The
James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions
, often called simply the
James Madison Program
(abbreviated
JMP
) or the
Madison Program
, is a scholarly institute within the Department of Politics at
Princeton University
espousing a dedication "to exploring enduring questions of
American constitutional law
and Western
political thought
."
[1]
The Madison Program was founded in 2000 and is directed by
Robert P. George
, the McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton University.
[2]
While the James Madison Program states it is welcoming of all ideological tendencies, it is widely considered a
conservative
institute that "exists to further conservative viewpoints on campus."
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]
[7]
[8]
[9]
Commentators tend to point to its predominantly conservative donors and fellows, and platforming of "
far-right
and extremist individuals."
[3]
[5]
[7]
History
[
edit
]
The Madison Program was founded in the summer of 2000 via a charter with the Department of Politics at
Princeton University
.
[10]
Early funders included
Steve Forbes
, the
John M. Olin Foundation
, and the
Bradley Foundation
.
[11]
Early speakers included
liberal
scholars
James E. Fleming
of
Fordham University
and
Stanley N. Katz
of
Princeton University
, and
conservative
ones, including
Robert Bork
;
Christopher DeMuth
, then-president of the
American Enterprise Institute
;
Lynne Cheney
, chairwoman of the
National Endowment for the Humanities
in the first
Bush
administration; and
William Kristol
, then-editor of
The Weekly Standard
.
[11]
The Program celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2010 with a lecture from columnist
George Will
.
[12]
Summer 2020 marked the 20th anniversary of the Program.
Academic programs
[
edit
]
Politics departmental track
[
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]
The Program sponsors the track in "American Ideas and Institutions" for undergraduates concentrating in Politics at
Princeton
. The track includes courses from
American politics
,
political theory
, and
public law
to allow students to "further and demonstrate their understandings of the three branches of the
federal government
and the values, ideas, and theories that underlie them and are animated by their workings."
[13]
Undergraduate Fellows Forum
[
edit
]
The Program is host to the Undergraduate Fellows Forum, a program for Princeton undergraduates to engage with fellow students on American political institutions and constitutionalism.
[14]
Undergraduate Fellows have included conservative as well as some liberal and
socialist
students, and founded such programs at Princeton as a podcast called "Woke Wednesdays"
[15]
and the third undergraduate chapter of the
Federalist Society
.
[16]
James Madison Society
[
edit
]
The Madison Program is host to several Visiting and Postdoctoral Fellows at Princeton every year and past Visiting Fellows become part of the James Madison Society. It consists predominantly of conservative academics, but also includes some liberal and socialist public figures.
Notable members of the James Madison Society
[17]
|
|
Reception
[
edit
]
Conservatism
[
edit
]
In 2006,
Max Blumenthal
wrote in
The Nation
that the Madison Program is not like the Center for Human Values at Princeton or the
Remarque Institute
at
New York University
, but rather serves as "a vehicle for conservative interests." Blumenthal writes that the Madison Program uses "funding from a shadowy, cultlike Catholic group and right-wing foundations" to support right-wing politics at Princeton University, even becoming "the blueprint for the right's strategy to extend and consolidate power within the university system."
[5]
Similar institutions at Georgetown University, New York University, and Williams College have used the Madison Program as a template for their operations.
[18]
In 2017, the North Carolina-based think tank
NC Policy Watch
reported that the James Madison Program is funded and operated by conservative philanthropists and academics to promote conservatism in higher education, and that the
University of North Carolina
Board of Governors considered the Madison Program a "model."
[7]
In 2016,
Jane Mayer
wrote for
The Chronicle of Higher Education
noting that the Madison Program was founded with funds from the conservative
John M. Olin Foundation
and that the program's founding serves as part of a broader strategy for conservative billionaires to infiltrate
higher education in the United States
.
[19]
Her piece was cited by
Greenpeace
as demonstrative of
dark money
being used to deceptively promote conservative perspectives and downplay the
fossil fuel
industry's role in
climate change
.
