Faculty petition supports BJL protestors

Fifty-four faculty members signed afaculty letterin support of student protests,drafted by twelve faculty members affiliated with the program in African American Studies andpublished onlineon Friday.

The letter, addressed to University President Christopher Eisgruber ’83, Dean of the College Jill Dolan, members of the University Board of Trustees and other senior administrators, notes that “there is a palpable sense that … students of color, particularly black students, all too often find themselves on the margins of this University.” The letter adds that the undersigned faculty members stand in solidarity with the student protestors.

The letter urges the University administrators to take a “different, bolder, more comprehensive kind of action” to address “core problems” such as the racial climate on campus, and calls for a meeting of the faculty dedicated to the issue of faculty diversity.

The signatories come from a number of departments and programs across the arts and humanities, social sciences and natural sciences.

No faculty member from theSchool of Engineering and Applied Scienceor the School of Architecture signed the letter.

Politics professor Robert George noted that his name was put into the letter without his consent, via a Facebook post publishedonFridayaround 7 p.m.

"In what is the most underhanded tactic I have encountered in thirty-one years in academic life, my name was fraudulently added to a petition supporting student protestors at Princeton," he wrote. "There is no way I will be able to reach even a fraction of the people who are being misinformed about where I stand. Needless to say, this is extremely distressing--especially because the issue concerns values I cherish and that i believe are being placed in peril on campuses around the country, including my own."

In a separate message to Eisgruber, shared on Facebook, George clarified his position.

"I did not sign or even see the petition. Had I seen it, I certainly would not have signed it," he wrote.

George did not respond to a request for comment.By Saturday at 6 p.m., his name had been removed from the list of signatories on the official webpage for the letter.

African American Studies Program chair Eddie Glaude did not respond to a request for comment.