USG to discuss marriage referendum

Clarification appended

The USG will hold a special Senate meeting to reconsider a proposed student referendum on an amicus brief supporting same-sex marriage. The public meeting, scheduled for 9 p.m. tonight, will provide an opportunity for students to express their views.

The referendum, approved two weeks ago by a vote of 11 to 10 following 90 minutes of debate, asks whether the USG should sign on to a Princeton Justice Project (PJP) brief to be filed in the New Jersey Supreme Court.

The meeting was called by USG president Leslie-Bernard Joseph '06 in response to concerns of some senators, who believed the issue was too hastily decided.

"The way the meeting went, the issue wasn't fully considered," said Karis Gong '06, who opposes the referendum because she believes the issue of same-sex marriage falls outside the USG's mission and expertise. "Now that we have a better sense of what the campus thinks, we'd like to reconsider."

Gong was one of six USG members who signed a letter published last week in The Daily Princetonian expressing concern about the process leading to the referendum's approval.

"We voted to approve a referendum that we drafted in 10 minutes on a blackboard," the letter said. The letter also said that senators had only 31 hours before the meeting to consider the 65-page brief.

It is unclear what changes Thursday's meeting will produce. Gong noted that the issue is not only whether to keep or strike the referendum, but also whether to revise its language.

Support nonprofit student journalism. Donate to the ‘Prince’. Donate now »

The question currently reads: "Shall the Undergraduate Student Government (USG) be directed to sign on to the amicus brief submitted by the Princeton Justice Project on behalf of the plaintiffs in Lewis v. Harris, same-sex couples seeking to marry in New Jersey?"

The last time the USG put a referendum before the student body was in April 2003. The question was whether the USG should support an Ivy Council statement — not an amicus brief — supporting affirmative action.

Chris Lloyd '06, who leads PJP's Gay Family Rights project, said that "it doesn't really matter" if the USG votes to remove the referendum because the PJP already has more than the 200 petition signatures required to put the question on the ballot.

Lloyd cited the 2003 referendum as a precedent for the USG to comment on national political issues. But Class of 2006 Senator Michael Murray said that affirmative action and same-sex marriage affect students in different ways.

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

"There's a differences between issues [like affirmative action] related to students as students, and issues [like same-sex marriage] related to students as citizens," said Murray, who also signed last week's letter.

PJP President Thomas Bohnett '07, also a Daily Princetonian columnist, said he was "confident" that the USG would once again vote in favor of the referendum.

The referendum has already mobilized student groups on both sides. The Anscombe Society urged students in an email message to its members to oppose the referendum — even if they supported same-sex marriage.

"This isn't a question about marriage or gay rights," the message said. "It's a question about the role of the USG."

Clarification

This story originally reported that the Pride Alliance was shooting a video ad to be aired before the UFO showing on Saturday. That information should have been attributed to the Pride Alliance, which had not obtained clearance from the UFO at the time. Plans for the ad have since been canceled.