The final Council of the Princeton University Community (CPUC) meeting of the year was greeted with two unusual announcements. First, that University President Christopher Eisgruber ’83 was absent because he had COVID, leaving Provost Jennifer Rexford ’91 to lead the meeting. Second, Rexford directed the audience to a message about disrupting.
“To be clear, any individuals who disrupt this event are in violation of University policy, subject to disciplinary action, and will be asked to leave the room immediately. If they do not leave immediately, they will be considered a Defiant Trespasser under New Jersey criminal law and subject to arrest,” the message read.
This announcement follows a recent enforcement change by the University that attendees at campus events will now receive a single warning about campus protest policies. The change followed several interruptions at an April 8 event with former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. This is the first time this year that CPUC attendees have received this message.
Presentations at the meeting included minor changes to Title IX policy and Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Studies (ODUS) protest policies and updates to the classroom scheduling process.
The meeting began with a refresher on the proposed changes to the Judicial Committee by the Rights and Rules Committee. There was no vote on these changes, as Rexford noted that it had been pulled from the agenda “in consultation with” the CPUC’s Executive Committee and moved to next fall.
“In addition to the review of the Judicial Committee that we presented last month, the Rights and Rules Committee also reviewed and endorsed updates to the University’s Title IX sexual harassment policy and the University sexual encounter policy,” said Chair of the the Rules and Rights Committee, Professor of Philosophy Jacob Nebel.
Randy Hubert, Director of Gender Equity and Title IX Administration, presented on the four proposed changes, which were small and procedural. Hubert prefaced with the fact that these changes “are not based on any change in Title IX regulations” and are just enough change to warrant a CPUC vote, but “don’t fundamentally change the rights of either party.” The CPUC unanimously voted to approve them, with two abstentions.
Next, Dean of Undergraduate Students Reagan Crotty presented some changes to ODUS policy regarding Protests and Free Expression.
There were several changes to language around “symbolic structures,” which are now called “temporary outdoor installations.” The policy will now specify who is allowed to create these beyond just “university groups” and require approval of the installation at least 10 business days in advance. The installation can be displayed for up to 10 business days.
The “review process is about safety. It’s content-neutral. The offices involved include Facilities, the University Architects, Environmental Health and Safety, and the Fire Marshal,” said Crotty.
The changes to the policy about symbolic structures follows extensive discussion about permissible structures at last year’s Gaza Solidarity Encampment.
The policy on banners and marquees received similar changes. Requests are required to be submitted five days in advance, and the displays can stay up for five business days.
Next, Crotty reviewed the clarifications to sponsorships and co-sponsorships. “This is essentially just rewritten for clarity. We received feedback that the current policy is hard to understand, so we want to be crystal clear,” said Crotty.
The policy clarifies that non-University entities cannot co-sponsor events without a faculty member, academic unit, or administrative unit — meaning that student organizations cannot co-sponsor their own event with non-University entities.
“We want to give clarity on our expectations, really, to events involving candidates ... In that case, when someone’s bringing up a candidate to campus, those rules around consulting with the appropriate administrative office,” said Crotty.
These changes are to be implemented on July 1.
Finally, Emily Shandley from the Office of the Registrar presented updates to the process of classroom scheduling.
“Like most administrative work that we do, when it’s done well, it tends to disappear into the background, and when it doesn’t work well, it can be disruptive,” said Shandley.
Shandley said the process of classroom scheduling has been done manually by one person and has not changed for more than 25 years. Now, the Office of the Registrar is looking to upgrade the process and use new technologies to improve efficiency.
“Fundamentally, it is the assignment of an appropriate teaching space to a course for the term, but it’s a much more complex assignment than that,” said Shandley. The process will try to accommodate different teaching styles and class sizes.
“We are directed by the curriculum and innovation and how faculty teach,” explained Shandley.
This year, the Office of Registrar is publishing a public production calendar with milestones for “everything that we will be doing in relationship to the academic calendar relating to scheduling for the next year,” said Shandley.
All classroom assignments for the fall semester will be published by Aug. 1, 2025.
Ending after about 39 minutes, this final CPUC meeting has been the shortest all year.
Cynthia Torres is an assistant News editor and an Archives contributor. She is from New Bedford, MA and typically covers University administration.
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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