The Council of the Princeton University Community (CPUC) convened for its first meeting of the 2024–25 academic year on Monday, Sept. 30, centered around the proposal from Princeton Israel Apartheid Divest (PIAD) calling for the University to divest from Israel. Chair of the Resources Committee John Groves announced a “community input process,” marking the first major step from the University towards establishing a process to consider divestment.
From Sept. 30 to Oct. 11, students, faculty, staff, and alumni can access a feedback portal, which also includes PIAD’s full divestment proposal and guidelines for the Resources Committee’s consideration of investment-driven “social responsibility” issues.
Groves explained that the Committee operates by considering three criteria. The item must “have a sustained interest on campus,” there must be a “direct contradiction with the simple value of the University,” and there must be a “strong consensus regarding what to do,” he told the CPUC.
According to Groves, the portal’s objective is to “assist the Resources Committee in its process, and then review the consensus of how the university should respond.” The portal is also intended as a solution to the Committee having received “literally thousands of emails,” many of which were identical, he said.
“We hope to get input from a broad cross-section of the University,” Groves explained. “We have the feeling that we have heard from, let’s say, most interested parties. Maybe we haven't heard enough from everybody.”
The meeting’s agenda also included introducing the committees of the Council, followed by a question and answer section; an introduction of the new Dean of the College, Michael Gordin; an update from the Resources Committee; a presentation on protest and free expression policies; and concluded with a presentation about Title VI and community responsibility.
In the meeting, a group of about 20 protesters, several of whom are facing municipal court charges for participating in protests last spring, held up signs that read, “Princeton your hands are red,” and “Drop the charges.”
Following Groves’ presentation, several CPUC members raised questions about the divestment process.
U-Councilor Anuj Krishnan ’27 asked what to expect after the public consultation period, and asked “What is the end product?” According to Groves, the Committee will “issue a report at some point,” but the timeline is uncertain.
U-Councilor Chloe Long ’26 asked about what consensus looked like for previous divestments such as apartheid South Africa. The Resources Committee, formed in response to student protests against South Africa had not yet adopted the current guidelines that include campus consensus. Groves stated that “South Africa was a very long time ago,” and added that reviewing the Committee’s reports may be the best method to understand what past consensus assessments looked like.
Throughout the questioning period, Groves repeatedly restated the panel’s intended goal of gathering information.
Alumni Committee member Maria Carreras Kourepenos ’85 asked how alumni are being informed of the portal.
“We’ve discussed that a lot, and I think that it’s not so clear how best to do that,” he responded, adding that alumni may learn of the portal through publications such as the ‘Prince’ and Princeton Alumni Weekly (PAW).
Gadi Dechter, Vice President for Communications and Government Affairs, then shared a new website centralizing the University’s policies around protest. He stated that the University is making efforts to promote the new website, including taking out advertisements in the ‘Prince’ and in Town Topics.
The ‘Prince’ newsroom functions independently from its business operations.
“That’s unusual for us in our office, but it reflects our commitment to ensuring people are aware of their rights and also rules,” Dechter said. Other efforts include promoting the site on social media and table tenting in popular areas on campus.
Dechter shared that as of last week, the University approximated that 4,500 individuals have visited the site, with people spending the most time on the FAQ page.
At the conclusion of his presentation, protesters left the meeting while chanting, “Disclose, divest, we will not stop, we will not rest.”
Afterwards, Vice Provost for Institutional Equity and Diversity Michele Minter presented an update on Title VI, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, and national origin in programs that receive federal assistance.
Minter began by reviewing Princeton’s Policy on Discrimination and/or Harassment, and then addressed how bias, discrimination and harassment on campus are handled. While all concerns and complaints are reviewed, she explained, only those that violate the policy on discrimination or harassment are referred for investigation.
She notably remarked that some incidents, such as graffiti, lack a clear perpetrator, and therefore several types of complaints like it do not reach the level of a discrimination or harassment policy violation.
“A lot of problematic conduct is protected speech. We have very robust speech protections on campus,” she said.
Minter then focused on a specific subcategory of harassment referred to as hostile environment harassment, which specifies that harmful conduct “does not have to be directed at a person. It has to be experienced by a person, but that person does not have to have been the person who was specifically targeted.”
“So I would like to ask for your help,” Minter said. She requested that community members report graffiti of similar items to ODUS, refer identity-based corners or complaints to bias[at]princeton.edu, and participate in inclusive learning environments.
Earlier this month, a graduate student discovered small flyers outside Spelman Hall reading ”Nuke Gaza“ and ”Kill Roaches,” prompting a bias investigation from the Department of Public Safety. Minter wrote to the ‘Prince’ at the time that “Anonymous, offensive speech is especially concerning.”
During the question and answer period of the meeting, Zach Goldberg ’28 and Raquel Rodriguez ’28 asked questions on behalf of Sunrise Princeton about why the University owns PetroTiger, an oil and gas company from which the University reported $140 million of earnings in investment income and cash transactions over a 10-year period.
Vice President for Finance Jim Matteo responded that the investment, which he said began in the 1980s, is consistent with the University’s public commitments regarding disassociation and divestment from certain segments of the fossil fuel industry. He added that decisions about divestment are directed by the Board of Trustees.
In 2022, the Board voted to divest from all publicly traded fossil fuel companies as part of its “commitment to achieving a net-zero endowment portfolio over time.”
Rodriguez asked what a timeline for a net-zero endowment might look like, to which Matteo responded that there was no set timeline.
The CPUC will meet next on Monday, Nov. 11 in the multipurpose room of Frist Campus Center.
Laila Hartman-Sigall is a News contributor for the ‘Prince.’ She is from New York City.
Bridget O’Neill is a head News editor for the ‘Prince’ from Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.
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