It's safe to assume the next Young Alumni Trustee won't be a waffler. The candidates are sending a clear message: They don't want to campaign for one of the most important positions a student can run for.
Students campaign for academic chair, U-councilor, even social chair of a residential college. But to sit on the board that can even tell President Tilghman what to do, they feel they don't need to campaign at all.
The three finalists — seniors Eli Goldsmith, Rishi Jaitly and Corey Sanders — said last week that they still favor the ban on campaigning they voted for last month, pointing out that it is the same procedure followed for the election of other trustees. It is also the way it has been for Young Alumni Trustee candidates at least for the last decade.
But as we have said before, it shouldn't be this way. While the University does compile a professionally written biography and summary of answers to questions for the candidates, student voters deserve more.
We are talking about the man elected on behalf of four classes — nearly 5,000 students — to sit on the Board of Trustees and help forge the future of the University.
And Young Alumni Trustees are not the same as other trustees. Unlike the rest, they represent a specific constituency: current and recent students. That constituency deserves to get answers to their questions.
We don't deny that character is important, and nobody wants lawless campaigning. But at a University that constantly affirms the importance of open and free debate, how can one argue that more dialogue can hurt?
Candidates can run on what they've done at Princeton and how it's shaped them if they want. But they need to talk about where the future of the University is — and concerned students should be able to ask them questions about their views on diversity, athletics, academics and the entire gamut of issues that face the University.
If they're not willing to respond to student concerns now, it's fair to ask just who a candidate, if elected, would be representing. The 'Prince' has asked the candidates to sit down with editors and reporters for a frank discussion on the University's future. If they agree, it will be an important start to holding a real election.
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