Dueling statements Tuesday from Princeton University and its 13 students who were arrested during a Gaza protest paint vastly different pictures of what happened on campus Monday night.
Those arrested issued a statement saying they staged a peaceful sit-in, but were harshly reprimanded and immediately expelled from campus. Meanwhile, university officials continue to say that the protestors’ acts were unlawful and abusive.
The group was arrested during a demonstration at the university graduate school’s Clio Hall administrative building on Monday afternoon. Monday marked the fifth day of Gaza protests on the campus of the Ivy League school.
The protests are a result of rising tensions between students, staff and the university, as Princeton, along with other higher education institutions around the county, have funds invested in firms that profit from the Israel-Hamas war.
A statement signed by all 13 protestors on Tuesday called the protest a staged peaceful sit-in at the administrative building, accompanied by sociology Professor Ruha Benjamin, who acted as a legal and faculty advisor.
A contrasting statement from Rochelle Calhoun, vice president for campus life, said the protestors were “abusive” towards university staff.
“As protestors entered Clio Hall, our staff found themselves surrounded, yelled at, threatened, and ultimately ordered out of the building,” Calhoun said.
The protestors said in their statement that the university’s Department of Public Safety ordered Professor Benjamin and a member of the student press to leave the building by 5:30 p.m., threatening to arrest them if they did not comply with the order. While they both left immediately, the student press member has since been banned from campus for 90 days, according to the statement.
The 13 people remaining in the building were all arrested, the group’s statement said.
“We prayed and sang together while zip-tied and handcuffed,” they said. A few of the protesters, the group said, were put on a campus shuttle for transport, but were released after hundreds of other protestors encircled the bus and barricaded the doors of Clio Hall.
“Upon release, however, we were still banned from campus and evicted from university housing. Those of us who live in campus housing were immediately evicted and given just a few minutes to collect our belongings.”
The group claimed Princeton administrators have refused to meet with the Princeton Gaza Solidarity Encampment’s bargaining team and also rejected a request for a meeting with six faculty members who wanted to discuss the arrests of two graduate students last week.
“The University refused to meet with us using the ‘proper’ channels, so we had to find our own,” the group said. “We will be here until the administration meets with us.”
Meanwhile, school officials insist the right to protest is protected on campus, but not at the expense of safety for all other students and staff.
“We venerate the free speech that is essential to our scholarly mission,” Calhoun‘s statement read. “But these guarantees rely upon our community’s willingness to comply with the University’s time, place, and manner regulations. They do not extend to the violation of our rules or of the law.”
The 13 people arrested include five undergraduate students who are all seniors, six graduate students, a postdoctoral researcher and one non-degree seeking student. All have been charged with trespassing. The 11 full-time students have also been barred from campus and may face additional university discipline including suspension, expulsion or the withholding of their degree, administrators said.
The university has said that others who participated in Monday’s demonstrations are under investigation and may also face criminal charges.
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Nicolas Fernandes may be reached at nfernandes@njadvancemedia.com.
