BUZZ
Nearly all of the reported political contributions by Princeton faculty — 98 percent — went to Democratic candidates or affiliated groups during the most recent election cycle compared to zero donations to Republican candidates and affiliated groups, according to a study released Tuesday.
Princetonians for Free Speech reviewed Federal Election Commission data covering the 2023-24 election cycle and matched it to a roster of Princeton faculty department by department.
Among the 818 faculty members reviewed, 101 made a federal contribution, and of those, 99 supported Democrats and two supported independents; none went to Republicans.
In terms of dollars, $300,747 went to Democratic recipients and $1,270 to independent recipients.
“[A]cross all 34 departments, no department recorded a single Republican contributor,” the study found. “Politics, the department whose subject is American electoral politics, returned five contributors and five Democrats.”
What’s more, within the School of Public and International Affairs, the study found its faculty donated at a higher rate comparatively: “The school that trains the country’s public servants is, on this measure, both twice as politically engaged as the university around it and less politically varied.”
“Students cannot learn how to think critically if they are only exposed to one narrow view; knowledge will not advance if research cannot be subject to evaluation and criticism through different lenses,” the group stated in a news release.
“If everybody on a campus has pretty much the same viewpoint because other viewpoints have been excluded, there cannot be real open debate and freedom of inquiry.”
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