s become a place for training politicians true that no living alumni have experi- Jennifer Carter and investment bankers rather than enced a true liberal arts experience at ’03 is a Span- scholars and thinkers. Princeton, though many have come ish and Italian The A.B. distribution require- closer to that experience than we do now. major from ments are the last vestige of a liberal arts But their ability to see the big picture, Tracy, Califor- curriculum, but these days their most academically and otherwise, may help nia. She will visible effect is to force students into them to see the pressing need for a co- attend Harvard courses affectionately known as “E-Mail herent curriculum. Law School for Credit,” “Shake and Bake,” and So where to begin? The exist- next year.

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16 · THE PRINCETON TORY APRIL - MAY 2003 INTERNATIONAL BUILDING AN AMERICAN IRAQ entering into the democratic “family of na- elect an Iraqi of their choosing in elections, tions” as Tony Blair put it will be challeng- a year or so away. One former Baghdadi, Bradley Heller ’05 ing, Iraqi people are definitely capable of Ahmad Chalabi, is favored in particular to supporting democracy and will embrace the fill the premier role as soon as the After what had seemed to be an new system in due course. Perhaps the Coalition’s work is finished. Besides his eternity of stalling, the combat in Iraq has best way to transform a nation from police devotion to freedom as an American-edu- started and ended, and the reconstruction state to republic should be under the guid- cated democrat, he has the ability to relate of Iraq has begun. It is difficult to say how ance of an initially strong but non-despotic to the Iraqi people as a moderate member history will remember this campaign, but it leader who gradually yields his power to a of the Sunni majority. Moreover, he has is clear that issues involving the active pro- democracy that forms beneath him. This already shown his leadership capability liferation of democracy and the importance way, there is some degree of continuity before in the organization of successful of protecting American security interests between the one-man rule of the past to movements against the Hussein regime in abroad will dominate the record. The en- rule by the people in the future. the mid 1990’s. But according to National suing political landscape of the Middle East Of course, the Coalition interim Review, he has also been decried as a play- is now fundamentally different. In the com- government will have to control the earli- boy and opportunist. Such a polar descrip- ing years, some form of democracy run and est stages of development until the people tion is painfully reminiscent of another supported by the Iraqi people will peace- ~ Special Promotion ~ fully stabilize a richly diverse nation with- out the brutal methods Hussein employed. Of course, the theory that this war was fought only to liberate the people of Iraq is a gross oversimplification, if not a complete obfuscation, of its true purpose. Primarily, the invasion of Iraq was a move to rid the world of a very dangerous regime that posed a very real threat to America and her allies. Now that the combat phase of this war is over, eliminating the caches of illicit weapons that the regime has been harboring is now a priority. And as an added bonus, the Iraqi people would be liberated from an unquestionably oppres- sive dictatorship. The only part of a so- called Iraqi nation building process is to construct a secular democracy in the Middle East. In the future, thousands of American troops may not be stationed in Iraq but that does not mean that a strong American presence will be absent. But even though the war has gone at least as successfully as anyone has hoped, the real key to achieving clo- sure here lies not on the battlefield but in the calm that follows. The real struggle is yet to come, for the United States must not fall into the trap of winning the war and then losing the peace. The first step towards achieving this peace is maintaining stability, a task not easy in a country suddenly emerging from generations of dictatorial control. The archaic Western response to nation-build- ing efforts of the past maintained that the native populations were not sophisticated enough to support democracy. Although

