PAW Pages

The following is an archive of columns written for "The President's Page" in the Princeton Alumni Weekly.

2024-25 Academic Year

Partners in Regional Progress
March 28, 2025

Hilary Parker ’01 became Princeton’s vice president and secretary in 2019. She is a key member of my leadership team and plays an important role in advancing the University’s strategic initiatives. I invited her to update PAW’s readers about one of the areas under her supervision, Princeton’s connections to the region around it. — C.L.E.…

Moments of Joy
Feb. 28, 2025

"You have one of the hardest jobs in America,” alumni will sometimes say to me. That’s an exaggeration — but it’s true that university presidents face lots of challenges and that the last five years have been especially demanding.

I am confident, however, that I have one of the best jobs in America, not least because I get to share in so…

The Cost of a College Degree is Going Down
Jan. 30, 2025

Conventional wisdom in America holds that the cost of college rises faster than inflation. That was once so — but it has not been true for a long time.

I was therefore glad when C-SPAN anchor Mimi Geerges gave me an opportunity to bust the myth. I appeared on C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal” in early December.

She asked me why “a…

Venture Forward Hits the Home Stretch
Nov. 27, 2024

The Venture Forward campaign is entering its final year, and it is already transforming the University in spectacular fashion.

Venture Forward is a mission-driven campaign. We’ve not set any internal or external dollar goals. Instead, we have focused intensely on gifts and initiatives that advance key priorities as defined in Princeton’s…

The Committee of Three
Oct. 28, 2024

Princeton’s excellence depends on many factors, but foremost among them is the caliber of the professors who produce world-class research, educate our students, help to run the institution, and conduct searches to identify potential colleagues.

At Princeton, the most important guarantor of faculty quality is a committee known as “the…

Opening Exercises 2024: ‘Something Transcendent’
Sept. 30, 2024

For Opening Exercises on September 1, we gathered on the front lawn of Nassau Hall to welcome Princeton’s new transfer students and the Class of 2028. I invited students to carefully consider the meaning and value of liberal arts education as they pursue their Princeton journey, and to be inspired by the “transcendent” experience of Pre-read…

Two Threats to the Ivy Athletics Model
Sept. 1, 2024

Two Threats to the Ivy Athletics Model” was first published in the September 2024 version of the Princeton Alumni Weekly.

 

The Gary Walters ’67 Princeton Varsity Club Awards Banquet is among my favorite events during Reunions…

Commencement 2024: ‘Leaning into Life, at Princeton and Beyond’
July 29, 2024

Commencement 2024: ‘Leaning into Life, at Princeton and Beyond’ was first published in the July 2024 edition of the Princeton Alumni Weekly.

On May 28, I had the honor of presiding…