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In a speedy victory for ��ݮ��ƵAPP���� and the Anti-Defamation League, Princeton amended its no-contact order policy on Jan. 26 to conform to parameters we recommended in our joint letter sent the day before. ��ݮ��ƵAPP���� and the ADL wrote Princeton last week to express our shared concern about its continued improper use of no-contact orders and similar “no-communication” orders in ways that lead to censorship of student journalists. 

While no-contact orders are certainly viable tools to keep students safe from discriminatory harassment and other misconduct, Princeton’s prior policy allowed any student to request a no-contact order against any other student without even alleging misconduct by the student against whom the order was sought. This led to multiple student journalists receiving these no-contact-type orders in apparent retaliation for their reporting, without any due process from Princeton. Perhaps most disappointingly, Princeton failed to heed ��ݮ��ƵAPP����’s warning a year ago about weaponization of these policies to silence pro-Israel journalism on campus. 

But Princeton’s updated policy — significantly shortened from a  to a far more  — appropriately  limits the circumstances in which no-contact orders will issue. 

Princeton keeps letting students weaponize no-contact orders against student journalists

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��ݮ��ƵAPP���� and the Anti-Defamation League are calling out a Princeton policy being used to silence the student press

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The  allows university administrators to issue no-contact orders as part of the penalty if they find a student responsible for misconduct. 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. The revised policy thus eliminates the due process concerns ��ݮ��ƵAPP���� and the ADL raised just last week regarding how the prior policy allowed students to weaponize no-contact orders to censor student journalists whose coverage they disliked. 

President Eisgruber recently  that “[f]ree speech and academic freedom are the lifeblood of any great university and any healthy democracy,” re-committing Princeton to provide students and faculty “with the broadest possible latitude to speak, write, listen, challenge, and learn.” The no-contact order policy change is a good first step to fulfilling that promise. 

FIRE will continue to monitor Princeton to ensure it puts the new policy into practice.