APRIL - MAY 2003 THE PRINCETON TORY · 17 INTERNATIONAL leader favored by the United States in the zation would be impotent (as if it weren’t of 1945, the organization cannot act under failed nation building of South Vietnam already) without the full participation of the the auspices of any nation. So, funding named Ngo Dinh Diem, whose failures led United States. But he argued that the rela- from the UN to aid the Coalition effort in to his assassination. Considering the fact tionship is reciprocal in that both America the rebuilding of Iraq, for instance, cannot that the war has already occurred, though, and the world have something to gain from take place. But specific peacekeeping it should be possible for Chalabi to lead mutual cooperation at the global level. But tasks, so long as they are approved by the Iraq so long as most of the people back the United Nations surrendered their say Security Council, can occur and would him and the opposition is peaceful. Trying in postwar Iraq when the Security Council prove most useful in policing Iraq in the to unite Iraqis in order to form a democracy refused to immediately back Resolution coming weeks. But this possible role, as without a reputable ruler with whom they 1441 with force. There is no question that any other the UN takes in this theater, must can identify and implicitly trust will be im- the lack of Security Council resolve in- be outlined clearly by the Coalition so as possible. These people need to be brought creased Hussein’s reluctance to disarm. not to interfere with the larger nation build- together by a sense of regional (that is, Ironically, the cowardly French, Russian, ing effort taking place. non-ethnic) nationalism and pride for their and German commitment to peace only Fortunately, the Iraqi public has new country. forced an eventual invasion of Iraq which enthusiastically welcomed Coalition forces Stability in Iraq also depends on sealed Hussein’s fall as soon as they were the ability of the people to cooperate and by force. sure that the regime was respect each other’s opinions in order to The UN actually finished. And, form a viable democratic government. Only cannot sit on the side- with the last of the Re- a secular Shiite leader will be able to appeal lines during this war publican Guard divi- to the majority while rebuilding the coun- and then claim the sions disintegrating as try. Continued civil insecurity will spell di- status of arbiter and Saddam and his family saster – patience and order are two funda- manipulate the ensu- are either dead or in hid- mental ingredients necessary for a New Iraq ing peace. Member ing, it is clear that vindi- to emerge. This pacific collaboration of nations of the Coali- cation for the war is at interests can only occur in a secure envi- tion have sacrificed hand. The Pentagon ronment, the ultimate responsibility of an the lives of too many has recruited many effective Iraqi police force. Indeed, regional young men and former weapons inspec- precincts are currently being re-formed un- women . Furthermore, tors to help with the der the supervision of 1200 American ad- and as the United Na- search for weapons of visers. And as the recent successes of joint tions must agree, mass destruction, and it patrols have demonstrated, American Ma- America has occupa- is clear that it is only a rines and Iraqi policemen can work to- tional responsibilities like humanitarian aid matter of time before the secret stashes are gether to stop the widespread looting of and infrastructural rehabilitation that must found. Trusting Saddam when he said that the country so that a national government be fulfilled before an international effort be- the weapons were destroyed along with can eventually materialize and prevent the gins to interfere. Not long ago, the United the evidence is not a sound course of ac- fragmentation of the nation. As soon as Nations was proud to stand against the tion, and neither is forcing oneself to be- the Coalition presence disappears and a righteousness of Coalition resolve against lieve that the weapons do not exist simply working peace remains, the people can Hussein. Consequently, they must now because they cannot be immediately found. come together and reap the delicious re- stand ashamed and alone while observing In truth, it will be many years be- wards of their liberation and achieve the how America, Great Britain and others help fore Iraq emerges as a powerful bastion of paradigm that is democracy. the Iraqi people independently. democracy in the Middle East. But the Fortunately, the outlook of a free It is no surprise that President benefits of this are great. The new country Iraq is bright because of its oil wealth and Bush has a powerful humanitarian agenda will be a bastion against the spread of anti- functional infrastructure. The nation build- that adds an additional $5 billion to the Americanism as the world sees the beauty ing effort that takes place must be fostered American development fund in this year’s of American ideals at work. The interna- with both Coalition and United Nations budget, while more than $2.5 billion have tional community will witness the transfor- support in delicate balance. been allocated to the Iraqi people alone as mation of Iraq into a independent and pros- The brave British, Australian and part of the war package that was recently perous nation and realize that it was the American soldiers have paid the price of approved by Congress. leadership and goodwill of the United States the Coalition’s worthy commitment to Nevertheless, there must still be that made it possible. You heard it here achieving its goals by force. Now is the some cooperation at the global level in or- first: Spring Break 2030, Baghdad. time for the UN to pick up the slack in a role der to facilitate the mending of fences with that the Coalition defines. key American allies in Europe while rebuild- In a recent visit to Princeton Uni- ing Iraq. Although diplomacy among Bradley Heller ’05 is a versity to discuss the future of the United friends might not be too difficult, agreeing Molecular Biology ma- Nations, German ambassador to the UN to a suitable role for the UN surely will be. jor from Long Island. Günther Pleuger conceded that the organi- According to the United Nations Charter

