Public Safety is investigating allegations that two men overturned parts of a campus anti-death penalty group's flag display outside Frist Campus Center early yesterday morning.
The obstruction of the flags is part of a trend, some students charge, of suppressing political debate on campus, and now these students are asking for a campus wide inquiry and are planning a letter campaign.
Melanie Wachtell '04 of the Princeton Coalition Against Capital Punishment made the allegations yesterday afternoon, saying she witnessed two men upending flags just after midnight yesterday morning. After confronting the men, she said she contacted authorities.
Public Safety Sgt. Kenneth Samuels said the incident was under investigation but declined to offer more details. The identity of the accused was not known.
PCACP had planted the flags as part of Death Penalty Awareness Week.
PCACP chair Shawn Sindelar '04 said 846 flags represented people executed since the Supreme Court declared the death penalty constitutional in 1973 and 107 flags were for people exonerated.
At midday yesterday, flags outside Frist had visibly been uprooted.
Tearing down trend
Robin Williams '04, the chair of PCACP's parent group, the Princeton Justice Project, said he has observed the tearing down of posters all year on issues ranging from homosexuality to proand antiabortion rights. He is looking for the administration or the USG to get involved.
Assistant Dean of Undergraduate Students Tom Dunne and Sindelar said campus groups are planning to write an open letter condemning the tearing down of posters.
"It's a really trivial issue, but also involves a basic level of respect for people's viewpoints," Williams said.
Last week, Sindelar said 400 of 450 posters announcing this week's anti-death penalty events were torn down.
"It's shocking when people go to the extent of ripping down postures and suppressing free speech," Sindelar said.
Observations
Wachtell said she was leaving the Wilson School late Sunday night when she saw two men standing amid the flag display. About one in five flags were overturned and a pile of removed flags was off to the side, she said.
She didn't approach the men immediately, she said, but walked toward the Woolworth music building, pretending to leave the area. She said she then saw the men kicking flags.
She said she then confronted the men, who said they were helping put up the flags, under the guidance of the Wilson College dean — who couldn't be reached for comment yesterday.
Wachtell asked for their names, she said, but they refused. When she pressed, she said one gave her a false name and the other still refused.
She said she told the men she would welcome a debate on the death penalty, but it was wrong for them to "vandalize" the flags.
"I was distressed," she said. "They were both pretty unapologetic."
The men left, she said, and she contacted Public Safety around 1 a.m. She officially filed a report around midday.
Sindelar and nine other people spent three hours on Sunday night planting the flags, which cost $250, Sindelar said.
Wachtell said what especially angered her was that the men she encountered were ruining the effort Sindelar put into the display.
Anticipating
Sindelar said he had been warned that groups or people opposing his views might try to tear down his posters, but said he was surprised that they would actually destroy the flag display.
He said the best punishment would be for the guilty parties to put the posters back up and apologize.
Read More
U. to cut employee benefits following raise reductions, eliciting mixed reactions
Leela HenslerIn a series of February memos, the University informed faculty and non-union staff of raise cuts and benefit reductions for the coming fiscal year, with a decrease in personnel also on the horizon.
In a series of February memos, the University informed faculty and non-union staff of raise cuts and benefit reductions for the coming fiscal year, with a decrease in personnel also on the horizon.
Peer Academic Advisor hours cut, resulting in lower compensation
Ambre Van de Velde and Ryan BuschmanPeer Academic Advisors, upperclassmen who support first-year students through the residential college system, will see more than $500 cut from their total compensation for the coming academic year.
Peer Academic Advisors, upperclassmen who support first-year students through the residential college system, will see more than $500 cut from their total compensation for the coming academic year.
Morrison, Graziosi named Behrman Professors in the Humanities, will begin term next fall
Leela HenslerThe Humanities Council named Professor Barbara Graziosi and Professor Simon Morrison as the newest Behrman Professors in the Humanities, a three-year appointment during which the two will, among other duties, co-teach the year-long Western Humanities Sequence.
The Humanities Council named Professor Barbara Graziosi and Professor Simon Morrison as the newest Behrman Professors in the Humanities, a three-year appointment during which the two will, among other duties, co-teach the year-long Western Humanities Sequence.