 | |
| Categories | Right-of-Center,political thought |
|---|---|
| Founder | Yoram Hazony |
| Founded | 5 October 1984 (1984-10-5) |
| Country | United States |
| Based in | Princeton University |
| Website | theprincetontory |
| OCLC | 15710131 |
The Princeton Tory is amagazine ofconservativepolitical thought written and published byPrinceton University students. Founded in 1984 byYoram Hazony, the magazine has played a role in various controversies, including a national debate aboutwhite privilege. Notable alumni associated with the magazine includeUnited States SenatorTed Cruz,Wendy Kopp, the founder ofTeach for America, and the currentUnited States Secretary of Defense,Pete Hegseth. Four editors have gone on to beRhodes Scholars.
In the early 1980s, there were several failed efforts to create a magazine with a conservative viewpoint at Princeton University, including theMadison Report, which had a circulation of 2,500 but folded due to financial difficulties.[1] In October 1984, a group of students includingYoram Hazony andAmy Bix, began publishing thePrinceton Tory, planning for six issues in the initial year. They sought to publish a "thinking journal" and provide a forum formoderate and conservative viewpoints on a campus that was in their view dominated byleft-wing politics. Hazony attributed the failure of the previous attempts at conservative publications to their tendency forsensationalism andmud-slinging. In contrast, theTory was founded to highlight cogent argumentation with early issues addressing topics such as religion in politics, the composition of theSupreme Court, and the university's endorsement of anuclear freeze.[2]
In 1986, theTory found itself in disagreement with future noted conservativeDinesh D'Souza. AtDartmouth College, student staff members of the conservativeDartmouth Review had taken sledgehammers to a shanty town set up by protesters calling fordivestment fromSouth Africa over itsApartheid policies.[3] D'Souza, a Dartmouth alumnus, in arguing that Princeton would not see similar political violence, was quoted in theDaily Princetonian as saying, "At Dartmouth there is a healthy activism on both the left and the right. At Princeton, politics masquerades as fashion. There are more conservatives who are more confident in their actions at Dartmouth. At Princeton, you only have theTory, which is too cerebral to be considered."[4] This critique promoted a response fromTory publisher Dan Polisar: "D'Souza criticized theTory for being 'too cerebral.' If that means that we do not favor using sledgehammers as a tool for political debate, then we do not object. We would rather demonstrate that the problems symbolized by shanties are exacerbated by divestment, as we did in our October issue, than to stage an attack on the symbols themselves... Campus conservatives are proud of this restraint, and should receive credit, not blame, for choosing the pen over the sledgehammer."[5]
In April 2014, Princeton freshman Tal Fortgang penned an essay in theTory entitled, "Checking My Privilege: Character as the Basis of Privilege." Fortgang wrote the essay in response to being told by a classmate, after expressing his views on welfare and the national debt, to "check his privilege." He stated, "The phrase, handed down by my moral superiors, descends recklessly, like an Obama-sanctioned drone, and aims laserlike at my pinkish-peach complexion, my maleness, and the nerve I displayed in offering an opinion rooted in a personalWeltanschauung."[6] The essay was picked up byTime magazine,[7] led to an appearance onFox News[8] and caused a firestorm of criticism from the left and support from the right.[9][10][11][12]
Fortgang made use of his own family's history, with a grandfather exiled toSiberia, a grandmother sent to theBergen-Belsen concentration camp, and a great-grandmother and five great-aunts and uncles who were shot in an open grave outside their hometown. His grandfather and father built a wicker basket business and emphasized education. Fortgang wrote, "While I haven't done everything for myself up to this point in my life, someone has sacrificed themselves so that I can lead a better life, but that is a legacy I am proud of. I have checked my privilege. And I apologize for nothing."[13]
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