Christopher Eisgruber

Christopher L. Eisgruber is an American constitutional law scholar and academic administrator serving as the 20th president of Princeton University since July 2013. A graduate of Princeton University with an A.B. in physics earned magna cum laude in 1983, Eisgruber pursued further studies as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University, obtaining an M.Litt. in politics, before receiving his J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School. His early career included clerking for U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens and teaching as a professor at New York University School of Law from 1990 to 2001, after which he joined Princeton's faculty as the Laurance S. Rockefeller Professor of Public Affairs. Prior to assuming the presidency, Eisgruber served as Princeton's provost from 2004 to 2013, overseeing academic and budgetary operations. During his tenure as president, Eisgruber has overseen significant expansions in undergraduate enrollment, the reinstatement of a transfer admissions program, and enhancements to financial aid accessibility, contributing to Princeton's sustained prominence in higher education rankings. His leadership has also encompassed authorship of works on academic freedom, such as Terms of Respect: How Colleges Get Free Speech Right, amid ongoing debates over campus speech policies. Eisgruber's administration faced scrutiny in 2020 when he publicly acknowledged "systemic racism" at Princeton, prompting internal task forces and subsequent legal challenges alleging racial discrimination in faculty hiring. More recently, responses to antisemitism allegations following campus protests have drawn criticism for perceived inconsistencies between free speech advocacy and enforcement of conduct codes. In 2024, he was elected chair of the Association of American Universities, where he has defended higher education institutions against congressional inquiries into campus climates.