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3 of 4 races for USG committee chairs to be contested

In a break from recent trends, three of the four USG committee chair positions — Campus and Community Affairs Committee,Social Committee and Academics Committee — have contested elections. The final chair position, University Student Life Committee chair, is the sole uncontested election.

Class of 2016 senator Eduardo Lima and Social Committee member Logan Roth ’15are running to chair the Social Committee.

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Roth, a music concentrator who has organized music festivals in high school and a Battle of the Bands in India, said he knows the music industry and the entertainment industry at large. In addition to the Social Committee's annual events, Roth said he also wants to include smaller events on campus that involve student groups.

“I don’t think the social events involve student groups enough,” Roth said. “I think we sort of do events and we either look outside the school or we just do things that don’t involve other student groups. I think our school is really talented and we’re just looking over them for other things.”

Lima is a dancer in diSiac Dance Company and said he knows about entertainment and how to get a “party-like” atmosphere. Lima would like to involve more student groups in Social Committee events, namely by creating what he called a “Tiger Night 2.0,” similar to the freshman week show, but open to all students.

“Social chair is more about creating a vision, and my vision is throwing the sickest party that Princeton has ever seen,” Lima said. “I’m also just very open to listening to ideas and working with the committee to think about what would be good for the campus.”

Jimmy Baase ’15 and Richard Peay ’17 are running to chair the Academics Committee.

Baase said he is interested in looking at grade deflation and academic advising if he were to be elected, since he says he thinks both have faults that can be improved.

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“As a whole, it's kind of hard for the student government to force the administration to do anything,” Baase said. “To rectify that, I think it’s just important to work genuinely with the administrators to come to the best possible outcome.”

Peay said his platform includes a focus on grade deflation, listening to student feedback and increasing communication and transparency by sending out monthly emails about the committee's current projects.

“Some people have asked me, ‘Oh you’re a freshman, what do you know about academics at Princeton?’” Peay said. “Well, I feel like it’s almost a better thing that I am a freshman, because my opinions really don’t matter in what I recommend to the University and what my policies are ... It has to be what the student body wants and I don’t want my personal opinion getting in the way of that.”

U-Councilor Paul Riley ’15, Julie Chong ’17, CCA member Raina Sun ’16 and Jason Cai ’17 are running to chair the Campus and Community Affairs Committee.

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Riley said his platform includes getting more discounts from local businesses and expanding the focus beyond Nassau Street to finding more options for students beyond the Orange Bubble.

“We are working on tangible things that have a big impact, not just for Princeton students but for the larger community,” Riley said of the CCA committee. He added that his experience was the aspect that differentiates him most from the other candidates. “There’s no time for on-the-job training, I think it's time for leadership that knows what’s going on and can hit the ground running.”

Chong said her main platform is to get more affordable options for students on Nassau Street and to reach out to nearby neighborhoods and shopping centers for deals as well.

“I want to be CCA chair because I personally really enjoy spending time on Nassau Street,” Chong said. “I know it costs money – it's not exactly affordable — and I feel like if we had a better relationship between the students and the community, we would be able to spend more time there and take more advantage of the resources the Princeton community offers.”

Sun said she wants to establish year-round deals with restaurants that extend beyond Restaurant Week, and said she is thinking about proposing a similar “Shopping Week” at local stores. As the only candidate running who is currently a member of CCA, Sun said her experience sets her apart from the other candidates.

“That gave me a lot of experience in how restaurant week works, how Communiversity works, so that will give me an advantage so I don’t have to relearn everything,” Sun said.

Cai did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Ella Cheng ’16 is the sole candidate forUndergraduate Student Life Committee chair. Cheng is a former staff writer for The Daily Princetonian.

Voting for president, committee chairs and class senators starts on Monday at noon.