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December 16, 2007 By Fausta

Death threats at Princeton U and in the Township

UPDATE, Monday December 17
Student admits that he staged a hoax:
Here‘s my article at Pajamas Media.

Nava ’09 admits to fabricating assault, threatening e-mails

Francisco Nava ’09 has admitted to fabricating an alleged assault on him that he said occurred Friday evening and to sending threatening emails to himself, other members of the Anscombe Society and prominent conservative politics professor Robert George, today while being interviewed by Princeton Township Police.

“He fabricated the story,” Det. Sgt. Ernie Silagyi said.

Nava was released to Public Safety and charges “have not been filed pending further investigation,” according to a statement from Township Police.

Former Anscombe president Sherif Girgis ’08 said he is “deeply angry and upset” at the news the incident was fabricated. “I am deeply troubled about what this must mean about Francisco and about his personal life,” he said, adding that he had harbored suspicions about Nava’s story before the Township confirmed the assault was faked.

Girgis, who was one of the four Anscombe officers who received threatening emails Wednesday evening along with George, added that he believed the organization — which promotes socially conservative sexual mores on campus — had handled the situation well. “We did everything right,” he said. “We did not jump to any conclusion about the facts of the case.”

University communications director Lauren Robinson-Brown said the University is looking into the incident and “the investigation is ongoing,” adding that “as the investigation continues, we will continue to provide all necessary support to everyone involved.”

“As standard procedure, discipline isn’t considered until an investigation is concluded,” Robinson-Brown said. Nevertheless, the fabricated threats and assault are likely to result in disciplinary procedures against Nava.

————————————————-

UPDATE:
Monday December 17: Former hoax and injury details complicate picture of assault

Instapundit found it in the Daily Prince:

Four officers of the Anscombe Society and a prominent conservative politics professor received threatening emails Wednesday evening from off-campus email addresses.

The five individuals received identical messages telling them they would “suffer,” ordering them to “shut the fuck up” and declaring that “you are not welcome here.” “We will destroy you,” the message said.

Though the message did not explicitly mention the Anscombe Society, the four students who received emails were Anscombe vice president Jonathan Hwang ’09, president Kevin Staley-Joyce ’09, former president Sherif Girgis ’08 and administrative committee chair Francisco Nava ’09. Politics professor Robert George — who has publicly supported conservative causes, including the Anscombe Society’s goal of promoting chastity — also received the message.

Threats through email and typed letters.

This is not a new experience for Professor George:

George, on the other hand, said he has received plenty of hate mail in his 23 years of teaching and discussing controversial issues. He forwarded this most recent email to Public Safety.

“If it’s a death threat or a threat of violence, I [alert authorities],” he said. “But if someone’s saying, ‘I’ve got influence with President Tilghman and I’m going to see that you’re fired,’ or something, then I don’t report it. That’s just standard hate mail.”

George added that he had received “less than 10, probably more than two” messages that threatened physical harm in his career.

And one student member of Anscombe was attacked in the Township,

Francisco Nava ’09 was physically attacked by two men in Princeton Township Friday evening, sustaining a concussion but no other serious injuries. The assault comes on the heels of several threatening messages recently sent to Nava, apparently in connection with his involvement with the socially conservative Anscombe Society.

Nava said he was walking from a borrowed car to the house of a boy he is mentoring when he was stopped by a man dressed in black and wearing a ski cap. According to Nava, the man said that someone was hurt and asked for his help. A second assailant, who was waiting around the corner, grabbed Nava from behind. Together, the two men checked him against a wall and repeatedly hit his head against the bricks.

The Princeton Packet has absolutely nothing on the incidents.

As I mentioned in this podcast, Princeton is not a conservative-friendly place at all. However, these incidents are way beyond the pale.

Every so often you find a friendly bumper sticker around town, even if the trolls hive on the ‘net.

Update
TigerHawk, Red State and Instapundit have more.
Princeton Tory:

The attack also comes only a day after a columnist for the Daily Princetonian criticized Princeton’s administration for signaling that there was an “Open Season” on conservative students. “By permitting a double standard to exist, the University has — inadvertently, I am sure — signaled to those who would use intimidation tactics to silence the voices of morally conservative students that their misconduct will not be investigated, much less punished or even denounced,” said the article written by Brandon McGinley, also a Tory staffer.

Worth knowing: it’s OK to beat up conservative students at Princeton

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Filed Under: Princeton, Princeton University

Comments

  1. John says

    December 16, 2007 at 12:23 pm

    First, I’m assuming that the police are involved with the alleged assault and battery. This is a crime and those involved should be going to jail. This is no longer a campus issue. If they are not involve – why not!?!

    Second, a concussion is a big deal. If means the individual has lost consciousness secondary to a brain injury. They appear fine after they regain consciousness, but their brain may swell, leading to further brain injury. They are also at increased risk of seizures and cognitive dysfunction in the future. (I’m a physician)

    Someone should be getting to the bottom of this.

  2. Sterling, Massachusetts says

    December 16, 2007 at 12:49 pm

    The story of the assault has “hoax” written all over it… just my BS meter going haywire…

  3. Anonymous says

    December 16, 2007 at 1:00 pm

    Despite attempts by conservatives to label all of academia as adverse to conservative thought, Princeton is actually a rather conservative place and certainly, as a whole, respectful to conservative views.

