Eisgruber to hold CPUC meeting following second annual President's Letter

Next Monday, President Eisgruber will hold this year’s annual Town Hall meeting of the Council of the Princeton University Community.

The meeting will be based on President Eisgruber’s second annual President’s Letter to the community, a tradition the President began last February. The annual letter provides the University community with a regular update on how the University has changed over the course of the year, and it includes goals set for the future.

In this year’s letter, President Eisgruber began by listing the recent series of “festive ribbon-cuttings” for three new facilities on campus. He then discussed pressing issues that will directly impact the University community. These issues include Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, higher education reform, and increasing political tension on campus and across the nation, and they will likely dominate discussion in next week’s meeting.

Eisgruber said that the University and allies fought aspects of the tax bill, signed into law late last December, which places a new 1.4 percent tax on the University’s net investment income. Eisgruber noted that unfortunately, some of the most damaging parts of the bill would have changed parts of the University’s tax-exempt status and taxed graduate student’s tuition waivers, making graduate student education completely unaffordable for most students.

Eisgruber also noted the polarized political opinions on higher education that accompanied the tax bill, as well as the debate over trade-offs between free speech and inclusivity that has been rocking campuses across the nation.

While discussing inclusivity, the President also detailed the steps he and the University have taken to advocate for DACA students over the past year, including partnering with Microsoft and an undergraduate to sue the federal government on behalf of DACA beneficiaries, helping found the Presidents’ Alliance On Higher Education and Immigration, and writing to representatives and the White House urging them to preserve DACA.

Eisgruber said that the University’s ability to address these key priorities depends on its fundraising efforts, and he concluded by thanking the community for advancing the University’s mission.

The Town Hall meeting of CPUC will take place next Monday, Feb. 12, from 4:30 to 6:00 p.m. in 101 Friend Center.