The following is an opinion contribution and reflects the author’s views alone.
The Princeton Tory and the Princeton Open Campus Coalition (POCC) are co-hosting a guest lecture by Abigail Shrier, author of the much-acclaimed book Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing our Daughters. The event will take place on the evening of Wednesday, December 8th.
Woefully inaccurate characterizations of our attendance policy and other relevant decisions have abounded on social media and in conversations amongst Princeton’s community members. We offer here some clarifications.
I. The location will be disclosed to attendees on the day of the event. In light of the visceral and censorious reaction we correctly anticipated from many community members, the decision to carefully manage information about the event location has proved necessary to ensure the safety of attendees. Mrs. Shrier’s national profile increases the likelihood of harmful targeting, since she has been the victim of serious threats in the past. The fact that several Tory and POCC affiliates have already been personally harassed and feel threatened further validates our careful management of information regarding the event’s location.
II. Some allege that we have sought, in defiance of our own commitment to viewpoint diversity and robust dialogue, to limit the presence of dissent. Far from seeking to insulate Tory and POCC members (and Mrs. Shrier) from reasonable opposition, we adopted a first-come-first-serve policy that allows for anyone—of any ideological commitment, background or affiliation—to RSVP. The event has been publicized widely, and we received RSVPs from people whose views, we presume, encompass a range of perspectives on the issues at hand. Those who accuse The Tory and POCC of insulating ourselves by-in-large come from the same crowd that is outraged we invited Mrs. Shrier in the first place. Ironically, many who cry that Mrs. Shrier never should have been invited are simultaneously infuriated by their (unfortunate) inability to attend our event. Finally, it should be noted that the event itself dramatically diverges from typical University programming on issues of gender and sexuality, and thus inevitably serves to enrich campus discourse.
III. Due to the University’s updated policies to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, we have a strict capacity limit for the event’s audience. “COVID monitors” will be present to ensure proper adherence to mask and social distancing guidelines. Obviously, we were unable to accommodate everyone who RSVP’d to the event, given the vast over-demand for seats.
Reporters and executives at The Daily Princetonian have repeatedly attempted to gain access to the event. Affiliates of “The Prince” have pushed rank-and-file Tory and POCC members—who do not yet know the event’s location—to reveal its whereabouts. In emails to the Publisher of The Tory, Prince reporters have also suggested that the “accuracy and fairness” of their work will be conditioned upon our willingness to accept their demand that we either violate our first-come-first-serve policy or the University’s COVID guidelines by letting them attend. This admission is painfully embarrassing, but comes as no surprise given The Prince’s grisly record on accuracy and fairness when it comes to The Tory and the POCC. Under normal conditions, we would heartily welcome all press to our event, including reporters from The Prince. But given the University’s COVID protocol, our attendance capacity is constrained.
We have also decided against setting up a last-minute live-stream of the event, the privacy of which will permit a freer conversation and dialogue amongst attendees (who are right to be worried about how The Prince and their peers will construe their comments and questions). Affiliates from other media sources—including professional national outlets—will cover the event. The Prince’s absence does no disservice whatsoever to those who would like to access reasonable and fair coverage.
We wish well to those who are attending the counter-event offered by the Princeton Pride Alliance in collaboration with the Gender and Sexuality Resource Center, the University unit which serves members of the “transgender, women, two-spirit, femme, lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, intersex, asexual, pansexual….a/sexual, a/gender, and a/romantic communities.”
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