Princeton University Revises Policy That Censored Pro-Israel Journalists

Following a letter from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), Princeton University has revised a policy under which it issued, without due process, no-contact orders (NCO) to pro-Israel student journalists who covered anti-Zionist demonstrations on campus.

FIRE announced the changes on Tuesday, noting that it had addressed the main concerns raised in its letter.

“The new policy allows university administrators to issue no-contact orders as part of the penalty if they find a student responsible for misconduct,” the group said. “It also allows administrators to issue an emergency short-term no-communication order — typically for one day — until proper review or adjudication of the matter, or during the misconduct investigation when there is concern for an individual’s safety.”

At Princeton, an NCO, issued by the school’s Title IX office, is mostly aimed at protecting a sexual assault complainant against their alleged abuser. Issued upon request and before a thorough investigation of the claim that prompted it, the order prohibits the accused from contacting the complainant in any form, including by email or phone, and from being near them on campus —in a cafeteria or library, for example.

“No-contact orders are an important tool to ensure the safety of victims of physical violence, sexual misconduct, true threats, or discriminatory harassment,” ADL and FIRE said in their letter to Princeton University president Christopher L. Eisgruber last Thursday. “But Princeton is allowing students with ideological disagreements to transform no-contact orders into cudgels to silence the ‘lively and fearless freedom of debate and deliberation’ that Princeton promises all students.”

The groups noted that in Nov., Alexandra Orbuch, a writer for The Princeton Tory, a conservative student publication, was assaulted by a male member of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) while filming a protest the group held on campus. The man allegedly followed Orbuch to obstruct her efforts, eventually stepping on her foot and pushing her. When Orbuch complained to a nearby public safety officer, the officer told her that she had “incited something.”

Despite the gendered nature of the assault —an issue Princeton has dedicated an entire office to dealing with — the university granted the male student a no-contact oder against Orbuch, explaining that any reporting she published which alluded to him would be considered a violation of the order and result in disciplinary charges. A similar incident occurred in 2022, when Tory reporter Danielle Shapiro attempted to report on the Princeton Committee on Palestine. After being notified of the order, Shapiro was told refer to a “Sexual Misconduct & Title IX” webpage, according to a guest column she wrote in the Wall Street Journal.

“This is at least the second time in the last two years that a Tory student journalist has been silence by a no-contact order at the behest of community members offended by his or her pro-Israel journalism,” Thursday’s letter continued. “This systematic weaponization of no-contact orders to silence pro-Israel journalism — or any journalism — cannot stand.”

The incidents involving Orbuch and Shapiro are two of numerous examples of universities subjecting conservative and pro-Israel campus community members to reputational smearing and denying them the same rights and protections as progressives and pro-Palestinian advocates. The issue has drawn attention from Congress, whose House of Representatives Committee on Education and the Workforce is investigating whether universities such as Harvard University, University of Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) employed a self-serving interpretation of the US Constitution to avoid punishing students who committed antisemitic discrimination and harassment.

Rep. Virginia Foxx (R), chair of the education and workforce committee, has noted in two letters that colleges have by and large punished conservative professors for being critical of policies supported by progressives, such as affirmative action, but argue for the importance of free speech to the academic community when, for example, pro-Palestinian students chant slogans widely interpreted as calling for a genocide of Jews in Israel — e.g. “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” — or proclaim that Hamas’ atrocities in southern Israel on Oct. 7, which included raping Israeli women, were justified.

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.

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