Campus Protests and Free Expression

Jorge Reyes
Daily Princetonian

Excerpt: As Gaza solidarity encampments sprung up across university campuses last spring, students faced severe institutional repercussions for their activism. At Princeton, at least two students had their diplomas withheld and 15 were arrested. Across the country, over 3,000 students were arrested for participation in Gaza solidarity protests.

For some, these consequences are disproportionately dire. Undocumented and international students run the risk of being deported if arrested and are limited in their ability to protest, especially with politicians like Donald Trump threatening to infringe on their freedom of assembly.

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.

Olivia Sanchez
Daily Princetonian

Excerpt: On Sept. 5, the University retracted its decision to ban protests on the front lawn of Nassau Hall. Cannon Green and the Prospect House grounds remain off-limits locations to protest.

According to University spokesperson Jennifer Morrill, the change was made because the walkways in front of Nassau Hall “have long been an approved protest site.” “Historically, we have recognized — and we continue to recognize — that protests legitimately spill onto the lawn. We have changed our language to reflect that,” she wrote in a statement to The Daily Princetonian.

Olivia Sanchez
Daily Princetonian

Excerpt: On Sept. 5, the University retracted its decision to ban protests on the front lawn of Nassau Hall. Cannon Green and the Prospect House grounds remain off-limits locations to protest.
According to University spokesperson Jennifer Morrill, the change was made because the walkways in front of Nassau Hall “have long been an approved protest site.”

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.