 | |
.jpg) Bobst Hall, Home of the James Madison Program | |
| Abbreviation | James Madison Program |
|---|---|
| Named after | James Madison |
| Formation | 2000 |
| Type | Academic Program |
| Headquarters | Bobst Hall,Princeton University |
| Location |
|
Director | Robert P. George |
Executive Director | Bradford P. Wilson |
| Website | https://jmp.princeton.edu |
TheJames Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions, often called simply theJames Madison Program (abbreviatedJMP) or theMadison Program, is a scholarly institute within the Department of Politics atPrinceton University espousing a dedication "to exploring enduring questions ofAmerican constitutional law and Westernpolitical thought."[1] The Madison Program was founded in 2000 and is directed byRobert 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 aconservative 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]
The Madison Program was founded in the summer of 2000 via a charter with the Department of Politics atPrinceton University.[10] Early funders includedSteve Forbes, theJohn M. Olin Foundation, and theBradley Foundation.[11] Early speakers includedliberal scholarsJames E. Fleming ofFordham University andStanley N. Katz ofPrinceton University, andconservative ones, includingRobert Bork;Christopher DeMuth, then-president of theAmerican Enterprise Institute;Lynne Cheney, chairwoman of theNational Endowment for the Humanities in the firstBush administration; andWilliam Kristol, then-editor ofThe Weekly Standard.[11]
The Program celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2010 with a lecture from columnistGeorge Will.[12] Summer 2020 marked the 20th anniversary of the Program.
The Program sponsors the track in "American Ideas and Institutions" for undergraduates concentrating in Politics atPrinceton. The track includes courses fromAmerican politics,political theory, andpublic law to allow students to "further and demonstrate their understandings of the three branches of thefederal government and the values, ideas, and theories that underlie them and are animated by their workings."[13]
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 andsocialist students, and founded such programs at Princeton as a podcast called "Woke Wednesdays"[15] and the third undergraduate chapter of theFederalist Society.[16]
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.
| Part ofa series on |
| Conservatism in the United States |
|---|
 |
Principles
|
|
Intellectuals
|
Politicians
|
Commentators
|
Activists
|
Literature
|
Think tanks
|
Media
|
Other organizations
|
In 2006,Max Blumenthal wrote inThe Nation that the Madison Program is not like the Center for Human Values at Princeton or theRemarque Institute atNew 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 tankNC 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 theUniversity of North Carolina Board of Governors considered the Madison Program a "model."[7]
In 2016,Jane Mayer wrote forThe Chronicle of Higher Education noting that the Madison Program was founded with funds from the conservativeJohn M. Olin Foundation and that the program's founding serves as part of a broader strategy for conservative billionaires to infiltratehigher education in the United States.[19] Her piece was cited byGreenpeace as demonstrative ofdark money being used to deceptively promote conservative perspectives and downplay thefossil fuel industry's role inclimate change.[20]
In 2019, journalistEmma Green wrote inThe 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 ofRonen Shoval, who founded theultranationalistIm Tirtzu, which has been described as being involved in campaigns againstpolitical progressives, academics, andanti-Zionists and having similarities tofascist groups.[6] Krutkovich and Rosen also criticized the arrival of Shoval due to his fabrication of his academic background and his calls to curtailacademic freedom andfreedom of speech inIsrael.[6] Princeton University students and others in the Jewish community protested Shoval's arrival as well as the2023 Israeli judicial reforms at theCenter for Jewish Life on campus.[6][21]
Student publications at Princeton University such asThe Daily Princetonian,Nassau Weekly, andThe 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]
In the 2007 bookFaith in the Halls of Power,D. Michael Lindsay praised the Madison Program for enabling cooperation betweenCatholic andEvangelicalChristians.[24]
On March 14, 2017,Robert P. George andCornel 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'sChristian conservative views with West'sdemocratic socialist andradical democratic views.[26]
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.
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.
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.
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.
indeed, conservatism is alive and well at Princeton University. Instead of appearing in the classroom, however, it manifests itself online, through student groups like theTory, and in print, via posters put up by the James Madison Program advertising its public lectures.
| Academics |
|  | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dining | |||||||||
| Campus |
| ||||||||
| People |
| ||||||||
| Publications | |||||||||
| Groups | |||||||||
| Athletics |
| ||||||||
40°20′56.3″N74°38′58.2″W / 40.348972°N 74.649500°W /40.348972; -74.649500
