Converge on Princeton: Reunions, May 21-24
I’ve been making the case to pro-Palestine activists wherever I go: the experience of being shut down at LeMoyne, NYU, U of Texas at Dallas, and Rutgers (with the prospect of retaliation at Michigan) and elsewhere is certainly a dispiriting one, but the answer is not to keep demanding entry where entry has effectively been denied, but to find opportunities for visibility when and where they present themselves. Continue reading
Guns and Poses
For weeks now, the papers in Princeton have been full of news items about anti-Semitic graffiti discovered around town. In virtually every case, the reports have been vague to the point of deliberate concealment about what the messages have actually said. Here’s a typical example, from the April 29 issue of Town Topics:
On April 21 at 1:05 pm, officers responded to headquarters for a report of a threatening letter received at a religious organization on Cherry Hill Road. The letter, which was intended for a separate Jewish group that uses the location for gatherings, contained anti-semitic threats of violence. Investigation revealed similar letters had recently been sent to multiple Jewish organizations throughout Mercer County and Bucks County, Pa. The incident remains under investigation (p. 13).
The Unintended, the Foreseen, and the Defamatory
“We absolutely cannot and should not ever be cheerleading and wishing for the deaths of Israeli children…”
–Sue Altman
Sue Altman and Adam Hamawy are both Democratic candidates for Congress in New Jersey’s 12th Congressional District. A controversy has recently erupted over Altman’s response to comments Hamawy made in an interview with Hasan Piker. The basics of the controversy are nicely captured in this short piece in Jewish Insider. I’ll quote the first few paragraphs, but urge readers to read the whole thing. Continue reading
Sue Altman Is No Progressive
Sue Altman’s Rejection of Reparations, Attack on Adam Hamawy, and Pro-War Politics Show She Is Out of Step With Progressive Values
by Dr Sadaf Jaffer and Minister Elorm Ocansey
On the eve of his death, Rev. Dr Martin Luther King Jr. stood in Memphis as a witness. The speech we remember as “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” was a warning. Dr. King spoke of wages withheld, of labor exploited, of systems that consumed Black bodies and called it order. He spoke of a people who had been given a check marked “insufficient funds,” and he dared to say what too many still refuse to say: justice requires repayment. The Promised Land Dr. King saw was not symbolic. It was material. It was economic. It was reparative. New Jersey, for all its progressive language, is not innocent in this story. The New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, through the work of the New Jersey Reparations Council, has laid before us a document that reads less like a report and more like a reckoning. Page after page, it testifies: That slavery here was not distant, but deliberate. That segregation was not accidental, but engineered. That the racial wealth gap is not unfortunate, but designed. Continue reading
Mapp to Nowhere
I get home, look at my mail, and find a solicitation to vote for Adrian O. Mapp, Democratic candidate for Congress in the 12th Congressional District. Mapp is “proudly endorsed” by Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, a person I respect. What does Mapp stand for? He tells us:
- Housing: he’ll expand affordable housing and protect working families from rising housing costs.
- Healthcare: he’ll protect access to affordable, quality healthcare for families, seniors, and those most in need.
- Education: he’ll open doors to opportunity through education, job training, and relief from crushing debt.
- Immigration: he’ll support fair, humane, immigration reform rooted in dignity, security, and common sense.
- Taxes: he’ll fight for tax fairness and relief for New Jersey homeowners and middle-class families.
Delivering the Goods
A friend handed me a hard copy of The New York Times he found on the train this afternoon, something I hadn’t seen or read in awhile. The reporting in the Times is unbelievable crap, but every now and then they’ll throw in an off-beat human interest story worth reading. Like: “The Cult Music Documentary ‘Heavy Metal Parking Lot’ Turns Middle Age.” It’s about a cult film depiction of Judas Priest’s 1986 tour with Dokken, memorable to me because my friends went but I couldn’t, something I resent to this day. Continue reading
Graffiti, Hate Speech, and Free Speech
Statement to Princeton Town Council
400 Witherspoon St
Princeton, New Jersey
April 27, 2026
I’ve twice previously mentioned the Princeton Police Department’s decision to investigate anti-Israel graffiti as bias intimidation, mostly while discussing other things. In this comment, I want to focus specifically on the bias intimidation issue.
As you know, the issue arises from graffiti discovered in various places around town last August. The Princeton Jewish Center brought the issue to the attention of the Council, and the Police Department decided to investigate the graffiti as bias intimidation. Given the Council’s positive response to the Jewish Center’s input on the matter, I think it’s fair to conclude that the Council accepts the Police Department’s approach. Continue reading
A Question for the CPUC
Here’s a question I’ve submitted to be asked at the next meeting of the Council for the Princeton University Community (CPUC), to take place Monday, May 4, 4:30-6 pm, in the Multipurpose Room of the Frist Campus Center.
My name is Irfan Khawaja, I’m an alum of the Class of 1991. The University has recently called on alumni like me to “stand up” for the University, but it’s also insisted that it has no intention of disclosing “details about the holdings of its endowment,” to quote Vice President Hilary Parker from the last time I was here (November 11, 2024). The endowment reflects the acted-upon values of the university. So my question is: on what basis does the University expect alumni to stand up for a university that refuses to disclose what it stands for?
Postscript, May 6, 2026: Unfortunately, I was delayed at work on the 4th, and unable to attend the CPUC meeting to ask this question. With that experience in mind, I’ve resolved to get a full day’s PTO for each CPUC meeting next academic year. I’ll post the questions on the blog in due course.
Deviant Causal Chain
I was just at a protest of the Iran War where a passerby accused us, heatedly, of “killing Ukrainians.” Of all the accusations directed my way in years of protests, I don’t think I’ve ever heard an accusation quite that baffling. By not fighting a war in Iran, we are somehow killing Ukrainians. No matter how I try to conceptualize this, I can’t.
There’s a cottage industry in philosophy on “deviant causal chains,” cases where an agent’s intention causes an action, but in an unexpected or “wayward” manner, leading to the intended result without genuine agency or control. Add this one to the list, I guess, but don’t ask me what happens next. Or what happened in the first place.
Members Only
MBS, LinkedIn, and the Business Ethics of Dismemberment
You can be kicked off of LinkedIn for all kinds of reasons: using a fake name or credentials; impersonating someone else; creating multiple personal accounts; sending mass connection requests to strangers; sending the same message to many people at once; promoting products or services in unsolicited DMs; bullying, threatening, or harassing another user; posting sexually explicit content; posting hate speech; and so on. Continue reading
Policy of Truth 