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We the undersigned write in anger and disappointment to express our disgust with the rash of pro-Hamas demonstrations on campuses across the United States. Purporting to stand for the well-being of Palestinians, these demonstrators denounce Israel and embrace Hamas, and in many cases Hezbollah as well, both among the most evil organizations on the planet. In deference to the first amendment we are not calling for the authorities to silence the protests, but demand instead that they draw the line at preventing and punishing violence and harassment. The protesters have, on various occasions, directed offensive racial epithets at Jewish students, even as they claim to be “anti-Israeli but not anti-Semitic”. Shame on them! In some cases the protesters have also physically attacked Jews, and this is not only to the disgrace of the protesters, but also to the university administrators that have hesitated vigorously to pursue the perpetrators.
Among the protesters one finds a hard core of people dedicated to hatred as well as a significantly larger group of deeply confused fellow travelers seeking to be part of a campus protest as a means to make themselves popular. Many of them are not cognizant of the facts and need to think through the consequences of their actions. If their call to eliminate the state of Israel was heeded, the result would be the death and displacement of millions of people for whom Israel, the country of their birth, is home. The demonstrators’ embrace of Hamas makes them complicit in the ongoing atrocities committed by that organization. On October 7 Hamas murdered over 1200 people on Israeli soil, people of many nationalities and of various religions: they raped, they tortured, they killed, and they kidnapped.
The kidnappings are in fact a continuing part of the October 7 atrocities. Though a few have been liberated, as part of the psychological war pursued by Hamas, the remaining hostages are at the heart of the post October 7 drama. Any solution to the ongoing tragedy in Gaza starts with the immediate and unconditional release of the hostages.
Hamas’s wicked actions of October 7 were designed to force the Israelis to choose among difficult, unpalatable, alternatives. Reasonable people disagree about which among these courses of action is the lesser evil, but it is plainly obvious that responsibility for the subsequent tragedy in Gaza lies with Hamas and its apologists. Not only did Hamas take 250 hostages on October 7, they also hold over a million Palestinians in thrall to their repressive government, one which uses them as human shields and treats any expressions of sympathy or conciliation toward Israel as criminal, and potentially capital, offenses. We call on the demonstrators to desist in their ugly display of hatred and on the administrators of our universities to take seriously their own regulations against harassment and violence.
All e-mails endorsing this statement should be sent to John Londregan
jbl@Princeton.EDU with the name, affiliation and academic position.
John Londregan is Professor of Politics and International Affairs, Princeton University
Sergiu Klainerman is Higgins Professor of Mathematics, Princeton University.
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In April 1995, University maintenance crews spent two days cleaning “walkways, benches, plazas and walls on campus,” working to remove not dirt or debris, but simple sidewalk chalk. The chalk drawings, according to a report from The Daily Princetonian, consisted of “pro-gay messages” written by hand during Pride Week. After the removal, advocates were rightly in uproar. Following the incident, the University, claiming that the discrepancy had transpired because of “cross-office confusion,” clarified its chalking policy — it was henceforth banned, in all cases.
Three decades on, chalk at Princeton has found itself relegated to dusty trays in classrooms and lecture halls. Hardly anyone — students, activists, artists, campus organizations, candidates, schoolchildren — chalks University grounds anymore. Simply put, the University’s ban has worked. But the question remains: Why is Princeton so afraid of chalk?
There is exactly one kind of institution in the world whose product is “thinking” — the university. This is an existential challenge for every university, Princeton most definitely included, now that nearly all artificial intelligence is purpose-built to offload the hard work of thinking.
Universities need to return to the foundations of learning with trust — and verification — at the heart of their relationship with students. They also need to be far more prescriptive about what learning looks like so that students who arrive with limited capacity for deep reading have the time and space to develop their critical thinking skills.
The University has implemented a new limit on the number of Undergraduate Student Government (USG), Graduate Student Government, and Council of the Princeton University Committee (CPUC) student representatives allowed to attend faculty meetings.
In an email to student leaders obtained by The Daily Princetonian, Associate Dean of Undergraduate Students Ian Deas wrote that the new changes will go into effect at the Sept. 14 faculty meeting and each constituency will be able to send a maximum of two observers to a meeting. The Rules and Procedures of the Faculty do not specify the number of observers permitted from the student governments or CPUC.
