Braden Flax

In a just world, Princeton as we know it does not exist

“No matter how many people go through sensitivity training, no matter how diverse the pool of incoming academics, and no matter how much people are permitted to theorize about the impact of racism on society, Princeton will not become an anti-racist force until it is no longer recognizable as Princeton by those who currently know it.”

“No matter how many people go through sensitivity training, no matter how diverse the pool of incoming academics, and no matter how much people are permitted to theorize about the impact of racism on society, Princeton will not become an anti-racist force until it is no longer recognizable as Princeton by those who currently know it.”

Joshua Katz allegations: Surprising to no one

Without a restructuring of the very academic world that elevated Katz, dynamics like those recently asserted by some alumni will continue to be perpetuated by a culture that convinces a small group of people that they are above the rest of us.

Without a restructuring of the very academic world that elevated Katz, dynamics like those recently asserted by some alumni will continue to be perpetuated by a culture that convinces a small group of people that they are above the rest of us.

In praise of his folly: Newman’s empty crusade against elitism

The elitism identified by Newman is all too prevalent. But he is not the antidote; he is its logical extension. The only way to differentiate oneself from Princeton’s elitism is to actually help the world and topple people like Newman from their thrones of self-styled cultural supremacy.  And it is this consciousness, rather than the subpar model of a Gatsby, that should animate any practice that seeks not only to overcome the standard Princeton elitism, but the self-humiliating pretensions of Newman himself.

The elitism identified by Newman is all too prevalent. But he is not the antidote; he is its logical extension. The only way to differentiate oneself from Princeton’s elitism is to actually help the world and topple people like Newman from their thrones of self-styled cultural supremacy.  And it is this consciousness, rather than the subpar model of a Gatsby, that should animate any practice that seeks not only to overcome the standard Princeton elitism, but the self-humiliating pretensions of Newman himself.

Singer 2020: China should make it happen

There is a third option, though, one that the United States has been gracious enough to impart on the rest of the world in the past: foreign intervention. 

We need anti-reverse racism training, not anti-racism training

To this end, I propose not only that anti-racist training is a grotesque offensive against all we hold dear, but more to the point, I suggest that we substitute our own anti-reverse racism training in its place.

A vote for Biden won’t bring true democracy

As long as we buy the logic of lesser evil and the rationales of civic duty, any risk to that order will be inconsequential.

Without democracy, Princeton’s anti-racism promise will remain hollow

The reality is, nothing will be done for the students and campus workers who need change, so long as the venal relic of an antidemocratic administration hoards the University’s assets and the Board of Trustees are compelled by their very job descriptions to relieve anti-racism of whatever fangs it might carry.

The anti-woke show: a response to Matthew Wilson ’24

When Wilson alleges that Princeton “bends over” backwards for the sake of anti-racist activists and leftist revisionists, he is fictionalizing a widely covered event for which he cares to neither learn of nor represent fairly. 

Law as rhetoric: how anti-racism is being weaponized against itself

Recently, it was announced that the Department of Education would investigate Princeton’s self-admitted propagation of systemic racism. First, even if the DOE fails to push Princeton around, its efforts will send a message to other, less prominent institutions that might one day step out of line, and second, it exemplifies the legalistic mind games that exist as surely at the University as in the Trump administration.

The grand word: integrity

As part of this University, we should be tied together more by seriousness regarding racial justice than by the disciplinary matters that many of us promote and pride.