  4. mrbill says

    December 16, 2007 at 1:13 pm

    Unless it involved a noose…its a hoax. You know the drill.

  5. Anonymous says

    December 16, 2007 at 2:01 pm

    I know Francisco, and believe me, it’s not a hoax. He would never do or say anything to hurt anyone, and someone assaulting him is outrageous.

  6. Fausta says

    December 16, 2007 at 2:05 pm

    I verified with the police departments (Borough and Township) and there are ongoing investigations.

  7. Anonymous says

    December 16, 2007 at 8:23 pm

    “Despite attempts by conservatives to label all of academia as adverse to conservative thought, Princeton is actually a rather conservative place and certainly, as a whole, respectful to conservative views.”

    Uh… no. I’ve lived within 15 miles of Princeton for most of the last 30 years (I’m 38). Grew up in Plainsboro, which borders it to the north. Right now I’m living in Lawrenceville which borders it on the south. Spent a -lot- of time in Princeton. And one thing I can tell you is that conservatives are -not- respected. A jihadist could probably expect more respect.

    Probably the most uptight liberal prigs I’ve ever met. Hell, just smoking a cigarette anywhere within city limits gets you outraged gasps. Not that that’s necessarily a conservative thing, but the uptightness and groupthink is evident everywhere.

    Don’t even ask how many times I’ve had my car vandalized for daring to put bumper stickers supporting Republicans on it, or had signs on my lawn ripped out and torn up.

    If you think conservatives are respected in Princeton, you must define “conservative” as thinking that Peter Singer’s views that abortion at 6 months -after- birth is perfectly okay if the kid has a defect might be going a little too far.

  8. Bryan says

    December 17, 2007 at 1:50 am

    You’re confusing Princeton borough with Princeton campus. The student body (mostly from outside NJ) are not overwhelmingly conservative, but there’s a lot of conservatives among them. It’s definitely one of the least liberal ivies.

  9. Anonymous says

    December 17, 2007 at 2:15 am

    It’s a very narrow slice of the world in which “one of the least liberal iveies” means “conservative” or anything like it. I love Princeton but it’s no more politically conservative than MIT. I hope that, unlike lesser schools, Princeton cracks down hard on this sort of activity.

  10. Anonymous says

    December 17, 2007 at 10:34 am

    Lots of detail information on the crime:
    http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/?p=930

    It just keeps getting more interesting…

  11. Anonymous says

    December 17, 2007 at 10:53 am

    1:15, have you been to Princeton campus? Have you lived there for 4 years in the intellectual climate that exists there? If so, there’s no way you could consider it ‘overwhelmingly liberal’.

  12. PoliticaObscura says

    December 17, 2007 at 2:09 pm

    I’m the one that first mentioned the hoax angle to this and I’m standing by it. Any fair reading of the Princetonian article has to call out as fraud.

    I don’t know what this Anscombe Society is (I don’t think it was around when I was there) but “chastity” issues usually don’t lead to violence. I had Professor George and he is great, I’m sure he has no knowledge at all of the hoax.

    I’m glad the media is not covering this as it’s likely to be an embarrassment to the University.

  13. Anonymous says

    December 17, 2007 at 3:40 pm

    And the hoax is exposed!

    Good call:
    http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/archives/2007/12/14/news/19743.shtml

  14. jblog says

    December 17, 2007 at 5:01 pm

    But see, it doesn’t MATTER if it’s a hoax, because the narrative is true.

    People HAVE been threatened and public dialog has been chilled.

    Not THESE people or THIS public dialog, mind you, but still…

  15. bahblahbah says

    December 17, 2007 at 5:29 pm

    Someone going by the screen name “College Conservative1” signed up to freerepublic and made a thread to discuss the princeton story about 3:30pm-ish on saturday.

    http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1940007/posts

    I think the only other blog which had talked about it by then was that newspaper’s own blog.
    http://blogs.dailyprincetonian.com/2007/12/explain-this-to-me.html

    I didn’t word is strongly, but I knew it was a hoax as soon as I read the stories.
    http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1940007/posts#6
    “””””
    Horrible, though I hope this doesn’t turn into another fake hate crime type incident. Something doesn’t seem right just reading those two articles. I have known about that organization for a while and that Robert George had received a lot of flak for his views in Princeton.
    “””””

  16. Anonymous says

    December 18, 2007 at 5:05 am

    I particularly enjoyed reading the following comment from above which was posted by anonymous before Francisco Nava admitted it was a hoax.”
    At 1:01 PM, Anonymous said…
    I know Francisco, and believe me, it’s not a hoax. He would never do or say anything to hurt anyone, and someone assaulting him is outrageous.”

    anonymous was either lying or spoke before investigating.

    evidence below:

    http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2007Dec17/0,4670,FabricatedAttack,00.html

    MOUNT LAUREL, N.J. — A Princeton University student who argued that his conservative views were not accepted on the campus confessed to fabricating an assault and sending threatening e-mail messages to himself and some friends who shared his views, authorities said Monday.

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