Thank you to organizations from NJ, PA and NY for participating in the Peter Singer Demonstration at Princeton University!!
More than 70 people with disabilities, parents, family members and service providers gathered together to protest Singer's most recent statements on the Aaron Klein Investigative Radio show. Singer believes in the euthanizing of disabled babies.
Prior to the demonstration, a coalition of 30 groups sent a letter to all of the Princeton Trustees with a list of our demands: Princeton should call for Singer’s resignation, Princeton should publicly denounce Singer’s comments, Princeton should hire a bioethicist from the disability community in a comparable position to provide a platform for views that contrast to his.
We entered the grounds of the University and a small group were invited to meet with Deborah Prentice, the Dean of the Faculty. The Dean of the Faculty has administrative oversight of the departments and programs of instruction.
Alan Holdsworth, Carole Tonks and Cassie Holdworth met with the Dean and expressed our outrage at Singer's statements and how they violate Princeton’s policy on “Respect for Others” by directing hate speech at a particular group. We discussed the demands. When asking the Dean what Princeton would do, we were told “I am only here to listen”. Clearly there was no intention to do anything. We asked what the process would be and if we could have a meeting with the Board of Trustees and were told no. We asked her to address the group of people outside her office chanting “Singer must go!” and explain to them that Princeton University would not do anything. We were once again turned down. It was offensive and disrespectful. The meeting was over, there was no point in us wasting any more time with her.
Once outside the crowd booed and continued to chant. The larger group went out to the street and formed a wall of wheelchairs stretching across Nassau Street and shutting it down! It was a sight to see!
At the same time a smaller group was meeting with Princeton administrators demanding a meeting with the President of the University. We were told to submit a formal request. We told them we wanted an answer by Monday, June 15th.
Despite the meeting, we claim success today in the fact that over 70 people came out in nearly 90 degree weather to demonstrate, we got a meeting with the Dean of the Faculty, shut down one of the busiest streets in Princeton, were interviewed by the media and invited to be interviewed on multiple radio shows.
We have a long fight ahead and we need more people joining us. The coalition has a weekly conference call and we invite you to join us! This fight is far from over…lead on!
For more information, contact Alan at AdaptDan@yahoo.com, Carole at ctonks@adacil.org or Luke at lkoppisch@adacil.org.
