Princeton Recommends Firing Tenured Professor Over Misconduct: Reports

PRINCETON, NJ — Princeton University President Christopher Eisgruber has recommended firing a tenured professor after an internal investigation revealed he violated University rules.

Last week, Eisgruber recommended that the Board of Trustees fire tenured classics professor Joshua Katz in connection with a relationship he had with a student, reported the Wall Street Journal.

Eisgruber’s letter to the Board of Trustees, dated May 10, was based on a November report by the Dean of the Faculty Gene Jarrett, according to the copy of the letter reviewed by the Journal.

Katz was investigated in 2018 for a relationship with an undergraduate and was suspended without pay for a year. The matter was reviewed again in 2021 after an alumna came forward with allegations. An investigation began in the Spring of 2021.

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

In his letter, Eisgruber recommends dismissing Katz after the recent report found he misled the investigators during the 2018 investigation and pressured the woman not to participate.

The Dean of Faculty's report said that Katz “pressured her not to cooperate with the investigation in 2018,” and that he “hindered the investigation by not being totally honest and forthcoming,” according to the New York Times.

Princeton University has not responded to Patch’s request for comment on whether Eisgruber did in fact recommend firing Katz.

The 2021 investigation came soon after Katz criticized the university's proposal to address its racist history, following the death of George Floyd. In his Quillette article, Katz 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."

His allies have accused the University of targeting him for voicing his unpopular opinion, the report said.

In an email to the Daily Princetonian, Katz's lawyer Samantha Harris said, “The successful effort to destroy Professor Katz for daring to say what many think but are too afraid to say will have a profound chilling effect on free expression at Princeton and beyond, as few people are willing to pay the price of having their personal lives turned inside out in search of damaging information.”

In his report, Jarrett denied any relation between the two issues. "I have considered Professor Katz's claim and determined that the current political climate of the university, whether perceived or real, is not germane to the case, nor does it play a role in my recommendation," Jarrett wrote in the document, reported the Times.

Katz did not teach in Spring 2022 and is not scheduled to teach in the fall, the campus newspaper reported.

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