Wednesday October 23, 2019 vol. CXLIII no. 94
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ON CAMPUS
Q&A with Karen Finney, CNN Analyst
JON ORT / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN
The Carl A. Fields Center.
By Sam Kagan Contributor
By Benjamin Ball Head News Editor
Karen Finney is a political correspondent for CNN. She was the spokesperson for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, having previously worked with her on her first Senate campaign. The Daily Princetonian sat down with her to talk politics, journalism, and social media. The transcript below is edited for length and clarity. The Daily Princetonian: Something I noted that was interesting, when [University spokesperson Ben Chang said] that you were coming to speak with us over email, one way he introduced you was by linking to your Twitter account. I was wondering ... as someone who has that much experience in politics and journalism, how do you see that medium shaping the conversation of a lot of what you do, and how do you try to use it? Karen Finney: I think sometimes in political discourse we focus too much on what’s happening on Twitter, and don’t realize that is a segment of the population and that there are even people who have access to Twitter who aren’t using it, and so sometimes I think it has an outsized opinion, voice in what people think is important. That’s something I certainly always remind candidates, that, you know, just because those ten people didn’t like your speech, that does not mean it was a bad speech. There’s three hundred other people who saw it who thought it was great… People say a lot of things that they would never say to your face, particularly [to] women. My friend Kirsten Powers who’s at CNN — she used to be at Fox — we had this idea to do a website and try to out all the people who said nasty things and figure out who they were … If you had to actually own what you just said, would you say it? I think it’s good to have a space where you can express yourself and put ideas out there. I just wish people took a little more responsibility with making sure what you say is actually true and accurate. I research everything I’m going to say on television to make sure I can back it up. I do believe there are actual things that are
In Opinion
facts. There’s not subjective facts. It is certainly a way to build a community, in a very positive way … There are people that I follow that I’m interested in what they have to say on different things or on different topics and issues so I think for that it’s of huge value… I think under Trump it’s gotten worse — much more racist, much more sexist. I felt like that was toxic … The Washington Post has eight people on the White House beat, and they split up overnights because the White House has taken the position that when the President tweets, that is on the record, so that means you have to cover it. Given that this president tweets all hours of the day and night … that is a huge shift for journalism, particularly given that the President will tweet one thing [and] it might be the exact opposite of what his spokesperson said earlier that day… It used to be the idea that social media was a great way for a politician to have more of a direct, two way conversation with people. Trump uses it as his megaphone … His ability to communicate a message is so outsized, and I think it’s a very different thing … to use Twitter as a means to make policy. We’ve never done that before … The implications of that are our allies and adversaries around the world all have to follow it because that’s a big part of how they figured out what’s going on in the country… DP: What was it like, being on [Clinton’s 2016 campaign] generally, and more specifically, what was it like being on that campaign on election day? KF: I had an interesting perspective because I had worked with Hillary in the White House, and I did her first Senate campaign. So I watched her become a governor’s wife, to the first lady of our country, and all that role encompasses … She’s a human being, so watching her go from a much smaller environment to, overnight, all of the country’s hopes and dreams and woes and emotions, it’s all on you. As a woman watching, that was pretty incredible... I used to say she is the most unknown known person, maySee STORY page 3
Columnist Julia Chaffers argues that sports and politics go hand in hand, and contributing columnist Richard Ma urges for more Asian representation in Hollywood. PAGE 4
In the November issue of “INSIGHT Into Diversity,” Princeton was granted the 2019 Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award, standing alongside a field of 93 other colleges and universities across the United States. The HEED Award recognizes institutions of higher education for diversity and inclusion efforts across their campuses. “You should make a big deal out of it,” said Lenore Pearlstein, co-publisher of INSIGHT Into Diversity and
president of Potomac Publishing. “It basically says that you are very committed to diversity and inclusion across your campus and that it’s one of the pillars of the institution … Obviously, diversity and inclusion matter a lot to [Princeton].” This represents the second occasion on which the University has received the honor, with the first instance occurring in 2013. Columbia University is the only other Ivy League school to have earned the HEED award this year. “We’re extremely proud to again receive this award in
recognition of the many ways in which we’ve made Princeton a truly more diverse, accessible and inclusive institution,” Michele Minter, vice provost for institutional equity and diversity, wrote in a press release on Oct. 15. Pearlstein noted that schools which receive the HEED Award regularly have further success with diversity and inclusion initiatives on campus. “A lot of schools use the HEED Award to recruit more faculty, more underrepresented students,” she said. “We’ve been told that they’ve been very successful because … either students want to go See HEED page 3
STUDENT LIFE
The Facebook group was shut down permanently on October 21.
Tiger Confessions shuts down permanently on Oct. 21, shortly before one-year anniversary By Marie-Rose Sheinerman Assistant News Editor
On Monday, Oct. 21, the Tiger Confessions Facebook group was shut down, and all of the past content in it was deleted. In an email to students who had applied to moderate the page, the group administrator Christine Hu ’22, also known by the alias Ty Ger, announced that she has decided to close the group. Hu went on to explain that there were so many responses to the admin interest form that she “didn’t have the means of running a fair selection process.” She added that for personal reasons, she currently does not have the time required to evaluate the applications.
“Over the past year, I have become anxious about the possible negative impacts of the group, such as the radicalization of political views, the alienation of students with dissenting opinions, or the enablement of stalking or harassment,” Hu went on. “When students tell me how the page has negatively impacted their lives, those comments weigh extremely heavily on me, and that weight finally reached a peak this weekend.” Hu explained she felt it necessary to her own mental health to know that all the Tiger Confessions posts were deleted, particularly the earlier ones that “might have been filtered according to laxer standards.”
Today on Campus 7:00 p.m.: SHE BAD: Women In Film 185 Nassau Street
Since its inception nearly a year ago on Oct. 30, 2018, the closed group has garnered mass popularity among the University student body. As of Monday, it included 5,175 members and nearly 12,000 posts. The group featured near-daily anonymous posts submitted via Google Forms on a wide range of topics, including personal compliments, relationship advice, mental-health concerns, and political disagreements. For much of its run, the group was administered by the anonymous Ty Ger, who came forward with her identity in an interview with the University Press Club this past April. Some students interviewed See CONFESSIONS page 2
WEATHER
IMAGE COURTESY OF BEN CHANG / OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS
The Daily Princetonian sat down with CNN political correspondent and former Hillary Clinton spokeswoman Karen Finney for a Q&A.
U. wins HEED Award for diversity and inclusion efforts
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