Culpability for Tsurkov’s Travel Plans

As one of a tiny handful of Princetonians who fought for Elizabeth Tsurkov’s freedom for more than two years, I’m glad that PAW interviewed her after her release from 900 days of torture and brutality. It’s also positive that PAW addresses President Trump’s role in saving Tsurkov’s life, particularly after two years of failure by both the Princeton and Biden administrations.

Unaddressed in the story is the moral and legal culpability of the Princeton administration and her faculty advisers, who approved this vulnerable woman’s plan to go to Iraq. That country continues to bear a U.S. State Department Level 4 Warning: Do Not Travel. As the article points out, another Princeton graduate student, Xiyue Wang *15, settled a lawsuit against the University for “negligence” and lack of support after he too was imprisoned in another Islamist tyranny, Iran, for 40 months (held by the Iranian government, not a militant group as Tsurkov was).