Nassau Hall with white clouds and blue sky behind

President Eisgruber statement: Standing in solidarity with our Asian American community

By the Office of Communications on March 17, 2021, 1:54 p.m.
Photo by
Denise Applewhite, Office of Communications

The following statement by Princeton President Christopher L. Eisgruber was shared on the President's blog on March 17, 2021:

I join the Princeton University community and people everywhere in mourning the victims of last night’s horrific shootings in Atlanta.  Though the killings remain under investigation, these attacks come amidst a disturbing nationwide rise in violence, discrimination, and xenophobia directed against the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community.

As scholars including Princeton’s own Anne Cheng and Beth Lew-Williams have demonstrated in research and public commentary, these trends are only the most recent and visible manifestations of durable, damaging, and too often overlooked racism and injustice.  We must condemn not only recent acts of violence against Asian-Americans, but also the much more pervasive discrimination and stereotyping that has for too long and too often harmed Asian American lives and impoverished our society.

As I said last June after the cruel killing of George Floyd, we all have an obligation to stand up against racism, wherever and whenever we find it. We are reminded again today, and all too often, that racism’s vile poison blights the lives of many different groups and people. As Princeton commits itself to fight for an ever more fully inclusive and equitable society, on our campus and beyond it, we must stand for and with all the groups who contribute to the beautiful and vibrant diversity of our University, our country, and the world.

Princeton’s Asian, Asian American, and Pacific Islander community is a vital source of creativity and strength for this University.  Our future depends on ensuring that they, and people of all backgrounds, can flourish fully here and in America.  In our scholarship, our teaching, and our University’s efforts to fight systemic racism, we will continue to support and work with our AAPI students, faculty, staff, and alumni to build a better world.

University Resources

The University also has a number of resources that offer support to undergraduates, graduate students, faculty and staff, as well as programs, websites and toolkits related to issues of systemic racism, diversity and inclusion. 

President Eisgruber’s Sept. 2020 update on University efforts to combat systemic racism

Inclusive Princeton website

Racial Equity website

Inclusivity Resources for Employees

Human Resources Combating Racism Learning Resources

Employee Resource Groups

Office of Religious Life’s Interfaith Response to Racism

Graduate School Race, Equity and Inclusion Resources

Office of the Vice President for Campus Life Diversity and Inclusion

Fields Center for Equality and Cultural Understanding

Davis International Center

Dean of the Faculty Diversity and Inclusion

Dean of the Faculty Addressing Racism Funding Initiative

McGraw Center Inclusive and Equitable Teaching Resources

Counseling and Psychological Services

Princeton RISE Grants (Recognizing Inequities and Standing for Equality)

Events 

Various University departments and centers are also hosting upcoming events related to issues of race. All of these events will be virtual. 

    • A Brave Space: Discussion, Learning and Support 
      • Employee Resource Group Open Listening Session
      • March 17 at 4 p.m. or March 18 at 10 a.m.
      • Link to Register (please note listening session is open to University employees)
    • The Purpose of Power 
    • Asian American Students Association: A conversation with Georgia State Senator Dr. Michelle Au
    • The COVID-19 Vaccine and the Black Community
    •  Listening Circle for Asian Graduate Student Community
    • Inside Looking In: Chinese Storytellers on Covering the Land of their Birth
    • Race in the COVID Era: Ensuring Educational Equity during the COVID-19 Crisis
    • Cascading Crises: Race, COVID-19, and the Matter of Life and Death
    • Book Talk: This is the Fire: What I Say to My Friends About Racism (featuring CNN's Don Lemon)
    • A Past Becomes a Heritage: The Negro Units of the Federal Theatre Project
    • Black Women and American Democracy

     

     

     

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