Volume LXXVII, Number 14
Local Events, Cleanups Celebrate Environment For Earth Day . . . . . . 5 PU Graduate Students Step Up Push for Unionization . . . . . . . . 7 Coffee Roaster Variance Discussion Carried To May Zoning Board Meeting . . . . . . . . . . 12 Jupiter Ensemble Presents Baroque Concert . . . . 17 Sparked by Big Game From English, PU Men’s Lacrosse Defeats Brown . . . 26 Olender Stars as Hun Girls’ Lax Rolls to Opening Day Win . . . 32
Johannes Brahms Shares A Review with Glenn Gould And James Huneker . . 16 Art . . . . . . . . . 19, 22, 23 Books . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Calendar . . . . . . . . . . 24 Classifieds . . . . . . . . . 36 Green and Natural . . 20-21 Mailbox . . . . . . . . . 13-14 New To Us . . . . . . . . . 25 Obituaries . . . . . . . 34-35 Performing Arts . . . . . 18 Police Blotter . . . . . . . . 7 Real Estate . . . . . . . . 36 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Topics of the Town . . . . 5 Town Talk . . . . . . . . . . 6
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Local Jewish Leaders Respond to Rise of Antisemitism in NJ For the leaders of Jewish organizations, it is no secret that antisemitism is on the rise across New Jersey. According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), there were 408 incidents in the Garden State in 2022 — a 10 percent rise from the previous year, and the highest number ever recorded for New Jersey by the organization. Nationally, reported antisemitic incidents involving harassment, vandalism, and assault hit an all-time high of 3,697 last year, up from 2,717 in 2021 and 2,107 in 2020, according to the ADL. These sobering statistics have leaders of area congregations and support organizations taking action. For Rabbi Andrea Merow of The Jewish Center Princeton, that means building and maintaining close relationships with partners in the community — fellow clergy, the local police, and the schools. “The Princeton Clergy Association is wonderful,” she said. “When there were incidents in New Jersey earlier this year, I got calls from my Christian clergy partners right away, with offers of concern, and, most importantly, questions about what would be most helpful. We maintain a strong and more than cordial, warm relationship with the Princeton Police. We couldn’t ask for better partners. When antisemitic events happen elsewhere in the country and in New Jersey, they quietly provide security in addition to the security that we have.” The Princeton Board of Education is another partner. “Any time there have been antisemitic incidents in the schools, they have been wonderful in both reaching out and partnering with us,” Merow said. Rabbi Jordan Goldson of Har Sinai Temple in Pennington has a similar approach. “My focus has been to try and bolster the relationships with the interfaith community,” he said. “We have a Hopewell Valley Clergy Association, and we meet every month. I’ve raised the issue [of rising antisemitism statistics], and it was something they weren’t all that aware of.” Goldson spoke to his congregation about the issue during high holiday services last fall. “It’s important, though not something I love to talk about at that time of year,” he said. “But people have to be
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Wednesday, April 5, 2023
PHS Moves Forward, But Legal Fight Goes On Following last week’s contentious Board of Education (BOE) meeting, which drew hundreds to the Princeton Middle School on the evening of March 28 and hundreds more on Zoom, with most supporting the reinstatement of Princeton High School (PHS) Principal Frank Chmiel, this week has been relatively quiet in the district. Kathie Foster, voted in by the BOE unanimously as interim PHS principal at the meeting, stepped into her new position last Thursday, and students and teachers are on spring break until April 10, but the conflict continues in the media and through legal channels. Lawyers for Chmiel are appealing the district’s decision for nonrenewal of Chmiel’s contract and his placement on administrative leave and are proceeding through the required steps in that appeal process. In an email Monday, David Schroth wrote that he and Ben Montenegro, lawyers who are representing Chmiel, had requested from the Princeton Public Schools (PPS) superintendent a statement of reasons for Chmiel’s nonrenewal. “We have not received the statement,”
Schroth said. “The deadline for doing so is on or about April 17.” Schroth went on to say that as the next step he anticipates requesting a Donaldson hearing where he, Montenegro, and Chmiel respond to the superintendent’s statement and make the case for Chmiel’s renewal. The Board then would vote to renew or not renew. Schroth went on to reiterate that Chmiel had not engaged in any kind of wrongdoing. “My personal observation is that Princeton as a community and Princeton
High School — students, parents, teachers, everyone — will lose greatly if they lose Frank Chmiel,” he said. In accordance with state law, the BOE continues to refrain from releasing information from Chmiel’s personnel file since Chmiel has not waived his rights to privacy. PPS Superintendent Carol Kelley addressed the gathering at the start of last week’s BOE meeting by asserting her support for freedom of expression and her Continued on Page 10
Concerned Evan Gershkovich Supporters React to Reporter’s Arrest in Russia
In Washington, D.C.; in diplomatic and journalistic circles throughout the world; and also at Princeton High School (PHS), particularly among soccer alumni, outrage and concern are running high over last week’s arrest in Russia of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, a 2010 PHS graduate. On April 3, a Moscow court reported that Gershkovich’s lawyers had filed an appeal against his arrest, but no date for a hearing on the appeal has been set, according to the Associated Press.
Gershkovich’s arrest was, according to published reports, the first arrest of a foreign journalist for spying in Russia since the end of the Cold War more than 30 years ago. Gershkovich was accused, without evidence, by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) of trying to obtain classified information about a Russian arms factory. The Wall Street Journal has strongly denied the FSB allegations and demanded Gershkovich’s immediate release. Continued on Page 8
ALL ABOUT THE BEES: Spring is a busy time for bees and beekeepers, and visitors to Howell Living History Farm in Hopewell Township on Saturday were able to peek inside their hives and find out what they do around the farm and gardens. Participants share what they learned at the event in this week’s Town Talk on page 6. (Photo by Charles R. Plohn)
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