Letters to the Editor

OWL should back a woman for USG leader

Last year, the Organization of Women Leaders was created as a support system for women brave enough to run for office on the Princeton campus. OWL has done many other noteworthy things besides, including hosting speakers on women's issue.

However, OWL recently sent out an e-mail announcing the candidates it was endorsing in the upcoming USG election. Its selection for president was David Gail '03, in spite of the fact that Nina Langsam '03, a woman, is running. It explained this decision, saying that supporting a candidate simply because she is a woman is sexist and undermines the organization's reputation. Gail, it argued, supports women's issues, while Langsam does not.

Now whether or not you support affirmative action in a racist country or voting for a woman because she is a woman on a sexist campus is beside the point (though I support both). The point is that OWL seems so caught up in not appearing to be a man-hating organization (trust me, it's not), that it has forgotten the reason for its formation: to support women running for office. If the organization cannot support women for fear of looking sexist, it should at least change its name from the Organization of Women Leaders to the Non-Man-Hating Organizing Committee for Speakers About Women's Issues. I don't want to undermine OWL because I think that it has done many wonderful things for women on this campus. But I think that it is undermining itself by not supporting Langsam.

Now, as far as the effects of having a female USG president over a male USG president who "supports women's issues" go, I can say that they would reach far beyond sparsely attended campus discussion groups. I will cite the experience of last year's president, PJ Kim '01, an Asian-American student. During his term, when he would tell people outside the University that he was president of Princeton's student government, many would inquire, "Oh? President of the Asian students?" To which Kim could reply that no, he was the elected representative of everybody. Kim didn't do as much as some presidents did as far as "minorities issues" were concerned, but his mere presence was a statement on and off campus. We have not had a woman USG president since 1990. Langsam's presence would be a statement as well. But OWL fails to see this. Sarah Rivlin '03