The wisdom of the OWL

With a co-ed membership that numbers more than 600 students, the Organization of Women Leaders has become one of Princeton's more dynamic and visible student organizations during the past year. OWL was tested last week, as the campus reaction to its endorsement of David Gail '03 for USG president created an enormous stir in the pages of the 'Prince' and at dinner tables across campus. Before we get all worked up, though, we must consider the circumstances under which the officers selected Gail over the other three candidates.

The officers were caught between a rock and a hard place because no matter whom they endorsed they would have taken heat: We know what the consequences of a male endorsement would have been for the group; if Nina Langsam '03 had received the nod, everyone would have whined that OWL only threw its support behind her because she is a woman; and even if the officers had endorsed none of the candidates, critics would have undoubtedly lambasted them as spineless. For good or bad, the leaders of OWL made a choice, and now they have to defend it.

OWL has no responsibility to endorse only women candidates. The group's mission is to "promote and serve women at Princeton," and that objective does not proscribe men from participation. Providing "a network of support for women leaders" goes beyond a superficial, sex-based endorsement. This aim is served by considering broad perspectives — and in the case of the USG endorsement, selection of a qualified candidate who will champion women's issues. After all, the group is the Organization "of" — not "for" — Women Leaders; this simple preposition, I think, reflects what the group has set out to do.

A number of discussions I have heard around campus have centered on how well OWL represented the platform of Langsam. The group contends that it invited the candidates for interviews and judged them accordingly, and there is no reason that we should not believe that this was the process. The officers made an assessment based on who, in an official capacity, they believed would best advocate and communicate women's issues in the USG and to the administration. For these 14 women that person was Gail; each voter, however, should decide for himself.

But let's take a step back and be realistic: The endorsement really means nothing. Both candidates are qualified, and we will end up voting for our friends or for the one that shook our hand in the dining hall anyway. Sometimes I sarcastically think, "Who will write the most clever and the most succinct e-mail to the student body? That's the important issue for students." Of course the USG is more than that and is constantly trying to improve student life and representation on campus, so if nothing else comes from this, at least it has increased awareness of a powerful women's organization as well as the visibility of the USG.

Be it Gail or Langsam, no matter who wins, he or she will immediately be faced with the formidable challenge of following Joe Kochan '02, the best USG president since I have been at Princeton. I had the pleasure of serving in USG positions under him and others, and his leadership and energy have organized and revived the important body like no other. Aside from his creative e-mail subject lines, he has established and maintained solid relationships with administrators while never backing down from important student positions. I sometimes feel guilty stopping him on the sidewalk because I know there is no one on campus busier than he is. Kudos and thanks, Joe, for a job more than superbly done. Ryan Salvatore is a Wilson School major from Stamford, Conn. He can be reached at salvatre@princeton.edu.