Princeton should only weigh in on issues in which it has special expertise as an institution of higher education. The right of gay people to marry in California is not an issue in which the University as an institution has any unique expertise. While some individuals at the University are affected by Proposition 8, the University as a whole is not and does not have the relevant experience or expertise to warrant taking an official stance.
On the other hand, the Board of Trustees may make its position known on controversial issues in which the University has expertise. For example, the University as a matter of official policy factors in race and athletic talent in its admissions policy. This is an issue about which the Board of Trustees and the administration have thought deeply. Since they are responsible for oversight of one of the most respected universities in the United States, a court could benefit from understanding the University's views on the matter.
The University has tried hard to assemble a diverse faculty and student body. Such diversity means that there will be a wide spectrum of opinion among the campus community on controversial issues. Such diversity of opinion is not cause for the University to avoid articulating a viewpoint so as to avoid giving offense. Nor is there evidence that the University should be concerned that by establishing an official position, the University would somehow create a chilling effect on the students' willingness to express opinions that differ from the administration's stated position.
Furthermore, the CIL referendum is so vaguely worded that it could be interpreted as asking the trustees to ban the University from making any internal University policy decisions on issues about which community members could reasonably disagree.
The correct standard for the University to use in determining whether to establish a position on an issue is neither how controversial nor how current an issue is but rather how germane it is to the University's mission. The administration should not shy away from commenting on contentious issues on which the University as an institution of higher education has expertise. But neither should the administration intrude into controversies about which many members of the University may feel passionately but in which the University as a whole has no direct stake.
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