Jeremy Beecher, the close ally and anointed successor of ousted editor Zach Fox, “overwhelmingly” won the second election for Daily Trojan editor-in-chief Friday.

Fox, who won the first election but was prevented from taking office by USC Vice President of Student Affairs Michael Jackson, decided last night to throw his support to Beecher in the second election. He was apparently successful in nixing a write-in campaign on his behalf and consolidating support behind Beecher.

Fox will serve under Beecher in a lesser capacity — precisely what capacity is not clear — and they will continue to pursue the reforms that Fox had promised, which so irked the administration that they refused to recognize Fox’s initial election. (Facing intense pressure and bad press, the administration eventually pledged to respect the results of today’s election even if Fox had won as a write-in candidate, but Fox reportedly decided that his long-term goals would be better served by remaining more behind-the-scenes while his ally Beecher assumes the reigns. Fox told the Harvard Crimson yesterday: “I feel like it might be beneficial, not to stop fighting this, but if someone else were to fight it so that the administration would realize that this is a demand for transparency that hopefully won’t go away.”)

Zachary Franklin, who lost to Fox in the first election and sided with Dr. Jackson in the ensuing conflict, reportedly self-destructed as he “completely went off in his speech,” drawing gasps as he accused Fox and Beecher of playing martyrs in pursuit of “personal glory.” Franklin “really killed his chances with his own speech,” according to my source.

I don’t have the exact vote tally, and don’t know whether it will be forthcoming. [UPDATE: Reportedly, there were 36 votes for Beecher, 4 for Franklin, and 2 write-ins for Fox.]

So ends, somewhat anticlimactically, this stage of the Zach Fox controversy. As I wrote previously:

Electing Beecher rather than Fox (and putting Fox in a more behind-the-scenes capacity) strikes me as a “lose the battle, win the warâ€? strategy. Obviously, it would be a cathartic moral victory to elect Fox a second time, forcing the administration to accept the very candidate it initially rejected. But, according to one of my sources on staff, “editorial and financial independence are the eventual goals” — and, according to another source, the fear is that it will be more difficult to achieve those goals with Fox as the newspaper’s public face, given how many administrators he has already angered. Beecher is, I gather, viewed as more diplomatic, or at least as having less baggage simply because he’s not Zach Fox. …

The good news is, although a decision by the staff to elect someone other than Fox might seem like a victory for the administration, it’s a hollow one. Not only would a Beecher/Fox administration at the DT continue to push for much-needed reforms that the administration would rather not see happen, but the mere fact that Jackson has been forced to furiously backpedal and publicly pledge to accept a second Fox victory is itself a major victory for Daily Trojan independence. After seeing how this played out, methinks the administration will be very hesitant to make a move like this one again. By overplaying his hand, Jackson has weakened his (and the Media Board’s) position, long-term.

It’ll be interesting to see how things play out next semester, and I hope my new contacts at the Daily Trojan will keep me informed. :)

UPDATE: A little bit behind the times, but I just noticed this post on L.A. Observed which contains a video report from yesterday’s forum with Dr. Jackson:

The money quote comes from Jackson, who waffles on whether he “regrets” rejecting Fox’s application, but then says: “Maybe if I faced the same situation in the future, I might do it a little bit differently.” This is precisely what I was talking about above. Whether he wants to directly admit it or not, Jackson has obviously been chastened by this experience, which is a victory for the editors in their power struggle with the administration. And what’s great is, from Jackson’s persective, this setback was entirely self-inflicted. Thanks to his general ham-handedness, the administration came off looking arbitrary, arrogant and censorious. Personal foul, 15-yard penalty, first down student editors.

That said, the interview with Jackson also brings to mind an important hurdle that will be the next major “event” in this story: the Media Board will meet on Monday to consider editor-elect Beecher’s application. What will they do? I’d bet the house they approve him with nary a peep of protest, in light of all the bad press of the past week. But we won’t know for sure until Monday.

UPDATE 2: Michael Jackson just sent out an e-mail in response to the letter from 15 ex-editors that lambasted his decision and called his initial refusal to explain it on-the-record “perhaps arrogance, perhaps cowardice, but…certainly not leadership.” His response?

Dear Blake [Hennon]:

Thanks very much for your thoughtful email. We will keep these thoughts in mind as we work with students to make sure the DT continues to be an excellent student newspaper and educational, training, and leadership development program for students.

I hope all else is well.

Sincerely,

Michael Jackson