Campus Protests and Free Expression

A group of Princeton faculty, supported by students and alumni, have developed a statement "condemning the anti-Israel and, in many cases, antisemitic demonstrations and encampments plaguing college campuses...."  Signatures are being collected for the statement from Princeton and across the country. This list of signers is growing rapidly.  Among the signers are Princeton Professors Robert George, Sergiu Klainerman, and John Londregan; faculty from USC and Chicago, and Princetonians for Free Speech co-founders Stuart Taylor, Jr. and Edward Yingling.

To sign, click here.

Cole M. Crittenden
Daily Princetonian

Excerpt: I am both a graduate alum of Princeton as well as an administrative staff member who worked in the Office of the Dean of the Graduate School for a decade. Although I am not a faculty member, I served for an extended period as the acting dean of the Graduate School during my time as a staff member there. It is from this unusual perspective that I write to convey my dismay at the actions taken by a group of protestors towards Graduate School staff in Clio Hall on Monday of this week.

Nonviolent and peaceful protests have a place on college campuses; such protests are an important exercise of freedom of speech and expression. However, when expression turns into mob activity that threatens and displaces staff who play no meaningful role in the matters of interest to the protestors, it crosses a line.

Rishi Khanna
Daily Princetonian

Excerpt: In the Opinion piece written by President Christopher Eisgruber ’83 last week, Eisgruber articulated Princeton University’s restrictions on speech and emphasized Princeton’s right to “reasonably regulate the time, place, and manner of expression to ensure that it does not disrupt the ordinary activities of the University.”

As a matter of law and administrative policy, President Eisgruber is correct. But restrictions on “disruption” to “ordinary activities” inherently suppresses the underlying intent of creating disruption of many protests that express progressive political views.

VP Rochelle Calhoun, The Office of the Vice President for Campus Life

Excerpt:  Dear students,

I write to update you about the brief takeover of Clio Hall yesterday afternoon.

This incident represented an escalation by protestors into unlawful behavior that created a dangerous situation for protestors, University staff, and law enforcement. As protestors entered Clio Hall, our staff found themselves surrounded, yelled at, threatened, and ultimately ordered out of the building.

Olivia Sanchez
Daily Princetonian

Excerpt: On Friday, April 26 at 12:30 p.m., the Alliance Against Islamic Regime of Iran Apologists (AAIRIA) hosted a demonstration on Nassau Street outside of FitzRandolph Gate to call for the removal of Princeton University research fellow Seyed Hossein Mousavian due to his former involvement in Iranian government in the 1990s and early 2000s. While AAIRIA only has nine members listed on their website, about 40 people gathered to demand that Mousavian be fired.

Mousavian faced controversy in Nov. 2023 following the beginning of an investigation by the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. The investigation followed allegations that Mousavian was using his role at the University to advance Iranian interests.

Christopher Bao, Elisabeth Stewart, and Annie Rupertus
Daily Princetonian

Excerpt: Following a rushed special meeting on Sunday, April 28, the Undergraduate Student Government (USG) Senate published a statement around 2 p.m. on Monday, April 29 calling on the University to “publicly reaffirm the right to speak and peaceably assemble” and “commit to suspending neither student groups nor individuals without meaningful due process.”

USG President Avi Attar ’25 called the special meeting for 5 p.m. on Sunday, and nearly 100 attendees were present. This follows deliberation over two drafted statements — one composed by U-Council Chair Daniel Shaw ’25 and U-Councilor Isabella Shutt ’24, and the other by Senator Samuel Kligman ’26.