Princeton University faculty passed a non-binding resolution on Monday calling for disciplinary and legal amnesty for students arrested for the pro-Palestinian encampment and occupation of a university building. The resolution passed 154–136, with eight abstentions.
“Documents uncovered by investigative reporting by National Review revealed that the protest organizers assured participants that when they broke the law they would receive lenient treatment, and that they would not be suspended,” Princeton Professor John Londregan told National Review. “By committing not to suspend, the administration has already delivered on part of that promise, Expect more drama when the students return in the Fall.”
In late April, 13 people were arrested at Princeton University after occupying the Clio Hall building for a pro-Palestinian demonstration, an incident the university president called “completely unacceptable.”Additionally, two graduate students were arrested for trespassing when the encampment was first erected.
“I have also seen Graduate School staff break into tears when trying to describe the fright they felt when their building was occupied and surrounded, and when they locked themselves in offices because they believed they could neither safely remain nor safely exit the building,” the university president wrote in an email describing conversations he had after the Clio Hall occupation.
In addition to the proposal to grant amnesty to student protesters, six faculty members had submitted proposals related to the military scope of the University’s endowment, divestment from “genocide, occupation, and apartheid” in Gaza, cultivating Palestinian cultural and academic institutions, a university statement calling for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza, and a full faculty boycott of all Israeli businesses and institutions.
At the faculty meeting on Monday, the only resolution deliberated was one to recommend that the university “extend amnesty to all students involved in the encampment, occupation, and hunger strike” by a) closing internal disciplinary investigations and b) instructing the Mercer County prosecutor that it does not wish to press criminal charges. A professor who attended the faculty meeting told National Review that the university president, in consultation with legal counsel and the parliamentarian, determined the other five proposals out-of-order.
During the meeting, faculty members were told that the pro-Palestinian activists had been assigned to be reviewed by the Residential College Disciplinary Board (RCDB), a low-level disciplinary committee that does not have any student or faculty members and does not have the authority to suspend students. The RCDB has the authority to issue Dean’s warnings, reprimands, or a term of disciplinary probation (with or without censure). A Dean’s warning is not included on a student’s permanent record, a reprimand will be on a student’s permanent record only if there is a subsequent infraction, and disciplinary probation occurs on a student’s permanent record but not transcript. Thus, even if the amnesty resolution had not passed, the students would not have faced suspension.
“Monday’s special faculty meeting encapsulated the discrepancy between the administration’s rhetoric and its resolve. Sound tough, act soft,” a professor who attended the faculty meeting told National Review. “They held a vote on a motion they had ruled out of order before the meeting about a disciplinary matter whose outcome they had all but decided already. If the underlying issues were not so serious, one might have been forgiven for enjoying it as theatre.”
A professor who attended told National Review said there was “a great deal of confusion” because the electronic-voting mechanism broke down during the proceedings, and then some faculty voted through secret ballot.
A university spokesperson told the student-run newspaper the Daily Princetonian that, based on the precedents in similar cases, “it is unlikely that the cases will result in penalties greater than probation,” and therefore it is likely that the four of the arrested students scheduled to graduate this term will be able to receive their degrees.
“I’m grateful to members of the faculty present at the meeting for having a civil discussion about a difficult set of issues,” university president Christopher Eisgruber wrote in a statement to the Daily Princetonian. “I appreciate the care they feel for our students as well as their concerns around both violations of the University policy and the need for integrity of University procedures.”