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The 13 individuals arrested at the occupation of Clio Hall, home of the grad school at the Ivy League college, on Monday, April 29, have released statements.
In one, the students said they'd organized a "peaceful sit-in" in Clio Hall, accompanied by Professor Ruha Benjamin, acting as a legal and faculty observer.
"Police arrested 13 people on-site and held them in handcuffs for over an hour inside," the statement says."Two of the students were held inside a Tiger Transit bus until the community successfully rallied for their release. They were released with standing disciplinary and criminal charges."
The students were issued summonses for defiant trespassing and banned from campus for 90 days, the statement says. They're also facing academic suspension or expulsion.
In a letter issued late Tuesday, April 30, Vice President for Campus Life Rochelle Calhoun said the way staff members were treated by students participating in the sit-in was "abusive"
"This incident represented an escalation by protestors into unlawful behavior that created a dangerous situation for protestors, University staff, and law enforcement," Calhoun said. "As protestors entered Clio Hall, our staff found themselves surrounded, yelled at, threatened, and ultimately ordered out of the building."
Protestors, however, said they sang and prayed, "zip-tied and handcuffed."
Those arrested include five undergraduates, six graduate students, one postdoctoral researcher and one person not affiliated with the university, Princeton President Christopher L. Eisgruber said.
"While the disciplinary process will proceed promptly and in accordance with University policy, we do not expect that it can be completed before Commencement. Given the egregious nature of their conduct, they are also likely to face serious criminal charges."
More arrests are pending, Calhoun added.
The Princeton Gaza Solidarity Encampment has called on the university to divest its investments from firms profiting from the Israel-Hamas war. It marked the fifth day of protests on campus. Two graduate students were arrested on Thursday, April 25. On Monday, April 29, at least a dozen tents were set up in an encampment at Voorhees Mall.
The arrests came as pro-Palestinian student encampments are being set up on university campuses nationwide.
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