After considering withdrawing from the young alumni trustee election, Ira Leeds '06 said that he has decided to stay in the race while also promoting his "Princeton Matters" petition.
It remains unclear what the University's response to Leeds' decision will be. The policy banning campaigning for the young alumni trustee position is still in place.
Since Saturday, Leeds has been collecting signatures from seniors for a petition that describes the campaign ban as "an affront to the universally accepted principle of free speech." As of Monday night, Leeds said he had signatures from about 10 percent of the senior class.
On Monday, most of the candidates met with Alumni Council officials Margaret Miller '80 and Adrienne Rubin '88. At the meeting, Leeds said that, except for him, "all agreed that my actions so far constituted campaigning."
"At the time, I was essentially offered an ultimatum: if I want to stay in the election, I have no choice but to cease and desist all activities related to Princeton Matters," Leeds said in an email. "If I stay in the race and continue promoting dialogue on the issue of campaigning, however, Ms. Miller said she would have no choice but [to] turn to the [University] Board of Trustees. She failed to elaborate on the consequences."
Leeds said he was "shocked" by the turn of events. The group's "inflexibility," he said, "runs counter to the spirit of academic dialogue that we cherish at Princeton."
Though Leeds announced his intention to end his candidacy at the meeting, he changed his position after further reflection last night, saying to The Daily Princetonian, "I have decided to remain in the race rather than compromise my principles. I will not be bullied into silence. Seniors have a right to know who they're voting for."
"[M]y primary goal remains promoting an open dialogue on campus in hopes of changing the rules of future elections," he added. "I will NOT campaign for myself as a candidate (unless there is a rule change); I will, however, continue promoting the right to campaign. The other candidates' failure to see the distinction is disappointing."
Leeds informed Miller and Rubin of his intention to remain in the race and continue his Princeton Matters campaign in an email sent last night at 7:38 p.m.
Told of Leeds' decision, University Vice President and Secretary Bob Durkee '69 said he was surprised to learn that Leeds wanted to stay in the running.
"The complication here is I don't think anyone, or any of the trustees, imagined that we would get to the point where we had a trustee candidate who said, 'I'm not going to play by the rules,' " Durkee said in an interview last night.
"We've always expected that if someone wasn't willing to follow the rules, they'd have sufficient integrity to say they're not going to run. They either subscribe to the rules or they say they're not going to run," Durkee added.
Miller, the alumni council director, could not be contacted after Leeds announced that he would not withdraw, but she spoke to the 'Prince' earlier yesterday about the meeting. "I think people were very respectful of his feelings," Miller said of the candidates' opinions in the meeting.
Before the Monday meeting, candidate Shaun Callaghan '06, a former USG vice president who earlier told the 'Prince' that he disapproves of campaigning, expressed his discontent with the Princeton Matters petition.
"To me, the people behind it are 'full of sound and fury,' but ultimately 'signifying nothing,' " Callaghan said in an email. "It's a dead-end, and frankly those very limited ranks that are pushing the petition are walking down a dead-end road. But, that's their prerogative."
He also suggested that those behind the position had ulterior motives.
"I would add, too, that those who are compiling the petition are, in my opinion, subverting the system to give themselves an unfair advantage," Callaghan said. "I question their motives. They are simply trying to get their name out to students, and using the guise of a petition to mount a personal campaign for Y.A.T."
"This is inimical to the process, and I think duplicitous," he added.
But David Baumgarten '06, one of Leeds' advisers on the Princeton Matters petition, dismissed those criticisms. "If this were a publicity stunt, it would now make sense to just drop the issue and acquiesce to the administration," Baumgarten, a former managing editor at the 'Prince' said. "But [Leeds is] staying in the race to pursue the mission of Princeton Matters: the right to an open dialogue."
Though the candidates at the meeting believed the Princeton Matters petition qualifies as campaigning, senior class president and trustee candidate Chris Lloyd, who did not attend the meeting, said that he disagreed and does not think Leeds should have to withdraw. "I don't think what he's been doing constitutes campaigning," Lloyd said in an interview last night.
Decision to campaign
Durkee defended the practice of disallowing campaigning in alumni trustee elections, saying that the University trustees "feel very strongly that it is not in the best interests of the Board or the University for trustees to be elected having staked out positions on issues, when no one not on the Board has full access to all information."
On the question of how the University would react to Leeds' decision to run while the candidates and Alumni Council officers have said that his actions constitute campaigning, Durkee said the decision would fall to the council.
"I don't think the trustees would go beyond the policy guidance that we expect there will not be campaigning," he said. "So that's why I think it's hard to get a clear answer to the question of penalty."
There had been some confusion earlier as to whether young alumni trustee candidates voted not to campaign or if the decision had already been made by the University trustees, as candidates were told this year by Alumni Council officials.
"I don't think the council could have accepted an outcome where the candidates decided to campaign, because they have policy guidance from the board that says there should not be campaigning as part of the trustee election process," Durkee said.
Originally, the Alumni Council would explain the trustees' reasoning to the candidates, who would then vote not to campaign, Durkee said. Recollections from candidates in 2004 and 2005 confirm that account. Eventually, however, "the council staff decided that it was misleading to be going into these meetings as if there was a decision to be made."
"If the message that was conveyed was there would have been campaigning if the candidates had chosen to campaign, that would have been a misleading message," he added. "I think it has always been the policy that there should not be campaigning in this election."
Related
— Candidate seeks right to campaign (Feb. 27, 2006) — Campaign ban upsets candidates (Feb. 23, 2006)Read More
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