Ex-terrorists' campus visit cancelled
The Walid Shoebat Foundation, whose plans to speak on campus Thursday fell through last week, instead held a press conference Thursday featuring three people who self-identify as former Arab terrorists at a nearby hotel on Route 1.The group criticized the University for canceling the event, saying that they had pressured the Princeton Israel Public Affairs Committee (PIPAC) ? a pro-Israel student group that originally invited the speakers ? to call off the talk.The foundation's executive director, Keith Davies, said, "We have strong evidence to believe it was pressure from the University that led to the event's cancellation," but declined to give specifics about his claims.PIPAC said in a statement last week that it decided to postpone the event after the Shoebat foundation promoted the event nationally without mentioning the student group.Associate Dean of Undergraduate Students Thomas Dunne, whose office signs off on student group-sponsored events, said in an email Monday evening, "If you speak with any of the students involved in the proposed event, I am confident they will tell you that they were not discouraged at any time from holding this event due to the content of the proposed topic."Because the proposed talk was advertised by the foundation on its website, the University said that the event had changed in scope.