The 13 members of the Princeton community arrested for occupying Clio Hall during pro-Palestine protests last semester had their first appearance in Princeton Municipal Court on Tuesday. All the arrestees are charged with defiant criminal trespassing, a petty offense in the state of New Jersey.
The University has indicated it will not interfere with the criminal proceedings.
Municipal prosecutor Christopher Koutsouris, who is prosecuting the case, told The Daily Princetonian that the University handed him full control of the case, noting that he consulted with the University’s legal counsel on the matter.
“They [the University] have full faith in me to judge the balance between the need for deterrence and the need to punish wrong with humanity of the situation of students,” he said.
The University declined to comment on their decision to not interfere with the case, and instead referred the ‘Prince’ to previous statements.
In an email to campus community members on April 30, Vice President for Campus Life W. Rochelle Calhoun said the University would not ask any prosecution to be dropped and that given “the egregious nature of their conduct, they [the protesters] are also likely to face serious criminal charges.” Defiant criminal trespassing carries a maximum penalty of 30 days in jail and a $500 fine.
While largely procedural, the students’ court hearing was the first progress in their case since they were arrested on April 29 for occupying Clio Hall for roughly an hour during one of the most intense days of protest on campus in recent memory.
“My clients did not violate any laws, and this matter does not belong in a courtroom,” Aymen Aboushi, a New York City-based civil rights lawyer representing the arrestees, wrote in a statement to the ‘Prince.’
The hearing took place over Zoom with Koutsouris, Aboushi, and the judge in presence.
“We were in a space we had permissions to be in by virtue of our status as students,” Aditi Rao GS, one of the arrestees, wrote in a statement to the ‘Prince.’ “The University’s inability to levy meaningful charges against us speaks to the lacking case they already have.”
“We are grounded in not letting them set a dangerous precedent when it comes to forms of free expression on campus,” she added.
Rao later clarified that her statement was not on behalf of the entire group.
More than 3,000 students were arrested in the pro-Palestine protests that swept college campuses across the country last semester, according to tallies by the New York Times and other national media outlets. Many have been charged with low-level offenses like trespassing, although some local prosecutors have opted for plea deals or dismissal of the cases altogether.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s office, for example, dropped criminal trespassing charges in June against 30 Columbia University students who had occupied the school’s Hamilton Hall, citing a lack of evidence, and deferring them to the University’s own disciplinary processes.
The protesters at Columbia indicated that they would refuse plea deals before the trial took place. The thirteen non-student protesters eventually did agree to a plea deal from prosecutors. The Princeton protesters have not yet indicated whether or not they would take a deal if offered one.
The 13 people arrested at Princeton include five undergraduates — all of whom have since graduated — six graduate students, one postdoc, and one student at the Princeton Theological Seminary who was also enrolled at the University. They are due back in court on Aug. 20. The two graduate students arrested on April 25 at the beginning of the pro-Palestine sit-in in McCosh courtyard will also appear in court that day in a separate hearing.
Editor’s note: This piece was edited to clarify that none of the defendants were physically present in court.
Miriam Waldvogel is an associate News editor and the investigations editor for the ‘Prince.’ She is from Stockton, Calif. and often covers campus activism and University accountability.
Christopher Bao is an assistant News editor and the accessibility director for the ‘Prince.’ He is from Princeton, N.J. and typically covers town politics and life.
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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