McCormick Prof. of Jurisprudence and Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals & Institutions, Princeton U. + Banjo Picker. unWoke/uncancellable
Joined October 2013
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The Chronicle of Higher Education on the new report of the American Academy of Sciences and Letters on the crisis in the humanities.
chronicle.com/article/humani…
Valuable thread by Ramesh Ponnuru of National Review on Justice Elena Kagan's comments on her conservative fellow Supreme Court justices.
It's no secret that there is a crisis in the humanities in U.S. higher education. The American Academy of Sciences and Letters has done a great service in diagnosing the crisis in this important new report by a team of scholars led by Josiah Ober of Stanford.
academysciencesletters.org/w…
Joshua Katz on the important new report by the American Academy of Sciences and Letters on the crisis in the humanities:
aei.org/social-cultural-and-…
Sober and sobering words from Jack Goldsmith on Elissa Slotkin's noxious comments. We can debate who started the cycle of weaponization and retaliation, but it's damaging the country, and both parties are now into it up to their eyebrows. Neither seems willing to break the cycle.
My thoughts on Senator Slotkin’s U of C remarks and Republicans’ hypocritical reactions. "Trump won the election and could have stopped the cycle. But that was contrary to his vengeful nature and, in any event, would have been seen by his side as unilateral disarmament. And so he engaged in astonishingly harsh and broad retaliation for what the Biden administration did, in order to deter rivals on many dimensions. The Democrats are now contemplating whether and how to respond when they gain power. The incentive for brutal retaliation will be overwhelming, especially since it will be argued, just as Vance argued, that the other side has already done it, will do it again if possible, and thus must be maximally deterred.
And so on.
It’s a bleak future."
execfunctions.org/p/senator-…
Thank you, Dave. What a time Cornel and I had with you and your wonderful colleagues at Augustana University!
Two delightful days with @McCormickProf and @CornelWest on the Augustana campus this week. I had the privilege of inviting them to campus and of introducing them to my colleagues and students. And then the privilege of witnessing their genuine love of God and neighbor.
If universities cared about the well-being of their students--young women and men alike--they would cut it out with the the freshman orientation and "sexual health" programs that are nothing but propaganda for sexual liberationist ("sex-positivity") ideology and libertinism.
Jon Haidt's important book The Happiness Hypothesis is out today in a 20th anniversary edition with a new preface.
I have a new book out today, sort of! The 20th anniversary revised edition of The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom.
Here's the new preface, explaining why ancient wisdom is even more important today:
afterbabel.com/p/happiness-h…
My essay in today's Washington Post on combatting forced organ harvesting wapo.st/4hSIQRW
Far above Cayuga's waters ....
(In fairness, though, similar sex lib propaganda masquerading as "health information" is undoubtedly being shoved at students by other universities, including the one at which I teach. Alas, there's nothing unusual about Cornell in this area.)
As an opponent of the death penalty, I'm of two minds about public executions. On one side, we as citizens should see--face--the killing that is being done in our name. On the other, there is the further coarsening of the public's already profoundly coarsened moral sensibilities.
Culture matters--massively. Universities are responsible for the campus cultures their policies shape.
"Cornell’s health service is shocking in its lewdness, offering students instructions for exploring bondage and supplying a checklist for identifying interest in various forms of group sex."
thefp.com/p/what-cornell-tea…
On Sam Alito on religion and the Constitution"
deseret.com/opinion/2026/10/…
Many colleges and universities informally (and sometimes formally) promote and facilitate licentiousness and libertinism, then they are "shocked, shocked!" when students act these things out, bringing embarrassment and shame on the institution. Are you a concerned alumnus or parent? Ask about what goes on regarding sexuality in the freshman orientation and "sexual health" programs. Don't settle for vague answers (like "our programs promote personal responsibility and combat date rape"). Demand specifics.
Even laying aside questions of legal liability, the conduct of the young men in the Cornell case was predatory. That's what you get when families--and cultures--fail to instill crucial virtues in boys. If you don't want boys to grow up to be predators, raise them to be protectors.
robertpgeorge.com/articles/r…
For more than a quarter century, this man has been waging a reputation rehabilitation campaign. One technique is to associate himself with heroes--this time it's Vaclav Havel. When I encounter these efforts, though, the words of his that always leap to mind are "you'd better put some ice on that lip."
Václav Havel believed that truth was better than fear, freedom was worth fighting for, and Europe’s future belonged to everyone. He devoted his life to those convictions and helped change the course of history.
On what would have been his 90th birthday, I’m remembering my friend with gratitude for his courage, his love of our common humanity, and the work we did together to bring the Czech Republic into NATO and build a Europe no longer divided.
We also shared a love of music. So today, I’m playing a few notes in his honor. Happy birthday, my friend. The world could use more of your spirit.