By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
The revelation that Princeton High School students had played an anti-Semitic beer pong game cast a “bright spotlight” on underage drinking, religious intolerance and other problems within the community, said the head of the Princeton school board on Tuesday.
“These very upsetting incidents cast a bright spotlight on many problems that we must acknowledge exist, and have long existed, in our town, in our schools, in our homes and among our children,” said school board president Andrea Spalla at the first board meeting since the incident went public.
She said those problems also included cultural insensitivity and the “reckless” use of social media. A photo of the students playing the Jews vs. Nazis game, at a private home over spring break, had been posted on the site Snapchat. A high school student later wrote about the incident on her blog, as the matter became a media sensation.
Superintendent of Schools Stephen C. Cochrane, also at the meeting, said the incident had captured “the conscience of our community.”
“The most significant outcome, however, has not been the coverage abroad, but the difficult yet meaningful conversations here at home, discussions about decision-making, about underage drinking and about the use and misuse of social media, certainly about anti-Semitism and other forms of hurtful discrimination based on religion, race, culture or sexual orientation,” he said.
Ms. Spalla said district and high school administrators have been working to address the “events appropriately.” Mr. Cochrane touched on some of those steps that include working with the Jewish Center of Princeton to have a program at the high school in March for Holocaust Remembrance Day. There will be a program May 18, starting at 7 p.m. in the municipal building on Witherspoon Street, focusing on underage drinking and parent-host liability, he said.
“We are looking at a timely response to this situation but also at a timeless one,” he said. “We want to ensure that the issues raised by this event are ones we talk about more immediately with students but also ones about which we deepen students’ understanding in the years to come.”
Along those lines, the district is looking at ways to “augment” students’ understanding of the Holocaust and other acts of genocide, he said.
“And we are continuing to explore ways that we can work with parents and community partners to help students make healthy and legal choices about drugs and alcohol,” he said.
As for the beer pong game itself, Princeton police probed the matter but are not charging anyone.
“There has not been sufficient evidence to prove that alcohol was illegally served to minors,” said police spokesman Lt. Jon Bucchere in an email Wednesday. “If new information develops it will be investigated accordingly.”
Princeton is among the few towns in Mercer County that does not have laws prohibiting underage drinking on private property. At the municipal board of health meeting last week, board members discussed such an ordinance. They said there is pushback by community members, who do not want their children to have a criminal record and hurt their chances of getting into elite colleges, and concerns from Princeton University that its students would be disproportionately impacted.
The board is studying whether laws on the books in other towns around the country have proven to reduce underage drinking, lead to fewer drunken driving accidents by people under 21 and discourage drinking problems as people get older, said board chairman Dr. George DiFerdinando by phone Wednesday. A report is due in May.
The town was considering having such an ordinance and a task force was formed to study the idea, but there was never a recommendation to council to create such a measure.
“Let’s not kid ourselves. It takes more than one ordinance to combat underage drinking,” Council President Lance Liverman said in January.
