Princeton Student Elections: Vote For the Man, Not the Rap Sheet

by Chris Beam | December 4, 2006 at 12:58 pm

Princeton Student Elections: Vote For the Man, Not the Rap Sheet

At most schools, student government types can be written off as self-important and kinda silly. At Harvard, for example, one campaign has a spokesperson who writes "embargoed" press releases. But don't you dare dismiss the undergrad politicians at Princeton: they're street-hardened criminals as scarred as they come.

Okay, not quite. These guys haven't done time or anything, but by Ivy standards they're tough mofes. Presidential candidate Grant Gittlin '08 has been forced to live off-campus (a rare punishment) after three disciplinary violations -- and that was while serving as Class of 2008 president. But those MIP-type jobs are tame compared to his opponent, Rob Biederman '08, who's been accused of setting a squirrel on fire.

Sorry, squirrel carcass. Biederman claims he was "more of a bystander" than a "driving force" in the squirrel-burning, which he calls a "non-issue." "I don't think there's a single person on the USG who doesn't do silly things from time to time," he told the Princetonian. Yeah, chill out guys, it was dead.

Frankly, it sounds like these guys are qualified because of their pasts, not despite them. Gittlin says he got university president Shirley Tilghman's go-ahead to run for USG prez even after his disciplinary history. Biederman also had some administrative face-time as the squirrel embers were cooling, and apparently no formal action was taken. These are guys who know the university inside and out and inside again. May the gangsterest man win!

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3 Responses to “Princeton Student Elections: Vote For the Man, Not the Rap Sheet”

  1. Baretek4Prez Says:
    December 4th, 2006 at 10:01 pm

    We need candidate with stellar record of clean fun. My friend Baretek has never done wrong and only focuses on Polish techno dance. You check him video at boredatfirestone.com?

  2. Humphrey Bogus Says:
    January 3rd, 2007 at 11:38 pm

    This image is from This American Life’s Squirrel Cop story. (See bottom of page: http://www.thisamericanlife.org/paintings/)

  3. sardoni Says:
    April 9th, 2007 at 10:16 am

    Your URL doesn’t work there. Can you correct it?

    Also how did the squirrel get dead?