Princeton Students Prepare to Set Up Anti-Israel Protest Encampment By Abigail Anthony
Princeton University students are preparing to establish an anti-Israel protest encampment, according to documents obtained by National Review. The students claim to have pro bono legal support and trained security.
A draft of a press release titled “Princeton Gaza Solidarity Encampment Demands” states that the “goal” is to “put pressure on the Princeton University administration to divest and disassociate from Israel, and to call attention to the University’s active contribution to ongoing genocide and human rights catastrophe.”
The group is demanding that 1) Princeton call for an immediate cease-fire and “condemn Israel’s genocidal campaign,” 2) commit to full transparency in its investments 3) dissociate and divest its endowment from direct and indirect holdings in companies that “profit from or engage in the State of Israel’s ongoing military campaign, occupation, and apartheid policies,” 4) divest from private fossil-fuel companies 5) disclose and end research funded by the Department of Defense 6) “refrain from any form of academic or cultural association with Israeli institutions and businesses 7) “cultivate affiliations with Palestinian academic and cultural institutions” and 8) stop sponsoring and facilitating programs like Birthright Israel trips and Tiger-Trek Israel, and relations with the Tikvah Fund.
Encampments have been set up on campuses across the United States. The “Gaza Solidarity” encampment at Columbia University has now reached its seventh day, while police began arresting protesters and disassembling tents at Yale on Monday.
“We condemn the settler-colonial project and apartheid regime enacted by the State of Israel, which is conducting a genocidal military campaign against the Palestinian people and has, for decades, implemented a regime of apartheid within Palestine/Israel,” reads an email draft obtained by National Review.
A document titled “Assessing & OnBoarding PTON-students,” obtained by National Review, advises students that it is best to have a conversation over the phone when recruiting protesters and notes that “messaging is also fine, don’t share any tactical or timing information or names.”
The group plans to set up an encampment with at least 20 people that will have “teach-ins, community events, recruitment, dancing, music, [and] community,” although the document does not clarify the time or place. The group claims to have a trained security team, pro bono legal support, and “faculty members on our side to negotiate with administration.”
“We think expulsion is highly unlikely; only students who have been expelled in the movement at Vanderbilt were expelled for touched (‘assaulted’) a police officer,” reads a portion of the document under the subhead “understanding the risk.” It continues, “Explusion [sic] is highly unlikely; at Princeton it requires committee and we know that at least 2 faculty members who are part of the committtee [sic] are in the Faculty for Justice in Palestine.”
The document further notes that sanctions can include minor punishments like probation or serious penalties like loss of housing. The students say that “legal charges” are “unlikely to be more than trespassing” and there will be a warning beforehand that provides an opportunity to leave.
The document defines three different color-coded “roles” for supporting the encampment. The “reds” are people in the encampment who assume the “academic and legal risks.” The “yellows” are people who run supplies, help vacate after warnings, and liaison with administrators and police. The “greens” picket, give speeches from outside the encampment, and further help with outreach.
When recruiting participants, the document advises that “no matter what” you should “ask them for 5+ names of comrades they think will be down for party (especially red roles) and for the contact info for those comrades.”
The latter portion of a document is taken from organizers at Columbia and is specific to Columbia University polices, although it clarifies risks for students on visas.
“Academic discipline from Columbia would not impact green card status. There are three categories of criminal conviction that could impact green card status: aggravated felonies, crimes involving drugs, and crimes of ‘moral turpitude,’” reads the document. “The first two types of criminal conviction would definitely not apply to this action. The third type of criminal conviction likely would not. Crimes of moral turpitude usually include things like fraud, rape, and abuse, so it is unlikely that a trespassing arrest, charge, or conviction would threaten green card status.”
A document titled “Media Training,” attributed to communications manager Amber Von Schassen at the Institute for Middle East Understanding, advises students to “avoid encampment” and instead “describe as a protest on our lawn, where there’s dancing, singing, eating food together as students join in solidarity, creating community, standing up for human rights—keep it as clear and as non-clinical as possible.”
The “messaging priorities” in the “media training” document encourages students to say things like “As a student, I’m horrified that Princeton is funding Israel’s genocide,” “Princeton’s repression of student advocacy for Palestinian freedom is part of a pattern across the country aimed at silencing students speaking out against Israel’s genocide in Gaza,” and “We’re not going anywhere, hundreds of students are continuing to peacefully protest at Princeton.”
The “media training” document also provides guidance on how to avoid “false accusations of antisemitism” by acknowledging that antisemitism is “real and dangerous.”
“Never bring up antisemitism unless it is brought up—don’t associate human rights and Palestinian freedom with antisemitism, don’t do their work for them,” reads the document. “Say: Lots of our organizers are Jewish, their social justice training is what motivates them to be here, when we say never again, we mean never again for anyone.”
The Princeton students have compiled a spreadsheet of faculty they have contacted or intend to contact for support, some of whom have expressed willingness to teach in the encampment.
Princeton’s vice president for campus life, Rochelle Calhoun, sent an email this morning to all undergraduates reiterating the school’s free-expression policies and warning students about the consequences of setting up an encampment.
“Some types of protest actions (including occupying or blocking access to buildings, establishing outdoor encampments and sleeping in any campus outdoor space) are inherently unsafe for both those involved and for bystanders, and they increase the potential for escalation and confrontation,” Calhoun wrote.
“Any individual involved in an encampment, occupation, or other unlawful disruptive conduct who refuses to stop after a warning will be arrested and immediately barred from campus,” Calhoun continued. “For students, such exclusion from campus would jeopardize their ability to complete the semester. In addition, members of our community would face a disciplinary process (for students this could lead to suspension, delay of a diploma, or expulsion).”
National Review obtained a message sent by an organizer affirming the plan to continue with the demonstration.
“Many of you have probably seen the email from VP Calhoun. We want to begin by affirming that this action is still on, and we will not be deterred,” the organizer wrote in a group chat. “This is a partial bluff. No university that has arrested or suspended students have done so without multiple warnings. These would be incredibly bad optics for Princeton and the email is a strategic move to weaken us.”
“We have multiple criminal defense attorneys on call ready to support us and work through any arrests that may ‘occur.’ We have people committed to jail support as well,” the organizer wrote, adding that “‘arrest’ is not the same as ‘pressing charges.’”
This article has been updated with new information about the university’s response to the encampment plan.
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