Letters to the Editor

USG president PJ Kim '01 criticizes 'Prince' for presidential search editorial

Most of you don't care about what you see as petty disputes between a handful of 'Prince' editors and the USG. I don't blame you. But as many of you may have noticed recently, their attacks and criticisms against the USG have become very personal in nature.

But that's OK. I knew there'd be days like these when I ran for USG president. It comes with the territory. I can deal with it. But the 'Prince' crossed over the line of civility when it publicly ridiculed Lisa Lazarus '02, the other undergraduate representative on the presidential search committee.

The 'Prince' may claim that she is a "public figure" who has chosen to put herself in the line of fire by selflessly offering her service. But if the bar for being a "public figure" eligible for public criticism is set so casually, then the 'Prince's Editor-in-Chief and members of its editorial board are also "public figures." It's a two-way street.

These same editors complained about the election of an all male U-Council last year. As I stated then, if the 'Prince' really cared about proportional gender representation in the election, it should have endorsed certain candidates beforehand.

Similarly, if the 'Prince' really cared about how the search committee selection process was being conducted, it should have registered its complaint earlier to spur a public dialogue. But that would have been too constructive. Constructive things aren't fun to write about.

Regardless of the opinions of the un-elected, un-representative and, until now, unaccountable student editors, I still believe I conducted the process in a way that best ensured that a wide range of viewpoints would be represented on the committee. University Board of Trustees president Bob Rawson '66 specifically asked me to choose another undergraduate who would represent "such diversity of opinion as may exist within the student body." If we had held an election, the likely winners would have been people who are already well-known "public" figures. But Spencer Merriweather '00 — former USG President and current Young Alumni Trustee — and I already represent the viewpoints of the "usual suspects" who run for these sorts of positions.

When students elected me president last year, they entrusted me to use my judgment in the best interests of the student body and the campus community. I believe I have done so. Not a single student, besides the members of the 'Prince' editorial board, has expressed reservations about my decision. My e-mail is jhkim@princeton.edu.

Of course, if we had held an election yielding a "non-diverse" result, we would have earned yet another scathing and sanctimonious editorial from the 'Prince.' But I learned long ago that I shouldn't try to please everyone, least of all those who insist that they have a greater claim to representing the student body than its elected representatives.

But at the end of the day, the 'Prince' is just a student newspaper. The USG is just a student government. We're all Princeton students. Despite the ugliness and personal attacks of politics and tabloid journalism in the "real" world, our school is a small community in which for four brief years, we can develop both personal and organizational relationships that appeal to the better angels of our nature. No disagreements arising out of extracurricular activities like student governments or newspapers are worth tearing each other down over. We are all coarsened by it. Nobody likes to read about it. We can do better. All of us have too much real work to do. PJ Kim '01 USG President