It was on a Wednesday night in mid-November when Francisco Nava '09 first told me that his life had been threatened. When he first spoke the phrase "death threat," I actually laughed a bit, assuming that he was joking about the response he had received to his article on Princeton's contraceptive policy. Within moments I stopped, embarrassed, and listened as he told his story. Almost every word of it turned out to be untrue.
But no one who was in that room could have guessed that Nava was lying. In his voice, passion and concern were palpable. His account was detailed and disturbing. All who heard it knew that it was a story that eventually had to be told to a wider audience. I offered my platform as a Daily Princetonian columnist to accomplish this. Only Nava knew that it was just a story — a designed narrative conjured to make a point.
A few uneventful weeks passed as November turned to December. It was decided that the story of the threats would wait until Nava felt prepared to unveil such a sensitive facet of his life. On the afternoon of Wednesday, Dec. 12, Francisco appeared at my door.
On that day, my fellow columnist Jason Sheltzer '08 had published a column highly critical of the conservative Anscombe Society, for which I serve as public relations director. The Society was buzzing as it tried to collectively respond to Sheltzer's piece before the hiatus of winter break. Nava and I discussed this minor crisis for a few moments, and the conversation seemed to be coming to a close when he resolutely stated that now was the time to tell his story.
Nava opened his laptop and typed his official written account of the events of the previous two months, a hardcopy of which I retain. He wrote about the first threatening email left in his Frist mailbox. He wrote about the pair of death threats he received after the publication of his article. He wrote about the alleged indifference of the University and related the story of the LGBT incident at Whitman College.
I never had a reason to doubt Nava's account. He was a person whom I, as well as the many others who consider him a friend, found to be honest and trustworthy. Even if I had had the time before my Thursday morning deadline to consult other sources, no available information could have led anyone to conclude that he was perpetrating a hoax.
Later that evening, at a dinner hosted by the James Madison Program, Nava whispered to me that new threats had come in, this time targeting five individuals involved with the Anscombe Society. After absorbing this new development and meeting with some of those who had apparently been threatened, I reported this newsworthy turn of events to the 'Prince' and sat down to compose my column, which I completed early Thursday morning.
On Friday morning, "Open Season" was published alongside the news story of the threats. The day passed uneventfully until about 6:30 p.m., when I was called to the emergency room at University Medical Center at Princeton with the haunting sentence, "Francisco has been beaten up."
I operated under the assumption that a friend had been the victim of a politically motivated assault until I woke up late Saturday morning. It was then that I learned of Nava's past and the shadow it cast across the entire series of events. All solidarity events were canceled pending the final receipt of all the facts. The three other threatened students and I spent a large part of that afternoon at Public Safety with a detective, discussing our recollections of Nava's activities of the previous days and weeks.
Doubts continued to mount until early Monday afternoon, when Nava finally confessed to Princeton Township Police. The assault had been self-inflicted. Nava had sent the email threats. The earlier written threats had been hoaxes. Butler College Master Sanjeev Kulkarni has also informed me that Director of Student Life Mindy Andino had "on multiple occasions" spoken with Nava about the threats and that he "specifically requested that no further action be taken and that the incident not be made public."
This, of course, means that nearly every word of "Open Season" was untrue. For this I apologize and humbly ask for the forgiveness of the campus community. One of the most challenging, yet rewarding parts of this job is gaining the interest and earning the trust of readers. I hope that this account explains what led to my column and what transpired after it.
Furthermore, I hope that, in conjunction with other articles about the event, this shows that all involved, from individual Anscombe members to Public Safety to the University administration as a whole, acted in an exemplary manner during a potentially volatile situation. Once doubts were raised, all judgment was suspended until the final resolution of the facts.
I feel that the University community has been strengthened by these events and the measured, dignified reaction to them. The importance of reasoned discussion rather than vulgar polemic has been underscored by these trying times. And I am proud to say that Princeton performed wonderfully. Brandon McGinley is a sophomore from Pittsburgh, Pa. He can be reached at bmcginle@princeton.edu.
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