Students angry over assault

Penn students have expressed disappointment and outrage over the recent assault of a Princeton University Debate Team student by a Penn student in the Quadrangle this past weekend.

"I am incredibly upset and embarrassed for Penn," Engineering junior Lauren Moskovitz said. "There is no explanation for their behavior."

The Princeton student, John Brantl, was staying on campus for the Parliamentary Debate Team's Annual Debate Tournament, for which Moskovitz served as a tournament director.

Brantl, along with approximately 10 other Princeton students, was sleeping in a lounge in the Quad when a group of five Penn students, unaffiliated with the debate team, reportedly entered the room and began harassing them. One of the Penn students then allegedly poured motor oil on Brantl and threatened to light him on fire with his cigarette.

"This person was here to debate, not to get beaten up," College sophomore and debate team member Eli Lipschultz said. "There is always rivalry between schools, but nothing like this. We were there to have a good time, and it really put a damper on our whole tournament."

Moskovitz said she expects the University to expel all the Penn students involved in the attack.

"If the students are not expelled I would be surprised," she said. "I would be disappointed if the University did anything [short of expulsion]. That is the best way the school can say 'we don't condone this type of action.'"

Even students not involved with the debate tournament agreed that the University must take strong steps to discipline the students involved.

The incident "was appalling," College sophomore Dawn Sullivan said. "What [the student] did was an extreme thing, and I don't know if anything the University could come up with would be too extreme a punishment."

Although a student was reportedly arrested after the incident, Penn officials later retracted that statement, saying that a student was only questioned in connection with the assault.

According to Moskovitz, the incident will have repercussions for the debate team when planning future events, and when inviting schools back for next year's tournament.

Additionally, the debate team will likely look for other housing options for future tournaments. It is customary for visiting students to stay in college house lounges, both at Penn and at other schools.

"It is a great way to house people who are staying over," Moskovitz explained. "This makes our job a lot harder."

She said this is especially frustrating because the assailant and the other participants were not in any way associated with the debate tournament or the team.

"We ran an amazing tournament," Moskovitz said. "The debate team worked so hard to make this a success, and now kids won't come back because of" the incident.

Moskovitz said that, after speaking with the victim of the attack on Sunday, she believes he will file charges against the assailant.

In addition to the assault, she said the Penn students destroyed as much as $250 in makeup belonging to another Princeton student sleeping in the Goldberg lounge. This too, she believes, will result in charges being filed.

Brantl has not yet indicated to police whether or not he will file charges.

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