Princeton Tory Podcast

On December 1, 2022, the Tory hosted a panel called "Eyes on Iran: Protest and Liberty Under the Ayatollah. The discussion focused on the status of human rights in Iran, U.S.–Tehran relations, and Princeton University's relationship with the Iranian regime. Members of the panel included Len Khodorkovsky, Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State and Senior Advisor to the US Representative for Iran; Ahmad Batebi, former political prisoner of Iran, journalist, and human rights activist; and Mariam Memarsadeghi, a leading advocate for a democratic Iran and Founder and Director of the Cyrus Forum. The panel was moderated by Bernard Haykel, professor of Near Eastern Studies.

In this episode of the Princeton Tory Podcast, Billy Wade '23 discusses the state of free speech on Princeton's campus with three of the University's professors: Sergiu Klainerman, Eugene Higgins Professor of Mathematics; John Benedict Londregan '88, Professor of Politics and International Affairs; and Elizabeth Bogan, Senior Lecturer in Economics. Delving into faculty experiences with the landscape of free speech at Princeton, Wade and our guests examine the role of educational institutions as havens for free expression, the impact of cancel culture on the speech of academics, and proper limitations on the ability of universities to suppress opinion.

On March 24, 2022, the Princeton Open Campus Coalition (POCC) hosted a panel discussion on the state of free speech on college campuses. The panel featured Peter Boghossian, a public intellectual and former professor at Portland State University, Ilya Shapiro '99, the former Vice President of the Cato Institute and a lecturer at Georgetown Law Center, and Samantha Harris '99, a prominent free speech lawyer and partner at Allen Harris Law. The panel discussion was moderated by Solveig Gold '17, the founder of the POCC, and the panelists were introduced by Myles McKnight '23, the current president of the POCC and an editor for The Princeton Tory. The event was recorded for this special edition of The Princeton Tory's podcast.

As debates over academic freedom continue to rage on college campuses nationwide, Billy Wade '23 and Antonio McHugh '25 sit down with Bernard Haykel, Professor of Near Eastern Studies and Director of the Institute for Transregional Study of the Contemporary Middle East, to discuss the proposal to create a Princeton Initiative on Free Speech and Academic Inquiry. 

This week Billy sat down with Xiyue Wang, a Chinese-American PhD Candidate at Princeton University who was imprisoned in Iran for three years after being baselessly accused of espionage. In their wide-ranging discussion, Wang recounts his experiences as a political prisoner in Iran and reflects on the current U.S.-Iran relationship. This is an episode you won’t want to miss!

Feel free to check out Wang’s social media here.

Is "Trumpism" a real ideology? How will the future of the Republican Party be defined by Donald Trump? In the aftermath of his first public appearance since leaving office, Billy sits down with Professor Robert P. George, Princeton's McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and the Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions, to discuss former President Trump's enduring political influence and what that means for the G.O.P.

At the dawn of a New Year and with a new presidential administration on the horizon, Billy sits down with three members of the Princeton Tory staff ― Peter Colvin '21, Rebekah Adams '21, and Editor-in-Chief Adam Hoffman '23 ― to discuss the future of conservatism in the midst of several ongoing national crises and under a Democratic-controlled Washington. 

In the aftermath of the 2020 U.S. presidential election, Billy sits down with Dr. Matthew J. Franck, Lecturer in Politics at Princeton University, as well as Jared Stone ‘24, contributor to the non-partisan news site Elections Daily. Billy and the panelists discuss the election results, the media’s role in this election, shifting demographic coalitions, political polarization, prospective 2024 Republican candidates, and more.

In the podcast’s premiere episode, Billy and Lexi sit down with Adam Hoffman ‘23, Editor-in-Chief of The Tory, and Akhil Rajasekar ‘21, Publisher of The Tory, to discuss the recently-published free speech edition of the The Tory and debate Princeton’s commitment to free speech, in the face of recent high-profile controversies on campus.