Princeton Board Fires Tenured Professor In Misconduct Investigation

PRINCETON, NJ — Princeton University has fired tenured professor Joshua Katz “effective immediately” for misrepresenting facts and failing to cooperate in a sexual misconduct investigation.

The University Board of Trustees on Monday sided with President Christopher Eisgruber who last week recommended that Katz be fired after an internal investigation revealed he violated University rules. Read More: Princeton Recommends Firing Tenured Professor Over Misconduct: Reports

Katz was investigated in 2018 for engaging in a consensual sexual relationship with an undergraduate and was suspended without pay for a year.

The matter was reviewed again in 2021 after the University said it received a detailed written complaint from an alumna. The woman was an undergraduate under Katz’s academic supervision at the time of their relationship. An investigation began in the Spring of 2021.

“The 2021 investigation established multiple instances in which Dr. Katz misrepresented facts or failed to be straightforward during the 2018 proceeding, including a successful effort to discourage the alumna from participating and cooperating after she expressed the intent to do so. It also found that Dr. Katz exposed the alumna to harm while she was an undergraduate by discouraging her from seeking mental health care although he knew her to be in distress, all in an effort to conceal a relationship he knew was prohibited by University rules,” Princeton University told Patch in a statement.

“These actions were not only egregious violations of University policy, but also entirely inconsistent with his obligations as a member of the Faculty.”

Katz had acknowledged his relationship with the student after a detailed report published by the campus newspaper Daily Princetonian.

According to the University, the student provided new information when she came froward in 2021.

The new investigation did not revisit policy violations from 2018 for which Katz was punished. Instead, Princeton only considered the new information it was presented, the University said.

Katz sparked controversy in 2020 when he criticized the university's proposal to address its racist history, following the death of George Floyd. In his Quillette article, the professor said the proposals would "lead to civil war on campus." He also denounced a student group, The Black Justice League, and called them "a small local terrorist organization.”

In an op-ed for Wall Street Journal Katz said the woman refused to participate in the 2018 investigation “of her own volition.” He also claimed that he “provided the context, in full detail,” on the student’s allegation to the University, “but the administrators didn’t care.”

Princeton said the Board voted to dismiss Katz on recommendation from Eisgruber and the Dean of Faculty, and after further review from an ad hoc committee.

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