*15 APRIL 2013*
“suspicious person”
(i was performing music in frist campus center to a group of students)
(i was asked to leave the campus by 2 ‘officers’)
(who i presumed to be ‘princeton (borough) police officers’)
(not ‘princeton campus security guards’)
.
.
*OCTOBER 2013*
(my first ‘PNG’)
(after i sent a ‘text message’ to ‘dina debedenetti’ (via ‘facebook’))
(i’m not sure wether we were ‘facebook friends’ at the time)
(or ever were to begin with)
.
*NOVEMBER 2014*
(my 2nd ‘PNG’)
(for playing music in the ‘frist campus center’ cafeteria)
(‘thanksgiving eve’)
(which meant most of the students had already headed home for ‘thanksgiving weekend’)
and you are ALLOWED to play music in the campus center)
(back in ‘spring 2013’ during our initial encounter with ‘campus security’, the officers never told me i wasn’t allowed to play guitar)
.
*APRIL 2015*
(JoGa was issued a 90-day ban from princeton campus after a noise complaint was allegedly made to the campus security)
(his third such ban for similar ‘offenses’)
(JoGa was performing outside frist on a saturday night @ 2AM to a group of students)
.
*8 DECEMBER 2015*
(permanently banned for being a “suspicious person”)
(we were given ’72 hours’ to appeal the ruling via ’email’)
From: JoGa [mailto:jogajungle@gmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, December 10, 2015 11:20 AM
To: Paul L. Ominsky <pominsky@exchange.Princeton.EDU>
Subject: PNG appeal
I am appealing the PNG notice I was issued on 8 december 2015 @ 4:09AM by Officer W. Gutierrez.
I am a Lawrence resident who works as a tutor + musician in the Princeton area.
I normally take the 605 bus back to the quaker bridge mall and I missed the last 10:17pm bus from Palmer Square.
I walked to Frist Campus Center and introduced myself to members of the Princeton rugby team who had a tent set up in front of the center in order to raise money for a trip to Dublin.
There was a team member riding an exercise bike every hour.
I offered to perform cover songs on acoustic guitar in order to attract people to the tent and help raise money for them and spent several successful hours in this endeavor.
Since there would be someone stationed there into the morning, I decided I’d stick around until the nassau streets starbucks opened at 5AM and then catch the earliest bus back to Lawrence.
At 4AM, 3 campus security officers approached me and said they had received a report of a “suspicious person” on campus that matched my description.
I gave them my driver’s license and they found that I had received a prior PNG and so they had to follow protocol and issue me another PNG.
As a professional musician not affiliated with the University, I have nonetheless gained many new fans of my music through performances at eating clubs.
(when i moved to ‘princeton’ in ‘september 2012’, i began performing songs on an acoustic guitar and found that lots of students enjoyed the music…)
.
.
(i had no run-ins with campus security until ‘spring 2013’)
I was playing guitar inside frist campus center on a mondayevening to a group of undergraduates who were requesting songs.
I believed that due to the presence of pianos inside the building that music-making would be permitted (as long as it wasn’t amplified).
I was approached by two campus security officers who said they had received a report of a “suspicious person” on campus that matched my description.
I gave them my driver’s license and they said that was all they needed from me and i was allowed to stay on campus.
When i sat back down, the first officer changed his mind and suggested i leave (without issuing a PNG))
So i complied.
In October 2014, I was in frist on a Saturday evening planning on playing music.
I ran into an undergraduate student named “Dina Debenedetti” and said hello.
I had met her and her friends the previous spring and she seemed to enjoy the music.
So I wrote her a FB message telling her that I was hurt by the subsequent brush-off.
The message was not harassing nor threatening and I did not contact her after that.
Instead of responding to me, she reported me to campus security.
The driver’s license that i had given campus security had my parents’ address on it so they were mailed a letter saying that I had been issued a PNG.
When they informed me of this, I called up the (609)258-1000 # to figure how why this was issued.
They had no other information except for an “alarming” message on a social networking site.
So I sent an email to this address (pominsky@princeton.edu) and got a return email saying that this was a non-working email address.
With no other method of appeal, I abided by the 90-day ban.
In November 2014, I was in frist with a friend who played bongo drums.
I had seen a band performing with a drumset the night before in the cafeteria and so we decided to play a quieter acoustic guitar / bongo set in the cafeteria.
It was sparsely populated as it was the Tuesday before thanksgiving but several students listened and gave complimentary feedback.
As we were packing up around 8PM, campus security officers approached us and said there was a noise complaint.
When I gave the officer my ID, he looked me up and saw I had a prior PNG so he told me he had no other choice but to issue me (and my drummer friend) another PNG.
I complied with this PNG.
On 26 april 2015, I was playing outside frist campus center on a saturday night to a sizeable crowd.
At 2:18pm, captain brian melnick and his young male assistant officer informed me there was a “noise complaint” (though the crowd of students was far louder than my solo acoustic guitar + voice) and I gave him my ID.
Just like in November, he saw there was a prior PNG issued and informed me he had to issue me another PNG.
He told me “you’ve been issued half a dozen PNGs” which was obviously not the case as he had access to the fact that there had been exactly 2 PNGs issued.
Sensing that I was being unfairly treated after this statement,
I offered to leave campus without incident but he said that he had a right to detain me or he would call the cops on me and accuse me of “disorderly conduct”
(when all i had been doing was sitting in one spot and playing guitar without a case open to collect money but rather to promote my online music).
