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According to social media posts, Princeton University students are planning to set up a pro-Palestinian encampment, similar to other encampments across the country.
Various posts and documents circulating the internet reveal a new initiative, dubbed the “Princeton Gaza Solidarity Encampment,” where students plan to demand the university advocate for a ceasefire in Gaza and criticize Israel’s policies. Additionally, they are calling for financial transparency and the divestment of university endowments from companies linked to Israel, along with fostering ties with Palestinian institutions while cutting ties with Israeli ones.
Organizers of the protest expressed their determination in one of the documents, stating, “We’re not going anywhere until these demands are met — hundreds of students, alumni, workers, and professors are and will continue to exercise their right to peacefully protest. Our values call on us to speak up for justice for Palestinians, and to confront the unethical investments of Princeton University’s endowment. We will not be silenced, we will be heard. We will not rest until divest!”
The posts also discuss the planning needed to create the encampment, including logistical aspects of the protest, listing sympathetic professors, recruitment strategies, and roles students will be given within the encampment, ranging from supply runs to managing risk levels associated with different tasks. Organizers have also planned for possible retaliation from the school. A document said, “We think expulsion is highly unlikely; only students who have been expelled in the movement at Vanderbilt were expelled for touching (‘assaulted’) a police officer. Expulsion is highly unlikely; at Princeton, it requires a committee, and we know that at least 2 faculty members who are part of the committee are in the Faculty for Justice in Palestine.”
In response to the news, Rochelle Calhoun, Vice President for Student Life, has issued a reminder of the university’s policy on free expression, warning students of the strict limitations on protests. She said, “For those reasons, among others, our policies explicitly prohibit such conduct, and I want to be sure you understand that we will act promptly in order to address it. 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. 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).”
This movement at Princeton mirrors other universities nationwide, including Columbia University and Cal Poly Humboldt, where students have created encampments and taken over school buildings.
