Following the discovery of an anti-Semitic chalkboard drawing in a Bloomberg Hall study room last weekend, campus groups have come together to create a postering campaign against bias.
Various campus groups, including the Center of Jewish Life (CJL) and the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students (ODUS), in conjunction with residential colleges, have begun distributing and posting anti-bias flyers around the University.
The flyers display the word "bias" crossed out, with "not on our campus" written below.
In an email to Butler residents, Butler Director of Studies Matthew Lazen encouraged students to print out the flyers and display them on doors and windows. "By posting these signs on our windows and doors, together as a community we will stand united against acts of insensitivity and hate," Lazen wrote.
Though the incident took place in the upperclassman section of Bloomberg, the incident "strikes close to home both insofar as Bloomberg is one of our dorms and, more importantly, insofar as we are all part of the Princeton community," Lazen added.
Rabbi Julie Roth, who is the executive director of the CJL, conceived the campaign, Lazen said. She and ODUS Associate Dean Tom Dunne are overseeing the implementation of the program.
"The idea came from the Center for Jewish Life and is based on a very successful 1993 grassroots campaign from Billings, Montana in response to bias incidents that were afflicting that city," Dunn said in an email.
The signs were sent to all the residential colleges and will be circulated among various student organizations, he added.
"While the campaign was started with the most recent incident in mind, we thought it would be useful for students to be able to take a stand against any type of bias on campus," Dunne wrote. "It gives every member of our community an opportunity to demonstrate a commitment to eradicating any incidents of bias from campus."
According to Dunne, the campaign will last as long as students choose to display the signs.
Wilson and Forbes Colleges are planning to participate in the campaign, said their respective directors of studies. Patrick Caddeau, director of studies of Forbes, said that hardcopies of the signs were available in the college office and that he has also asked RCAs to hang the flyers in the dorms.
Officials from Mathey and Rocky were unavailable for comment. Rabbi Roth also could not be reached.
The Housing Office has granted the campaign an exception allowing students to tape the flyers on doors. Fire code regulations generally prohibit placing anything on a "means of egress."
"This onetime exception shows how inappropriate the behavior was," Lazen said in an interview, adding that the Housing Office made an exception to its policy "only because the message was important."
Officials have requested that tape be used to affix the flyers to doors, instead of tacks or staples.
Lazen said that he hopes the signs will send a message that bias will not be tolerated on campus.
"[The] purpose of the campaign is to make clear that the Princeton community fully rejects such thoughtless and inappropriate acts and hopefully discourage others from engaging in it," Lazen said. "I personally feel that this is something that concerns everyone at Princeton."
Noting that the campaign was intended for the current student population, Dunne said that it was "not directly aimed at any campus visitors and/or prospective students."
Meanwhile, some students have questioned the effectiveness of the flyers.
"I don't think the campaign will be effective," Sarah Silvergleid '10 said. "The posters don't even refer to the original issue. I'd rather be able to hang my towels on my door without getting a fine than this."
Other students wondered if the response went far enough.
"The campaign seems like a rather obligatory reaction to the situation. I don't think that it will be effective in preventing such future incidents from happening and think that the administration should take more far-reaching actions if it truly wishes to prevent such incidents from occurring again," Alice Zhang '10 said.
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