Members of the Class of 1977 have been discussing whether Susan Patton ’77 should be removed as alumni class president due to some concerns regarding her alleged abuse of the office.
The critical point in these discussions occurred when Patton allegedly censored classmates who criticized her on the class Facebook page, Robert Gilbert ’77 said.
Patton gained fame for writing aletter to the editorof The Daily Princetonian in March 2013 encouraging female students to find a husband on campus before graduation. She later published a book, "Marry Smart: Advice for Finding the One," withsimilar advicein March 2014.
“There has been a movement to seek removal of Susan Patton from office for multiple abuses of office: for commercial exploitation of the Princeton name for personal gain, for censorship, for doubling down on the censorship by closing down the class of ’77 Facebook page, for accusing critics of tax violations and for her forfeiture of the essential role of an alumni class president which is to unify the class and promote good feelings,” Gilbert said.
Patton did not respond to requests for comment.
Patton is one of the five administrators of the class Facebook page and used the page most frequently out of everyone, Gilbert said, adding that questions have been raised about the other administrators and whether they actually acted as administrators.
One of the main questions surrounding the debate is whether Patton or an accomplice censored content on the Facebook page in response to posts made by Gilbert.
On the morning of April 4, Gilbert said he posted an Atlantic article called “The 'Princeton Mom' Controversy and Campus Rape Today” three times on the class Facebook page. He said he quoted one sentence from the article in the posting in which Patton was quoted saying, “I could’ve just as easily called [the 'Princeton Mom' Twitter account] the 'Manhattan Artist' or the 'Bronx Baker.' ”
Gilbert said he had added four words words of his own commentary after the quote: “Precisely. A good solution."
Minutes later the post was taken down, he said, and he subsequently contacted classmates and asked them to watch what was happening. He said he then posted it again, and his classmates watched it go up, and then down. He then posted it for a third time, he said.
On April 5, Gilbert said he wrote a letter to the class council listing multiple of what he considered to be Patton’s abuses of her office over the past two years, culminating in the alleged acts of censorship. Gilbert addressed the letter to the class officers and included Patton as well as several other concerned classmates as well.
Two days later, Patton posted on the page that she and John Nealon ’77, class vice president, had decided to shut the page down.
Nealon declined to comment.
Class of 1977 council members Eve Lesser ’77 and Peter Sismondo ’77 did not respond to request for comment, and Peter Angelica ’77 declined to comment. Recently resigned former class secretary James Barron ’77 also declined to comment.
Since then, Gilbert and other alumni have voiced increasing concerns about Patton’s abuses of office.
According to Gilbert, Patton sent an email on April 9 askingher supporters in the Class of 1977 to email the class council with their support.
"There is a vocal group of very angry classmates who can't seem to separate my professional and personal opinions ... [and] feel that my resignation may be necessary," she wrote in the email, which was obtained by the 'Prince.
Several members of the Class of 1977 declined to comment.
“There is an ever escalating pattern of abuse of office by Susan Patton in an effort to attack or silence fellow alumni who are critical of her misuse of office,” Gilbert said.
Members of the Class of 1977 class council met onApril 15, according to Gilbert,presumably to discuss concerns over Patton’s alleged abuses, although the content of the meeting remains unclear.
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