Campaign-less elections mark alumni appointments to the board of trustees

This month is election season for alumni positions on the University Board of Trustees. But there has been no campaigning, endorsements or any of the other features of a typical election. Voters will rely solely on short biographic statements and a passage included with the ballot mailed to all alumni.

And that is exactly the way the University wants it.

"The elections are not on issues," associate secretary Ann Halliday said. When looking at possible candidates for the open positions, she said, the trustees look for a "balance on the board in terms of age or experience . . . areas of expertise [and] diversity," in addition to other factors.

"They want a board that's open minded," she said, adding that alumni vote "on the basis of the statements" made by each candidate. These statements and brief biographies are written by an independent, unbiased writer hired by the Alumni Council, she said.

Yale campaigns

This University election process is a striking contrast to the current Yale University trustee election, in which alumni Rev. W. David Lee has been actively and publicly soliciting support from high profile political groups.

Lee, who is vying for an alumni fellow seat on the Yale Corporation, the university's highest governing body, has received endorsements from the City Council of Philadelphia and other Yale alumni including U.S. Senator Joseph Lieberman and Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal. Candidates in Princeton's elections are prohibited from campaigning and seeking such support.

The election for the position at large includes Martin Johnson '81, Blair Labatt '69 and Harriet Pearson '85. According to the biographic statements, Johnson played football and baseball while at Princeton and majored in Anthropology.

During his senior year, he and some other students founded Isles, Inc., a non-profit community development organization. Johnson has been an adviser to the Student Volunteers Council and the Community Based Learning Initiative.

Labatt graduated Summa Cum Laude with an English degree. After earning his Ph.D. from the University of Virginia, Labatt taught at the University of Texas at Austin. He is now CEO of Labatt Food Service and has devoted considerable time to Princeton alumni activities.

Pearson graduated from the University with honors in Civil Engineering, earned her JD, with honors, from UCLA law school and is now the Chief Privacy Officer at the IBM Corporation. She also volunteers at Princeton's Career Services office and as a Schools Committee interviewer.

Regional trustees

Alumni will also vote for a regional trustee, choosing among James Crawford '68, James Leach '64 and Danny Williams '75.

Williams, who majored in psychology at Princeton, is now an executive at the Ohio division of the American Cancer Society and is also on Princeton's Schools Committee.

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Leach participated in sports and student government while at Princeton and is now a moderate Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Crawford studied electrical engineering and graduated with a Rhodes scholarship to study economics. He has served on many University fund-raising committees and chairs the National Annual Giving Committee.

Though issues are not a primary focus in the trustee election, some of the candidates have big plans for the University, should they get elected. Some issues that were raised include keeping the University financially strong, considering the possibility of adding professional schools to campus and ensuring that the University community includes people from diverse backgrounds.

But despite their various plans for the University, all of the candidates said they share a special love of Princeton in their hearts. "It's an incredible honor to be considered for this opportunity," Labatt said, articulating the feelings of all the candidates. "There is no other place that has meant so much to me. Princeton is a national treasure that has to be preserved, protected and developed."