Princeton University President Issues Statement on Diversity and Racial Justice

Eisgruber
Eisgruber

Princeton University President Christopher L. Eisgruber today called on school leaders to develop recommendations for improving the school’s policies and practices regarding diversity, inclusion and equity. He also wants the school to host events in the upcoming months that foster public dialogue about racial equality and diversity.

“Recent events provide yet another painful reminder that, despite America’s foundational commitment to human equality and unalienable rights, racial injustice has stained our republic from the moment of its inception,” Eisgruber said during a meeting of the Council of the Princeton University Community.

“The tragic deaths of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and Eric Garner in Staten Island, New York, have again exposed the distressing gap that separates our aspirations from our achievements,” Eisgruber said. “Our Constitution’s promise of equal protection of the laws remains unfulfilled, and the American people’s dream of justice remains unrealized. Protests across the country and on our own campus testify eloquently to the anguish caused by the unfairness that persists within American society.”

Eisgruber said as a university committed to the nation’s service and the service of all nations, Princeton has a responsibility to bring its scholarship and teaching to bear on these urgent problems.

“We encourage our students and faculty to contribute to the national dialogue on these issues, and to help identify ways in which our republic can more fully live up to the principles on which it was founded. We must also push ourselves to uphold more faithfully on our own campus the ideals that define our academic community,” he said. “The Council of the Princeton University Community was created more than four decades ago, during the turmoil of the Vietnam War, with occasions of this kind very much in mind. The Council serves as `a permanent conference of the representatives of all major groups of the University’ where `they could each raise problems that concern them and … be exposed to each other’s views’.”

Eisgruber charged the Executive Committee of the Council to develop the recommendations for improving the school’s policies and practices. He also asked the Executive Committee to propose events in the upcoming months to enhance public dialogue about racial equality, diversity “and other topics critical to the future of our University and our country.”

He said he will ask the Executive Committee to consider during the upcoming week whether and how it wishes to augment its membership to enhance its capacity to deal with these issues, and how to ensure that its processes will be appropriately transparent and consultative.

Eisgruber then accepted questions from students.

Last week more than 500 Princeton University students and staff took part in a rally to protest the New York grand jury’s decision not to indict a police officer for the death of Eric Garner.

Princeton Theological Seminary President Craig Barnes voiced support on Friday for students who planned a protest against racial discrimination and police brutality. More than 350 students, faculty, staff and community members participated in the protest this afternoon.

“The recent events in Ferguson, Missouri, and elsewhere have brought great pain, sorrow, and frustration to our community, and many of our students are seeking a constructive way to make their voices heard,” Barnes said. “I want to show my solidarity with them as they advocate for the changes in our society that are necessary to prevent these tragedies on our streets.”

9 Comments

  1. I read Eisgruber’s statement three times and still have no idea what he is trying to say. Augment. Dialogue. Stains. Pure gibberish.

  2. There are many tragic deaths in America each day. Was Michael Brown’s death “tragic”? I don’t wish death on anybody but, the grand jury heard the evidence. Brown was a criminal who was shot after attacking a police officer. Let’s cry for the actually tragic deaths that occur and address the root problems that cause these incidents. I’m disappointed by this response by President Eisgruber, who seems to be pandering to the public, but uninformed, wave.

  3. It is so very sad that “justice” is no longer defined as the rule of law, it is now the rule of the (lynch) mob.

    1. What an offensive comment. Do you know what a lynch mob did? Do you know that lynch mobs killed black people, on this very ground we live on today, for crimes such as talking to white people or walking on the wrong sidewalk? How can you compare that in any way to protests against bad police work and corrupt prosecutors’ offices? Comparing vocal condemnation to actual killing is so offensive that I can only conclude you mean to deliberately wound black people with your words.

      1. Lynch mobs existed long before America Sarah, but if you want to be offended you will be, regardless of what words are used.

        When your vocal condemnations advocate violence, they are no longer peaceful protests, and yes, demanding the death sentence for a man found unindictable is advocating violence.

        But as you have indicated, you have no interest in facts.

  4. Do functionaries like Eisgruber attend special academies to learn how to spew meaningless nonsense?

  5. Wow. What a sad list of comments here.

    Both Michael Brown and Eric Garner had committed a crime, but neither had had their day in court yet. There was no reason for either of them to die and the police shouldn’t have killed them.

    Did any of the officers intentionally want to kill Brown or Garner? I don’t think so. But police are trained and encouraged to use excessive force and tactics that escalate the tension in a situation. These tactics tend to be disproportionately used against people viewed as different, such as people of color, and why such tragic incidents keep happening. There are other possibilities.

    For example, Officer Wilson has many choices that would have resulted in a less tragic outcome: He could have 1) waited until backup showed up (it was on its way already); or 2) could have followed Brown in his car instead of leaving his vehicle and following him on foot. The same in the case of Garner. There was no need to use a choke hold.

    Do the commenters not see that the same point of view is what leads a white policeman to kill a 12-year old black boy in Cleveland (within 2 seconds of arriving on the scene) because they “think” he had a gun?

Comments are closed.