[20]
In 2019, journalist
Emma Green
wrote in
The Atlantic
that the James Madison Program serves as a conservative hub for right-wing students and academics within the "largely apolitical or vaguely liberal" politics of the Princeton University community.
[4]
In 2023,
Jewish Currents
writers Dahlia Krutkovich and Sarah Rosen noted that the James Madison Program "is known for bringing right-wing figures to campus" and criticized its invitation of
Ronen Shoval
, who founded the
ultranationalist
Im Tirtzu
, which has been described as being involved in campaigns against
political progressives
, academics, and
anti-Zionists
and having similarities to
fascist
groups.
[6]
Krutkovich and Rosen also criticized the arrival of Shoval due to his fabrication of his academic background and his calls to curtail
academic freedom
and
freedom of speech
in
Israel
.
[6]
Princeton University students and others in the Jewish community protested Shoval's arrival as well as the
2023 Israeli judicial reforms
at the
Center for Jewish Life
on campus.
[6]
[21]
Student publications at Princeton University such as
The Daily Princetonian
,
Nassau Weekly
, and
The Princeton Progressive
have described the James Madison Program as a conservative institute that "exists to further conservative viewpoints on campus" and where "Princeton's conservatives can receive cues about the status of their movement."
[3]
[9]
[8]
Similarly to other journalistic outlets, student journalists have pointed to its predominantly conservative donors and fellows, and platforming of "
far-right
and extremist individuals."
[3]
However,
The Princeton Tory
has claimed that the program "promotes political discussion and scholarship without favoring any political ideology."
[22]
Director Robert P. George claims the Program is not conservative, but rather "seeks to bring competing points of view together to lift the intellectual debate on campus."
[23]
Religion
[
edit
]
In the 2007 book
Faith in the Halls of Power
,
D. Michael Lindsay
praised the Madison Program for enabling cooperation between
Catholic
and
Evangelical
Christians
.
[24]
Engaging with opposing views
[
edit
]
On March 14, 2017,
Robert P. George
and
Cornel West
issued a joint statement via the Madison Program to encourage citizens to engage with people of opposing views. The statement was opened to signatories from the public; as of March 2019, there were more than 4,000 signatories.
[25]
Outlets noted its significance due to the juxtaposition of George's
Christian conservative
views with West's
democratic socialist
and
radical democratic
views.
[26]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Home - James Madison Program"
.
web.princeton.edu
.
- ^
Kirkpatrick, David D.
"Robert P. George, the Conservative-Christian Big Thinker"
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
Rahin, Rooya; Shapiro, Dylan (May 18, 2023).
"What you need to know about Princeton's James Madison Program"
.
The Daily Princetonian
. Retrieved
2023-08-30
.
- ^
a
b
Green, Emma (2019-12-29).
"It's a Weird Time to Be Young and Conservative"
.
The Atlantic
. Retrieved
2023-08-30
.
Instead, students at Princeton who lean to the right have helped build a robust suite of conservative groups, most prominently the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions, an expansive academic center overseen by the prominent scholar Robert P. George.
- ^
a
b
c
Blumenthal, Max (2006-02-23).
"Princeton Tilts Right"
.
The Nation
.
ISSN
0027-8378
. Retrieved
2023-08-30
.
George has brought his conservatism to bear at Princeton through the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions, an academic center he founded in 2000 "to sustain America's experiment in ordered liberty." On the surface, the program appears modeled after institutions like Princeton's Center for Human Values and New York University's Remarque Institute. However, it functions in many ways as a vehicle for conservative interests, using funding from a shadowy, cultlike Catholic group and right-wing foundations to support gatherings of movement activists, fellowships for ideologically correct visiting professors and a cadre of conservative students. George's program has become the blueprint for the right's strategy to extend and consolidate power within the university system.
- ^
a
b
c
d
Krutkovich, Dahlia; Rosen, Sarah (June 8, 2023).
"The Israeli Far Right's Man in Princeton"
.
Jewish Currents
. Retrieved
2023-08-30
.
