Princeton College Republicans has decided not to endorse a statement of support for marriage equality circulated by the presidents of numerous Ivy League Democrats and Republicans chapters. All eight College Democrats chapters, including Princeton’s, have signed on to the pledge while among the College Republicans chapters, only the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia have confirmed their support.
“We, the Presidents of the College Democrats and College Republicans chapters of the Ivy League, stand united to affirm the right of all Americans to marry the person they love, regardless of gender,” the statement read. “We challenge our nation’s leaders to join us in defense of marriage equality for gay and lesbian couples.”
Princeton College Democrats president Will Mantell ’14 said that even though the statement only indicates the points of view of him as president, the whole organization supports the statement as well.
Princeton College Republicans president David Will ’14 said while he personally supports gay marriage and initially agreed to the pledge, he decided not to publicly endorse it after consulting with his fellow executive officers.
Will said that while the College Republicans officers had mixed reactions on the topic of marriage equality, he recognized that it was his prerogative as president to sign a pledge that technically said only he was in support of marriage equality. Nevertheless, he said he ultimately decided not to sign the pledge “out of respect” for the officers and members of College Republicans.
“I determined that it would be too fractious,” he said. “It would still be too cozy of a use of my capacity as president that might unfairly associate themselves with the statement as well.”
Will is also a columnist for The Daily Princetonian.
“I’m wary of signing pledges. I feel that they’re restrictive,” Will explained, adding that the marriage equality statement failed to distinguish between the federal versus state right to marriage, which he said he felt was an important distinction.
Both Will and Mantell said that although the College Democrats and College Republicans did not unite on this issue, it will not prevent the two groups from collaborating in the future.
Motion for a statement in support of marriage equality began at Penn, when Penn Democrats president Matthew Kalmans said both Penn Democrats and College Republicans “realized that there’s an opportunity to come together across partisan lines on this issue.”
Columbia College Republicans released a pre-statement endorsing marriage equality on Valentine’s Day.
Kalmans said the pledge is still being finalized and will be released in the next two weeks. He declined to confirm which Ivy League College Republicans chapters had signed on, saying, “things are still in flux.” However, representatives from College Republicans chapters at Brown and Dartmouth told the ‘Prince’ they have declined to endorse the statement. Cornell College Republicans said it has not given a final response at this time.
Kalmans also said the pledge is being extended to 50 other schools across the nation to garner more support.
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