By Donald Gilpin
The Princeton Municipal Court has dropped defiant trespass charges against pro-Palestinian Princeton student protesters under the condition that the students perform at least six hours of community service and write a letter of apology.
On June 17, after about 14 months of legal proceedings, Prosecutor Christopher Koutsouris made a motion in Princeton Court to dismiss the charges that the 13 — five Princeton University undergraduates, six graduate students, one postdoctoral researcher, and one Princeton Theological Seminary student — had faced since their April 29, 2024 arrest at a sit-in at the University’s Clio Hall.
Calling for the University’s divestment from companies with ties to the Israeli military as part of a demonstration that took up residence in the University’s McCosh Courtyard and then Cannon Green for a total of about two weeks, the 13 students occupied University administrative offices at Clio Hall for less than two hours on the afternoon of their arrest.
In their apology to the staff working in Clio Hall, the students said that they had been acting on a long-standing tradition of protest. Judge John McCarthy III requested that they submit a revised letter of apology that did not sound like a “political manifesto with references to our constitutional rights.” Once the revised letter was received, the judge said, the dismissal would be granted “with prejudice,” meaning the case cannot be retried. Also, the students’ records will be expunged, the judge added.
The original letter, which the students read aloud in court, stated, “In the course of proceedings before this court as a result of our arrest, it has been brought to our attention that our sit-in caused undue and unintended emotional harm to the staff of Clio Hall. We write this letter to extend our apologies to the staff of Clio Hall for any anxiety and stress caused by our acts of protest against the ongoing war and genocide in Gaza.”
Selaedin Maksut, executive director of the New Jersey Chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR-NJ), expressed his approval of the judge’s decision. “CAIR-New Jersey applauds the court’s decision to drop the charges against these students, who were simply exercising their rights to protest and advocate for justice and against genocide,” he said. “The right to protest and voice dissent is fundamental to the health of any democracy, and we are proud to stand with these students who peacefully raised their voices for Palestinian human rights.”
Maksut went on to call on universities and other institutions to protect the rights of students “to peacefully protest without fear of retribution, discrimination, or criminal charges.”
Princeton University did not comment on last week’s decision, but the University’s Media Relations department referred to a statement made by University President Christopher L. Eisgruber on May 13, 2024, where he noted, “Whether to proceed or dismiss charges is a decision that rests solely with the prosecutor. In keeping with University policy we have not asked the prosecutor to ‘drop’ the pending charges.”
The statement went on to assert that “the University will continue to enforce viewpoint-neutral time, place, and manner rules. A wide range of protest activity is allowed, but protests must not significantly disrupt University operations and events.”
Following last week’s dismissal of charges, the students’ attorney Aymen Aboushi stated, “As we said from the beginning, these students did not violate the law. They were exercising their constitutional rights, and we are grateful to have achieved this result for them.”
Release from defiant trespass charges allows the students to avoid the possibility of up to 30 days in jail and a $1,000 fine.