Family files new claims in suit

In another pretrial development in the legal battle pitting the Robertson family against the Wilson School, the plaintiffs filed a motion last week for the court to allow the testimony of two expert witnesses currently prohibited from testifying.

The Robertsons hope to call former State Department employee Louise Crane and former ambassador Daniel Simpson to testify that the Wilson School has not fulfilled the wishes of the Robertson Foundation donors. Due to a State Department regulation that the University first brought to the plaintiffs' attention last summer, the two witnesses cannot currently testify.

"The testimony of these witnesses will go to a central issue in this litigation: whether over the last forty years the Woodrow Wilson School ... could have done a better job placing its graduates in the Federal Government, particularly in the areas of the government dealing with international affairs," the plaintiffs' motion reads.

The Robertsons allege that the University has misused the foundation's funds — now totaling more than $650 million — by ignoring the donor's original intent, which they say was to support the Wilson School's graduate program and place its graduates in federal government jobs, especially those in foreign policy.

"These two witnesses feel very strongly that the University and the Woodrow Wilson School have not complied with the wishes of the donor and have not used the gift in a way that trains individuals in federal government service," Seth Lapidow, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said. "They're basing [their feeling] on their ... lifelong experience as federal government employees."

The witnesses were barred from testifying, however, because of a State Department regulation stipulating that its officials cannot testify in court with information acquired in the scope and performance of official department duties, Lapidow and University officials said.

Neither Crane nor Simpson could be reached to discuss what they would have testified.

Douglas Eakley, the University's lead counsel, said Princeton learned of the State Department rules after speaking with its recruitment director, Diane Castigione, about being an expert witness for the defense. She informed them that they would have to contact the Office of the Legal Adviser in the State Department.

"When we were advised by the State Department that Castigione could not speak, we asked whether they'd approved the plaintiffs' witnesses," Eakley said.

Castigione could not be reached for comment.

Lapidow said he was displeased that the family was informed of the regulation by the University officials a month before hearing from the State Department itself. He said he was entirely unaware that the University had been in contact with the State Department.

"What I know is that the defendants contacted the State Department about those witnesses without telling us about it," Lapidow said. "I don't impute any motive to that other than that's not how I would have done it."

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The plaintiffs' motion also points out that the department has allowed the expert testimony of Joseph Nye '58, another former official and recent dean of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, who will testify for the defense.

Nye's testimony is permissible, however, because it is not based on information he acquired in the scope and performance of his official department duties, Eakley said. In its motion to the court, the family charged that the decision was unfair.

In his witness statement, Nye attested to the success of the Wilson School and its graduate program. He said the school has a success rate of placing graduates in the foreign sector comparable to its major competitors.

"I argue that it would be a mistake for the Robertson Foundation to take money away from Princeton, because it would defeat its own purposes," Nye said.

— Archive of 'Prince' coverage of the Robertson case