Berger and the Barnard book
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- September
- 13
In her quest to unseat Greenburgh Town Supervisor Paul Feiner, challenger Suzanne Berger violated a policy held by her alma mater, Barnard College.
Berger’s campaign took names and addresses from her official alumnae directory book and mailed some alumnae information about her campaign, asking for their support.
Apparently, this was a no-no. Michael Feierman, general counsel for Barnard College, said he told Berger’s campaign manager that the directory should not be used for commerical or political uses, and that he had received complaints from some alumnae over the mailing.
Berger said she thought she could use the directory to help her campaign because the 2006 editon does not prohibit political uses. She said she couldn’t understand why the college would have a problem with her asking other alumnae for support: “It’s called networking.”
Feierman said the 2006 edition was “more generic” in its description of prohibited uses because another vendor handled its printing. He said past editions of the alumnae directory clearly stated that it could not be used politically and said the online version still lists all of the restricted uses.
One of the people who called Barnard to complain was alumna Linda Garfunkel, the wife of Richard Garfunkel  Feiner’s campaign manager. Linda Garfunkel said she never got a copy of Berger’s campaign letter but that she heard about the alumnae-targeted letter from another alumna.
“For me, using college lists for personal gain is a violation of the honor code that we lived by as students,” Garfunkel said. “It really is taking private property that does not belong to the alumna. That is what my Barnard education meant to me  adhering to a strict code of conduct.”
Feierman, trying his best to escape the matrix of Greenburgh politics, said that Barnard does not feel “aggrieved” by Berger’s actions, and that both she and Garfunkel are valued alumnae.
Now that’s diplomacy.
This entry was posted
on Thursday, September 13th, 2007 at 11:43 am by Rebecca Baker.
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much ado about nothing…and an indication of
feiner’s desparation….if the version of the book
used by the berger campaign…was ambiguous in any
way and did not spell out the restriction than
no other book is binding on her neither is the
online parameters…stop the crying paul
your time is over
What a joke…this is what they are fighting about in Greenburgh.
Most candidates probably use alumni lists to reach out to classmates to raise some money. I have received such letters over the years and am happy to receive them and sometimes make the decision to write a check. Frankly, I was happy to get the mailing and see that an old classmate was trying for public office.
There is no issue here.
hi, i’m the consultant and i love purple socks!
purple socks and green sport jackets…all cashmere
if that’s all you have to complain about you
are a jerk..but for your clothing informtation
I like to dress for dinner..so i have 9 sport
jackets both seasons..all cashmere 15 watches
40 pairs of shoes and 130 ties…no go aggravate
yourself
It was just an indication of a matter of her moral conduct. Perhaps, your college lets the names of its alumni/alumnae be used for commercial reaons or political purposes. But Barnard forbids this practice. All of us involved in alumnae affairs, and I have been since 1968, know very well that these names are not to be shared with anyone. It is just a matter of fact that the Berger campaign forgot her obligation to the college. And by the way, Paul Feiner did not need this issue to win the election big time!