Princeton University President Christopher L. Eisgruber addressed graduating students during the university’s commencement ceremony on May 26, emphasizing the importance of courage, citizenship, and learning in facing contemporary challenges.
Eisgruber began by acknowledging that the class of 2026 is graduating during a period marked by partisan divisions, political violence, and rapid technological change. He drew historical parallels to the 1960s, referencing Robert F. Goheen, who served as Princeton’s president during that era. Eisgruber highlighted Goheen’s leadership through social upheaval and his role in admitting women to Princeton’s programs and increasing campus diversity.
Quoting Goheen’s reflections from his book The Human Nature of a University, Eisgruber said: “Hostile forces anchoring on selfish interests, or the status quo, have in every century opposed those institutions dedicated to the advancement of learning and the betterment of human life, and we would be rash indeed to underestimate these forces.” He further cited Goheen’s call for “courage…to hold the university to its role and mission,” encouraging graduates to value integrity over popularity.
Eisgruber also referenced Nobel laureate Toni Morrison’s remarks at Princeton’s 250th anniversary convocation in 1996. Morrison noted that Princeton was founded by religious dissenters who valued conscience above orthodoxy—a position she described as “so unpopular among colonial educators [that it] must have seemed reckless.” Both Morrison and Goheen were cited for urging Princetonians to uphold virtues such as integrity and courage.
The address included a passage from Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis defending free speech: “To courageous, self-reliant [people], with confidence in the power of free and fearless reasoning applied through the processes of popular government, no danger flowing from speech can be deemed clear and present unless the incidence of the evil apprehended is so imminent that it may befall before there is opportunity for full discussion.”
Eisgruber concluded by encouraging graduates to embrace difficult conversations even when unpopular or uncomfortable: “Our world needs not only your knowledge and your skills but also your courage… I accordingly hope that in days and years to come you will…prefer ‘hard truth to comfortable fiction.’” He wished success for all members of Princeton University’s Great Class of 2026.
