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"A university, more than any other type of institution, ought to promote and encourage the free exchange of ideas, whether intellectual, religious or political," a 1980 unsigned Daily Princetonian editorial read.

As editorial chairman for the Daily Princetonian, Kagan was responsible for the opinion page in the paper -- including the unsigned editorials. During this time, the editorial board strongly opposed the university's stance in a First Amendment case involving outside political groups and campus discussion.

The editorial calls Princeton's claim that it could constitutionally restrict the activities of outside political speakers a "blatant conflict with the ideal of free inquiry which should be central to Princeton's being."

"Centers of higher learning should, after all, be distinguished by a spirit of inquiry and investigation, and this spirit can only thrive in an atmosphere of unfettered debate of dissenting opinions," the editorial read. "The possibility of occasional annoyance from external political groups should not frighten us. Vigorous debate and discussion, whether instigated by university members or outsiders, is far more important to a university's essential well-being."

Kagan also published editorials on issues that affected the university such as affirmative action and lack of tenured women faculty, becoming something of a champion for justice for the less powerful members of the community, said Bart Gellman, a Princetonian senior reporter in 1981.

"She didn't waffle on her opinions," Gellman, currently a contributing editor at TIME Magazine, said. "She wasn't, at that time, the cautious, careful, measured person that all the stories now say she became. She had very clear points of view."

Kagan, who was nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court in May, grew up on the Upper West Side of New York in an apartment where the bookshelves stretched from floor to ceiling and dinner table discussions were never without lively debate.

Marc Fisher, a family friend of Kagan's at the time, said she was raised to value thoughtful discussion and the pursuit of academia -- both of which stuck with Kagan as a college journalist. Fisher believes both of these qualities will benefit her as a potential Supreme Court justice.

"She came from a very accomplished, highly intellectual family; a family that cared about ideas and argued together and studied together," said Fisher, who is currently a reporter at the Washington Post. "The whole ethic of argument and analysis was deeply set in her from the start. The family found joy in batting around ideas, and clearly that's something that you want in a Supreme Court justice."

During the year Kagan presided over editorial content, she established herself as a confident, strong presence in the newsroom with a knack for putting words together quickly and elegantly.

"I do remember her editorials had an unusually mature style," Fisher said. "They were not in any way the kinds of rants that you see at a lot of campus papers these days. They were very measured and very much the model of the old New York Times editorial page, which she grew up reading."

Gellman said he remembers Kagan's ironic sense of humor in the newsroom as a bonus to the other qualities that made her an effective editorial chairman.

"She was skeptical and stuck to her beliefs firmly," he said. "She was very good at holding people and institutions to account for what their jobs were; for what they said they were doing as opposed to what they were really doing."

Kagan's intellectual capacity has been touted as one of her strongest qualifications for the Supreme Court justice nomination. Joel Achenbach, a student reporter at the 'Prince' during Kagan's tenure, said Kagan's intelligence was further illuminated by her strong work ethic both in classes and at the paper.

"She was super smart back then, and she was also a good journalist," said Achenbach, who is currently a Washington Post staff writer. "What I think is most remarkable is that she could combine the heavy workload at the student newspaper with some really outstanding academic work. That says something about the quality of her mind and her energy level."

Achenbach, who succeeded Kagan as the editorial chairman in '82, said that Kagan's intellect never made her seem arrogant or unapproachable.

"She always struck me as very much of a normal, unpretentious person, and I'm sure she's the same way now," he said. "I wouldn't have guessed then that she would wind up as a Supreme Court justice, but it was clear that she would wind up as someone doing great work in some capacity."

Despite her opinions in college, which Achenbach described as "liberal, but in a fairly conventional way," Kagan seems to have mastered the ability to bring together diverse groups of people in her adult career, specifically during her time as dean at Harvard Law School.

At Harvard Law, Kagan was able to win support across the ideological spectrum, as well as the confidence of people at both ends of the scale -- something Gellman said she might not have done during her college years.

"I think that shows a lot of positive growth," he said. "I'm not sure if the Elena I knew in college would have done that. She was a person who chose sides back then."

Gellman said Kagan's responsibilities as a student journalist cultivated skills that could carry over into her position as a justice.

"Part of your job as a justice is persuading a small group of people of your point of view," he said. "On her editorial board at the 'Prince', she had to convince a comparable number of people of her opinion. I wouldn't doubt that some of the skill she learned translate even now, into this [future] job."

And although Kagan took her responsibilities as a student journalist seriously, she never had the intentions of making a career out of it.

Fisher recalls Kagan's response during her senior year at Princeton when asked if she was going to pursue journalism after college as direct, but in a genuine and unaffected manner.

"She said 'oh no, I don't want to be one of the people who writes about people who are changing the world, I want to be one of the folks who is changing the world,' " Fisher said. "She was so unaffected in the way she said it, and that really kind of gets at the very open and accepting personality that she has."

By Sommer Ingram