Thursday, September 23, 1999

Protests Disrupt First Day of Classes for Controversial Princeton Professor By SCOTT CARLSON A controversial professor's career at Princeton University got off to an appropriately contentious start Tuesday, as 14 protesters were arrested on his first day of teaching. Anti-abortion groups and advocates for disabled people have criticized Princeton's hiring of Peter Singer, who has written that severely disabled newborns should be euthanized to end their suffering. Brandishing signs that said, "No one should have to prove their personhood" and "Singer=Hitler," about 250 protesters rallied at Princeton's main administration building. Some members of Not Dead Yet!, which supports the rights of the disabled, handcuffed their wheelchairs together to block two doors of Nassau Hall, keeping administrators out of their offices until early afternoon. Campus police officers removed the handcuffs and arrested 14 protesters, who were charged with trespassing and disorderly conduct. Other demonstrators included members of the New Jersey Right to Life; Villanova University's anti-abortion group; and Princeton Students Against Infanticide, which is associated with the nearby Princeton Theological Seminary. Cal Montgomery, a spokeswoman for Not Dead Yet!, said the group wanted Princeton to rescind Mr. Singer's appointment or to revise its diversity and hate-speech guidelines, which outline the university's commitment to protecting the disabled. "Mr. Singer's scholarship violates Princeton's own hate-speech policy," she said. Justin Harmon, a Princeton spokesman, said the groups either don't understand Mr. Singer's scholarship or have twisted it. "He would never argue that you can take the life of someone who wants it," Mr. Harmon said. "That's one of the unfortunate things about this. They think his work is about euthanizing adult people who want to live or indiscriminately killing babies with disabilities, and nothing could be further from the truth." Meanwhile, Steve Forbes, a Republican Presidential candidate who is on Princeton's Board of Trustees, announced that he would not give money to the university until it rescinded Mr. Singer's appointment. In late August, Princeton Students Against Infanticide wrote a letter asking Mr. Forbes to resign from the board and to discontinue his contributions. Last week, Mr. Forbes wrote back, saying he had decided not to resign from the board. The letter made no definitive statement about his contributions. Mr. Forbes was unequivocal in an open letter, released Tuesday, in which he compared Mr. Singer to racists and anti-Semites. "I pledge to you today that so long as Peter Singer remains a tenured professor there, I will not financially contribute to Princeton University," he wrote. Members of the Forbes campaign attended Tuesday's rally and distributed the letter on campaign stationery. Background stories from The Chronicle: Group Accuses GOP's Forbes of Hypocrisy on Princeton's Hiring of Bioethicist (9/16/99) Protesters Condemn Princeton's Hiring of Controversial Scholar (4/30/99) Easy-to-print version E-mail this article

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