Professor Krugman's teaching ethics are not much better than his journalism ethics. With great fanfare, Princeton lured him from MIT in 2000. That fall, graduate students in Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs signed up in droves for his first class, 'Advanced Macroeconomics.' The first day, Professor Krugman walked in (late) to the overfilled classroom, and gave a brief course description. There was no syllabus, he explained, because his New York Times column was due at the end of the day, and that took precedence. Maybe there would be a syllabus soon. There was no set structure of the course, no textbooks, and only a hint of the readings we may or may not be assigned. He had not yet decided when the exams would be, but Prof. Krugman promised he would try and e-mail the class 1-3 days in advance of any exam -- how considerate of him.

While I wish I could comment more on his teaching style, I dropped the course after the first day. Classmates, however, would tell me he was disorganized, distant, and wasted several class periods ranting against economists and politicians he did not like. Even the left-wing student body quickly grew tired of Prof. Krugman's antics. Six weeks after intensely competing with each other just for the opportunity to take a class with the famous professor, approximately five students remained in the course. Rumors of the class being cancelled in mid-semester circulated among students and faculty.

Each winter, the Woodrow Wilson School has a skit night, where professors and students playfully mock each other. That year, we students vented our frustrations with Prof. Krugman with the following Mastercard commercial spoof:
Star professor lured from MIT: $350,000
Twice-weekly New York Times column: $70,000
Book deal: $800,000
Having your professor take any interest in teaching: Priceless.
I wish I could tell you Prof. Krugman's reaction to this not-so-subtle message. Not surprisingly, he was a no-show at skit night.

Anonymous former Princeton student