Princeton Declines to Punish Students Who Disrupted Pro-Israel Event Featuring Former Israeli PM
Princeton University has decided not to discipline students who disrupted an April 7 event featuring former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, despite the incident involving antisemitic language, fire alarms being pulled, and attendees being harassed.
The event was cut short after masked anti-Israel activists interrupted the program, shouting chants including “genocide” and targeting attendees with antisemitic verbiage, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal. Protesters also gathered outside the building, banging drums as about 200 demonstrators chanted in unison.
Princeton President Christopher L. Eisgruber said he was “appalled at reports of antisemitic language directed by demonstrators at members of our community” after the event. He added that the university is investigating and “will pursue disciplinary measures as appropriate, to the extent any members of the Princeton University community are implicated.”
At least one individual involved in the disruption was confirmed not to be a student or affiliated with the university, and Princeton stated it is “taking action against him.”
Although the protesters’ actions appeared to violate Princeton’s rules of conduct, which say students “may not obstruct or otherwise interfere with the freedom of others to express views they reject,” the school has opted not to pursue disciplinary action against student participants.
In a letter to Danielle Shapiro, a Princeton alumna and board member of Princetonians for Free Speech (PFS), the university confirmed that no students would be disciplined. Shapiro criticized the response, noting, “The university says it cannot punish people who were shouting antisemitic slurs because it cannot identify them since it was dark and they were wearing masks. Yet the university says nothing about implementing a policy banning masks in certain situations, even though I specifically requested it do so and even though many universities are doing so, including the entire University of California system.”