Shoval wrapped up a yearlong appointment as a lecturer in politics at Princeton last month, and will hold the role of associate research scholar at the university's James Madison Program for American Ideals and Institutions?which is devoted to the study and promotion of conservative ideas?through the summer.
- ^
a
b
c
Killian, Joe (December 18, 2017).
"A look at the conservative origins of the UNC Board of Governors' "model" for a new academic center"
.
NC Newsline
. Retrieved
2023-08-30
.
If your interest was piqued by the UNC Board of Governors' reception of Professor Robert George last week ? and their affection for his conservative James Madison program at Princeton ? you may want to read up on the program, its funders and the movement to create more conservative centers across the country.
- ^
a
b
Glover, Austin (2022-12-19).
"The State of Conservatism at Princeton"
.
The Princeton Progressive
. Retrieved
2023-08-30
.
indeed, conservatism is alive and well at Princeton University. Instead of appearing in the classroom, however, it manifests itself online, through student groups like the
Tory
, and in print, via posters put up by the James Madison Program advertising its public lectures.
- ^
a
b
Barkhorn, Eleanor (2004-10-14).
"The Lonely Conservative"
.
Nassau Weekly
. Retrieved
2023-08-30
.
- ^
Nieli, Russ (2005). "Enhancing Intellectual Diversity on Campus--The James Madison Program at Princeton".
Academic Questions
.
18
(20): 27.
doi
:
10.1007/s12129-005-1003-3
.
- ^
a
b
Merritt, J.I. (8 October 2003).
"Heretic in the Temple"
. Princeton Alumni Weekly
. Retrieved
22 March
2019
.
- ^
Princeton Alumni Weekly (8 December 2010).
"Madison Program marks 10th anniversary"
. Retrieved
21 March
2019
.
- ^
"Program in American Ideas and Institutions"
.
Princeton University Department of Politics
. Princeton University
. Retrieved
21 March
2019
.
- ^
"Undergraduate Fellows Forum | James Madison Program"
.
jmp.princeton.edu
. Retrieved
2018-12-26
.
- ^
Sterenfeld, Ethan (2017-12-03).
"Nothing Recycled"
.
Nassau Weekly
. Retrieved
2018-12-26
.
- ^
"Students, faculty create Federalist Society chapter at the University"
.
The Princetonian
. Retrieved
2018-12-26
.
- ^
"James Madison Society | James Madison Program"
.
jmp.princeton.edu
. Retrieved
2018-12-26
.
- ^
Kirkpatrick, David D. (2009-12-16).
"Robert P. George, the Conservative-Christian Big Thinker"
.
The New York Times
.
ISSN
0362-4331
. Retrieved
2019-07-31
.
- ^
Mayer, Jane (2016-02-12).
"How Right-Wing Billionaires Infiltrated Higher Education"
.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
.
ISSN
0009-5982
. Retrieved
2018-12-26
.
- ^
"Dark Money: To Charles Koch, Professors Are Lobbyists"
.
Greenpeace USA
. 2016-01-28
. Retrieved
2023-08-30
.
- ^
Eng, Janny; Rupertus, Annie (March 29, 2023).
"Protestors flock to Princeton to oppose Israeli judicial reform as controversial lecturer speaks"
.
The Daily Princetonian
. Retrieved
2023-08-30
.
- ^
Byler, David (2010-12-02).
"Conservative Groups on Campus | The Princeton Tory"
.
The Princeton Tory
. Retrieved
2023-08-30
.
- ^
"Conservative Princeton professor promotes civil discourse at UNC"
.
newsobserver
. Retrieved
2018-12-26
.
- ^
Faith in the halls of power: how evangelicals joined the American elite, D. Michael Lindsay, Oxford University Press US, 2007, p. 86
- ^
"Sign the Statement: Truth Seeking, Democracy, and Freedom of Thought and Expression - A Statement by Robert P. George and Cornel West"
.
James Madison Program
. Retrieved
21 March
2019
.
- ^
Flaherty, Colleen.
"Rejecting 'Campus Illiberalism'
"
.
Inside Higher Ed
. Retrieved
2023-08-30
.
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