Biederman trumps Gittlin to win USG presidency

USG vice president Rob Biederman '08 beat out junior class president Grant Gittlin for the student government's top job yesterday in a race that was defined largely by concerns about the four-year colleges, grade deflation and the candidates' disciplinary records.

"I'm thrilled," Biederman said after the announcement by USG officials, adding that he campaigned until the very last minute. "I didn't necessarily trust the exit polls," he said, referring to earlier unscientific surveys by The Daily Princetonian that indicated he led Gittlin by nearly a two-to-one margin.

When results were announced, Gittlin had closed the gap predicted by the poll, but Biederman still came away with more votes: He received 1,617 votes to Gittlin's 1,031, according to elections manager Liz Gough '07.

Biederman praised his opponent, saying Gittlin "did a great job running" and that he is glad that Gittlin will continue to serve as the junior class president. "I am excited to work with him."

Gittlin returned the courtesy, offering praise for the new president: "Rob Biederman will do a great job and this school is privileged to have someone like him working for all of us," he said in an email.

Caitlin Sullivan '07, an election manager and the current USG academics chair, said that she thought the race was very well-run. "Both Grant and Rob did a great job of campaigning on the issues and reaching out to as many students as possible and projecting their platforms with as much clarity and vision as possible."

Speaking about plans for his tenure as president, Biederman said he would employ a "two-pronged approach." The first focuses on general "campus life improvements," including issues like music downloading, the U-Store and deals with shops on Nassau Street. The second, he said, "is trying to make the campus a more unified place, trying to make one Princeton rather than 30 Princetons."

"I think when you come to Princeton as a pre-frosh, you have an idea of the place as 'everyone who goes to Princeton,' " he said. "What I'm getting a little worried about is that this is not actually what happens."

"The campus is a very divided place. Within the first couple weeks of arriving on campus, people get labels — whether society places those labels on them or they place them on themselves."

Both candidates had campaigned largely on their plans for assuring that implementation of the four-year colleges goes smoothly, even though 38 percent of students said they thought grade deflation was a more important issue, according to an unscientific poll conducted by the 'Prince' on Dec. 3. Nineteen percent said the colleges were a more important issue.

The race was also shaped by controversy about the two candidates' disciplinary records. In response to a question at last week's presidential forum, Gittlin admitted he has received three violations from the Committee on Discipline and was asked to live off-campus. One day later, Biederman admitted that last year he watched as a friend poured lighter fluid on a dead squirrel and set the carcass on fire.

In polling conducted by the 'Prince,' just over half of students said they were concerned about the candidates' disciplinary records, with respondents saying they were more concerned with Gittlin's record by a two-to-one margin.

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

Biederman said his strategy for tackling campus divisions would be to take people back to their pre-frosh vision of the University. "We have a great opportunity with the four-year colleges next year to throw great events to be attended by everybody — everyone in and not in that college," he said.

"We need more [events] like the bonfire, Pre-rade, buses to Yale, where it doesn't matter what eating club you're in or anything, but what does matter is that you're a Princeton student."

Biederman has also pledged to meet every student on campus within the next year.

His reasoning, Biederman said, is that he feels that students will be more comfortable emailing or contacting him with concerns about life on campus if they have a face-to-face encounter with him.

Biederman will be joined by vice president Josh Weinstein '09, treasurer Mike Monagle '09, campus and community affairs chair Cindy Hong '09 and academics chair Sarah Breslow '08, who is also a photography editor for The Daily Princetonian. All of those races were uncontested.

Lauren Barnett '08 defeated Jake Bornstein '09, becoming the new undergraduate life chair. Andrea Pasinetti '08 and Aaron Souza '08 were uncontested as junior class senators.

In the sophomore class senate election, Rob Weiss and incumbent Tracy Vu came out on top, advancing over Jordan Blashek, Libby Hutton and Davionshante Schism.

Ben Lund '10 and Mike Wang '10 were both elected as freshman class senators in a 12-person race.

Sullivan said that she was "thrilled to see as many freshmen run for Senate," adding that upperclass candidate numbers tend to dwindle because by then students will have committed to other activities.