I complied with this PNG.
I apologize for the lengthy email but I wanted to have a chance to clear my name and continue to play music for Princeton students.
I have been offered a date to perform at the Terrace club this winter and I would like to know how to avoid getting these PNGs (other than the obvious suggestion not to play at frist).
I’m not soliciting students for monetary donations nor engaging with any student who doesn’t approach me playing first.
But it seems that the pattern has been established where I start playing, attract a crowd, and then the campus security officer will either tell me of an unspecified “noise complaint” or an unspecified “suspicious person” complaint.
Last Monday night, the campus security officer “Shane” who approached me was very friendly and professional.
Not wanting to be defiant but wondering what my rights were in this situation, he explained that if i remained on campus after the PNG was issued then I would be charged with “defiant trespassing”.
I contacted the Princeton Police Department asking what the protocol was for these complaints.
I assumed that if I remained on campus that the Police Department would be summoned and I would be immediately arrested.
They informed me that this wasn’t the case and that campus security would issue the criminal complaint themselves and I would appear before a judge.
In order to avoid this, I’d like to appeal to you and perhaps schedule a meeting where we can establish some rules for me coming on campus.
In all but 1 of the 4 PNGs issued over the past 2 years, I did not know who was making a complaint against me.
In the case of the FB message to dina over 2 years ago, I have since apologized and cleared the air with her.
I have many student friends on campus who I believe would vouch for my character.
Thank you,
Joseph J. Gatti
JoGa
*we won the war*
.
(i received a reply from “stefanie r. karp” a week later:)
(i assume she is a lesbian)
(like every other female ‘campus security guard’)
.
.
Mr. Gatti,
I wanted to update you on your PNG status.
Per the attached letter sent certified mail to both your Princeton and Watchung, NJ addresses, you are henceforth considered permanently PNGed from the Princeton University campus.
The Department of Public Safety has received upwards of eight complaints regarding you since 2012 from our community.
Your interaction, in person as well as through social media, has made Princeton University community members feel unsafe.
I have reviewed your appeal (below) to the PNG and I am denying it.
Regards,
Stef
.
*23 MAY 2016*
‘monday afternoon’
(court date @ ‘princeton municipal court’)
(i have been permanently banned from princeton university for 166 days)
(the ‘long-term PNG’ status denotes a period of 180+ days)
(or an “indefinite” ban)
*can only be administered by…*
‘executive vice president’
‘dean of faculty’
”vice president’ for ‘campus life”
*’dean’ of ‘graduate school’*
*’vice president’ of ‘human resources’*
*’vice provost’ for ‘institutional equity’ + ‘diversity‘*
(or their designees)
.
(NOT stefanie R. karp)
(who is the director of public safety)
“i’m goin to asssume she’s a lesbian + pretend you didn’t hear that…”
.
(furthermore…i was not given an opportunity to appeal…)
“the recipient of the Long-Term Notice may request a reconsideration of the decision by submitting a written request to the University official who issued the PNG notice.
The University official may reconsider the case in consultation with the executive director of the Department of Public Safety and other University officials, as appropriate”
.
*’RIGHTS’ / ‘RULES’ / ‘REGULATIONS‘*
“PRINCETON UNIVERSITY”
*2019*
.
*ARTICLE 3.3.3*
(‘princeton university’ reserves the right to ban someone from campus if said person…)
“improperly accesses a restricted area”
*violates a ‘university policy’*
“constitutes a ‘threat’ to the (‘safety’ / ‘property’) of ‘university members'”
*constitutes a ‘disruption’ to the ‘regular’ (and/or ‘essential’) operations of university ‘activities’ / ‘facilities’*
.
(incidents involving persons not subject to ‘university discipline’ cannot always be handled by the ‘university department of public safety’ and may require the calling of ‘outside authorities’ (under the conditions of the paragraph under ‘on-campus misconduct + the law’))
(when persons who are not ‘members’ of the ‘university’ engage in serious misconduct on the campus, the ‘university’ has no recourse but to ‘press charges’ against them in the ‘courts’)
(members of the ‘university’ involved in such cases, when their conduct is in violation of the law, cannot be guaranteed immunity either from arrest or prosecution.)
.
.
6 JUNE 2016:
(monday afternoon)
(princeton prosecutor drops the “defiant trespassing” charge)
(via my public defender michael barrett)
(but i had to promise the judge that i would never again’ set foot’ on the ‘princeton campus’)
.
.
*23 JULY 2016*
(saturday morning)
(getting more complacent about crossing through campus)
(from wawa and back)
(because i’m carrying a guitar + 2 backpacks)
(in the summer heat)
(so i was caught with jon)
(by a little hispanic dyke)
(and i ran away)
(she tracked me down the next monday at starbucks)
(said i had a court date for the following monday)
.
*1 AUGUST 2016*
(but where will they send the summons?)
(to my parents’ house?)
(missed two court dates)
(now there’s definitely a warrant for my arrest in princeton)
(avoid princeton!)
.
.
.
.
💕💝💖💓🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤❤️💚💛🧡❣️💞💔💘❣️🧡💛💚❤️🖤💜🖤💙🖤💙🖤💗💖💝💘
.
.
*🌈✨ *TABLE OF CONTENTS* ✨🌷*
.
.
🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥*we won the war* 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