It’s Tuesday, April 28. This is The Front Page, your daily window into the world of The Free Press—and our take on the world at large. Today: Arthur Brooks on why universities have a conformity crisis. The Ivy League president who bucked the trend and held the line. Was a sub–two-hour marathon inevitable? The philosophical case for getting drunk. And much more.
But first: The shooter in D.C.—and our fraying social contract.
Cole Allen, the alleged shooter at Saturday night’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner, is the only person responsible for his actions in the Washington Hilton. But it is impossible not to see the thwarted attack in the context of our increasingly upside-down culture, one in which political speech is derided as violence and political violence is tolerated, excused, and even celebrated.
If that sounds hyperbolic to you, we suggest sitting in on a seminar at any number of Ivy League schools with the words anti-colonial or indigeneity in the course title. Or just head down to Washington Square Park and ask the New York University students and twentysomethings if they think murder is ever an appropriate political tool.
Our Tanya Lukyanova did just that yesterday. Watch for yourself:
In our latest editorial, we dive into the culture that creates permission for political violence, and why it is incumbent on all of us to restore the guardrails upon which free speech and American democracy depend.
Douglas Murray was at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday night. He joins Aaron MacLean for the latest episode of the School of War podcast to discuss the events of that night and the dangerous moment we find ourselves in. You can watch their conversation below:
You can also read Douglas’s view in the below text, adapted from the episode. He covers the scene in the ballroom, why excuse-making for political violence is so evil, and why the suspect’s manifesto sounds so familiar:
One group of people whose job has been made immeasurably harder by the growing threat of political violence is the Secret Service. Former agent Bill Gabe talks to Tanner Nau about what went right and what went wrong on Saturday night, and how the Secret Service is handling the job of protecting the “most threatened president in U.S. history.”
—The Editors
How to Fix the Ivy League
Better late than never, the toniest institutions in higher education are coming around to the realization that “echo chambers do not produce the best teaching, research, or scholarship,” as a Yale University report put it earlier this month. Today, we have two looks at the Ivies’ about-face.
First, Arthur Brooks reflects on Yale’s admission about campus groupthink (what took so long?), the evolutionary biology behind the human impulse to conform, and how the ideological straitjacket on academia was put on in the first place.
Second, Jonas Du heads to Dartmouth College, which has set itself apart from other elite schools under president Sian Beilock. Dartmouth took a very different approach to the post–October 7 campus disorder, and is the only college in the Ivy League not to be investigated by the Trump administration for allegations of campus antisemitism.
Beilock quickly had protesters arrested, defied faculty, and now says American universities lost their way. Today, she talks to Jonas about why she thinks schools have a choice: Fix themselves, or “someone else will try and do it for us.”
Gen Z has grown up being told alcohol is poison, so it’s no wonder they’re drinking at lower rates than their parents did. But was that the right lesson? On Conversations with Coleman this week, Coleman Hughes talks to philosopher Edward Slingerland, who says that when we look at statistics and science alone, we miss the whole picture.
Nick Thompson just set a record for a 50-kilometer road race run by someone 50 or older. He’s also the CEO of The Atlantic. In the wake of an even bigger record-breaking run this weekend—Sabastian Sawe’s sub–two-hour marathon in London—Joe Nocera spoke with Thompson to discuss the historic milestone, how much of it has to do with a new high-tech shoe, and just how fast a human can run a marathon.
MORE FROM THE FREE PRESS
The Free Press Needs You!
We have three exciting open roles on our social and video team: Director, Editorial and Social Video, Social Media Manager, and Social Media Video Producer. If you consider your screen time less “doomscrolling” and more “professional development,” consider applying at the links above. Even better, send your best pitch to careers@thefp.com.
THE NEWS
Florida governor Ron DeSantis is advancing a new congressional redistricting map that would add four Republican seats. It is the latest move to redraw a state’s voting boundaries to favor one political party over the other. Meanwhile, the Virginia Supreme Court heard oral arguments yesterday in a GOP challenge to a voter-approved measure that would allow a similar gerrymander favoring Democrats.
Iran proposed reopening the Strait of Hormuz and postponing formal nuclear negotiations yesterday in its latest offer to the Trump administration. Iran said the U.S. would have to agree to end the war and stop its blockade.
The Supreme Court appears poised to rule that police must obtain a warrant before accessing location data from tech companies. So-called geofence warrants are controversial because they allow law enforcement to request data on all devices present in a given area during a specific time window, often pulling in thousands of individuals with no connection to a crime.
Microsoft announced Monday that it is ending its exclusive right to sell OpenAI’s models, leaving OpenAI free to distribute its products on rival cloud platforms. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy confirmed that it will soon make OpenAI’s models available on Amazon Web Services.
Republicans are seeking to attach federal funding for a Trump-proposed White House ballroom to upcoming legislation, citing security concerns following Saturday’s shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
Donald and Melania Trump urged ABC to take action against Jimmy Kimmel after the late-night host said the First Lady had the glow of “an expectant widow.” Kimmel made the comment on Thursday. On Monday, Melania Trump said “people like Kimmel shouldn’t have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to spread hate.”
Taylor Swift’s company filed three trademark applications in an apparent attempt to protect her voice and likeness. The move follows a similar strategy by Matthew McConaughey. Swift’s likeness was used without permission in AI-generated deepfakes, including pornographic images and a fake political endorsement shared by Donald Trump in 2024.
Twenty-two monks were arrested in Sri Lanka after customs officials discovered 242 pounds of cannabis, including 11 pounds of Kush, a potent form of the drug, hidden in false compartments of their luggage. The monks were returning from a four-day trip to Thailand. Police said they might not have known what was in their bags.
I thought the ballroom was paid for by private donors or investors, not taxpayers? I clicked the link to find out more but it's a paywalled WSJ article and I'd rather eat rotten eggs than give WSJ a dime. Why do you keep linking to paywalled legacy press articles?
Potent Kush….lol