18 · THE PRINCETON TORY APRIL - MAY 2003 LAST WORD MEDITATION ON A STATUE OF A TYRANT tempted criticisms ever stuck; and the can soul and should be the foundation whole world saw, including the Arab for repairing individual and social ills. Pete Hegseth ’03 world via al-Jazeera, the joyous Iraqi Pumping money endlessly into public response to their liberation day. schools won’t work, as my roommate’s When Saddam’s statue fell in However, while I was grinning thesis so succinctly proves, and school Baghdad, and I saw the jubilant Iraqis in my room, a great many Princeton stu- choice holds educators to account. And, stomping on his fallen body, I could not dents, faculty, and administrators (along as President Reagan so aptly pro- help but grin from ear to ear. It wasn’t with Jacques Chirac) were quietly un- nounced, the American people can spend a sly grin, nor a grin that said “I told you happy with the outcome. At Princeton their money far better than the govern- so”, but instead it was an expression of (and in France for that matter), conser- ment can. relief and quiet satisfaction. At vative ideas and conservative Presidents So when that statue came Princeton, like most modern universities, are supposed to fail because conserva- down, it did more than just put a grin on American patriotism and American mili- tives are wrong and academic liberals my face—it put a cap on my Princeton tary power are seen, in their best light, are right. My experience, and the Iraqi experience and a cap on the validity of as necessary evils. They are seen as experience, has been quite the opposite. the conservative cause. Princeton’s lib- ingredients for American arrogance and As President Bush said in his eral establishment can hold as many foundations for a burgeoning American Inaugural Address, if we “defend needed panels, colloquia, and conferences as Empire. reforms from easy attacks” America, they would like, but Princeton students But when, after two weeks of and the world, will prosper because the must discover the truth for themselves, uncertainty about the fate of their tyrant, conservative stance will prevail. Con- a truth whose repercussions humble the Iraqis finally knew he had lost his grip servative ideas have worked, do work, monuments of our time. on power, they danced, and we were and will continue to work. The list is liberators. When the New York Times long: a strong military is absolutely es- Pete Hegseth ’03 is a Poli- printed numerous pictures of embar- sential to bringing long-term peace and tics major from Forest rassed American G.I.’s being kissed by stability to the world. The nuclear fam- Lake, Minnesota. Next exuberant Iraqi men, once again we were ily is the core of any healthy society, and year, he will be training as liberators. So when the American mili- one mother and one father provide the a 2nd Lieutenant at the tary entered Baghdad, almost unopposed, best atmosphere for nurturing the next U.S. Army Infantry School and helped the Iraqi people tear down generation. Religion protects the Ameri- at Fort Benning, GA. the figure of their oppressor, we were truly liberators. The Princeton Tory “Liberators.” A prime example Princeton’s skewed ideological battlefield Spring Lecture Series as well as a prime example of conserva- tive ideological triumph. President Bush with: used the word “liberators” from the be- College Republicans ginning, because he knew and under- stood the evil oppression felt by the Iraqi Whig-Clio people. However, the word “liberators” Woodrow Wilson School was not used here at Princeton; instead USG Projects Board liberals and peaceniks chided America as ODUS “oppressive invaders,” “aggressors,” Bildner Fund and “murderers.” And at times, even for staunch conservatives, it was tough to keep faith Proudly presents: in the purpose and cause in Iraq. Maybe it was the 24-hour news media—always scrutinizing and magnifying every wrinkle in the plan. Maybe it was the A Discussion with supposed “quagmire” that occurred three days into the war—and lasted only two days. Maybe it was that fact that inno- cent women and children were dying— George F. Will mostly by the hand of Saddam’s enforcer thugs. But in the end, none of the at- May 8, McCosh 10, 7:00 PM

APRIL - MAY 2003 THE PRINCETON TORY · 19 ~ Special Promotion ~

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