In response to the recent election and its aftermath, with fear and uncertainties that prompted a demonstration by hundreds of University community members last Thursday, Princeton faculty members and key administrators have issued separate statements of support for students’ rights and diversity, and against racism and discrimination. 

Princeton President Christopher Eisgruber, who had issued a statement to the Princeton community on November 11, asserting “our steadfast commitment to embrace people of all ethnicities, religions, nationalities, genders, and identities and our equally fundamental commitment to foster the free and vigorous exchange of ideas,” has also signed a statement, along with over 100 other college and university presidents, calling for the continuation of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which protects eligible undocumented students from being placed in removal proceedings and grants them authorization for employment.

The faculty statement released last Thursday, signed by more than 300 people, declares that, amid reports of hate crimes on campuses, the Princeton professors and lecturers “firmly emphasize our belief that all members of our community deserve to be treated with empathy and respect. We come together on this issue not as Democrats or Republicans, but as concerned members of our community.”

Also in line with other affirmations of solidarity, a November 21 letter to students, faculty, and staff from five administrators responds to concerns over immigrants’ rights with empathy for the protestors and their actions. The letter, signed by vice president for campus life W. Rochelle Calhoun, college dean Jill Dolan, graduate school dean Sanjeev Kulkarni, faculty dean Deborah Prentice, and human resources vice president Lianne Sullivan-Crowley, states, “We fully empathize with … concerns … about potential changes in national policies or practices related to immigration and the status of undocumented people.”

It continues, “The safety, security, and success of our students are among our highest priorities. The University will do everything possible to protect students’ legal rights and to ensure their ability to flourish at Princeton.”

Protestors’ specific demands that the University become a “sanctuary campus,” with the University Chapel a sanctuary church, were not addressed in faculty or administration statements.

Last Thursday’s demonstration led by the Princeton DREAM Team, a student-run and community based immigrant rights advocacy group, in collaboration with other student groups on campuses across the country, began at Nassau Hall, as a crowd of more than 350, chanting and carrying signs, marched past the Art Museum, through Frist Campus Center, and back to the steps of the University Chapel.

Their petition, signed by more than 1200 in the first 24 hours of its circulation online, reminds the University of its motto in the face of threatened deportations of millions of undocumented immigrants.

“Princeton University prides itself for being ‘in the nation’s service and in the service of all humanity,’” the petition reads. “In light of the United States’ recent presidential election, it is more pressing than ever for the University to uphold this motto, especially for those whose freedoms, happiness, and lives are being threatened by the president-elect and his plans for the future. We cannot be bystanders in the face of discrimination and hate when we pride ourselves as being ‘in the nation’s service and in the service of all humanity.’ We call for action.”

In addition to demands for sanctuary status for the campus and the chapel, the petition calls for the University to ”stop misclassifying undocumented students as international students; remove/waive the international tax for documented students; hire someone to serve undocumented students; start a Dean’s fund that does not require loans to cover the costs for undocumented students to apply for DACA/DAPA; and expedite particular changes to the admissions office website in consideration for undocumented applicants.