Antisemitism and Free Speech on Campus

Annie Rupertus, Nikki Han, and Miriam Waldvogel
Daily Princetonian

Excerpt: Several pro-Palestine student organizations held sparsely attended demonstrations on campus on the days leading up to Monday, Oct. 7, which marks one year since Hamas’s attacks on Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza.

While most of this week’s actions occurred near Firestone, some University employees arriving to work Monday morning were greeted by pro-Palestine graffiti at the entrance to 22 Chambers St., where the Princeton University Investment Company (PRINCO) is headquartered.

Amanda Friedman
Chronicle of Higher Education

Excerpt: Princeton University was publicly celebrating a professor’s selection for a prestigious award at the same time it was investigating her for her pro-Palestinian advocacy, the professor says.

On Tuesday, Princeton announced that Ruha Benjamin, a professor of African American Studies, was awarded an $800,000 “genius grant” from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Roughly 20 minutes after the university published its celebratory announcement, Benjamin shared on X that university officials had omitted her quotes about an investigation the college had opened into her involvement in a pro-Palestinian demonstration in April. The thread also includes the quotes she gave to the university.

Hope Perry
Princeton Alumni Weekly

Excerpt: Stickers and flyers with hate messages have been found on campus in recent weeks, prompting the University to open investigations and remind the campus community of its role in addressing harassment.

Princeton Public Safety opened an investigation into a bias incident against Palestinians in early September when about 30 flyers printed with the phrases “Nuke Gaza” and “Kill Roaches” were found on a walkway near Spelman Hall. Several weeks later, on Sept. 28, multiple stickers were found scattered across campus on stop signs and bulletin boards with anti-Israel messages, including “Death to ‘Israel’” and “Tel-Aviv [sic] will Burn.”

Miriam Waldvogel
Daily Princetonian

Excerpt: The 15 students and University community members arrested during pro-Palestine protests last spring will not have their cases dismissed following a hearing on Tuesday.

Aymen Aboushi, an attorney representing the 12 students and one postdoc arrested for occupying Clio Hall, motioned to dismiss the charges of defiant trespassing, which Judge John McCarthy III ’69 ultimately rejected to hear. Citing body camera footage, he argued that the students at Clio Hall did not receive notice from the officers who arrested them that they were trespassing. Under New Jersey law, defiant trespassing occurs when someone enters a space after “knowing that he is not licensed or privileged to do so.”

Hope Perry ‘24
Princeton Alumni Weekly

Excerpt: Princeton Israeli Apartheid Divest (PIAD) returned this fall semester with an inaugural rally and a familiar message from last spring, calling for the University to divest and disassociate from Israel and Israeli companies, universities, and cultural institutions, and asking Princeton to drop charges against students who participated in an April sit-in.

Christopher Bao and Miriam Waldvogel
Daily Princetonian

Excerpt: Following the first day of classes, pro-Palestine organizers held the first protest of the academic year. Around 150 demonstrators attended, touring many of the major sites of Princeton’s “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” from the spring semester, starting the march on McCosh Courtyard before moving to the front of Clio Hall and Nassau Hall.

The protest comes amid a newly launched University website on protests addressing frequently asked questions regarding time, place, and manner restrictions, including tightened protest regulations. The newest rules introduced were a recurring topic of the protest, although administrators have asserted that the website introduces no significant changes to the University’s rules.