UNDER FIRE

Princeton Prez Wants to Fire Outspoken Prof Over Student Affair

Joshua Katz’s lawyer said he’s really being punished for daring to oppose anti-racism proposals in 2020.

The head of Princeton University wants to fire a classics professor for lack of cooperation in a sexual-misconduct probe—a move his lawyer says is really payback for his opposition to campus anti-racism proposals. The Wall Street Journal obtained a copy of a letter college president Christopher Eisgruber wrote to the board of trustees recommending that Joshua Katz, who has tenure, be axed. Katz was investigated in 2018 for an affair with an undergraduate and suspended for a year without pay. The matter was reviewed again in 2021 following a report in the school newspaper—after Katz crossed swords with school officials following Black Lives Matter protests. His lawyer, Samantha Harris, said that’s no coincidence. “If expressing an unpopular opinion is an invitation to have your personal life turned inside out looking for damaging evidence, how many people are going to be willing to speak out?” she said.