USG senators have tabled a constitutional amendment that would give them final say on student referenda and have voted to continue discussing a proposal to reform the University's pass/D/fail policy. The decisions came last night during the USG's first meeting of the year, which was marked by a surprising outburst from senator Joshua Weinstein '09 near its end.
The proposed amendment would give the Senate the power to dismiss a proposed referendum — even after it has garnered the requisite 200 signatures to go on a ballot — if three-fourths of the Senate deemed it "inappropriate." Despite an extended debate, the amendment failed to gain support from the necessary two-thirds of the Senate and was put on hold until next week.
U-Councilor Jeremy Johnson '07 conceived of the amendment to ensure that frivolous propositions don't make it to the ballot. To make his point, he collected 200 signatures for an amendment that would require USG president Alex Lenahan '07 to run naked through Frist Campus Center every Sunday.
If passed, the amendment would "strengthen any sort of legitimate referendum," Lenahan added. "When you get the referenda that are silly on the ballot in the first place, then it weakens the referenda on the ballot that's serious."
The proposed amendment would give the Senate great but not unlimited power over proposed referenda. If at least half the student body wanted to see a question on a ballot, the referendum would go forward, Senate-approved or not.
U-Councilor Lawrence Darby '08 disagreed with the proposal, noting that a referendum should be able to act like "a check and balance."
"It's for the students to go around the Senate," Darby said. "[The proposal] eliminates that possibility."
At the meeting, Lenahan and other USG members who supported the amendment also had to clarify the meaning of "inappropriate."
"It's only for specific sorts of referenda that are of that sort of silly type that aren't really within what we should be voting on for referenda," Lenahan said. "This specifically is not supposed to address the sort of referenda like gay marriage."
A referendum supporting gay marriage appeared before the Senate last year and was narrowly passed. Some senators at the meeting worried that the word "inappropriate" could be used in the future to keep such controversial issues off the ballot. Lenahan said that there would have to be a separate discussion about what issues fall within the purview of USG.
P/D/F policy
The other item on the USG's agenda was a proposal by Graham Gottlieb '07 to allow students to rescind a P/D/F at any point after the course is taken.
"It is absolutely essential for students to be able to rescind the P/D/F option after taking a course," Gottlieb said. "It should be any time until a designated date between a student's final course and graduation."
Though Gottlieb proposed other changes, "that one point would go incredibly far in increasing student enthusiasm," he said. "It also benefits the professors by encouraging students to work harder in their class. There is no, in my mind, drawback to doing that."
The USG voted to continue discussion about the proposal at future meetings.
A burst of frustration
Near the end of the USG meeting, Weinstein, a Class of 2009 senator, expressed frustration with the USG's sluggishness in working to change the late meal program. Weinstein has been leading the charge to have the administration revise the new late meal policy.
"For every meeting for the past six months I've been trying to talk about late meal and every time I've been tabled. It's been really frustrating and I've almost quit the USG several times," Weinstein said at the meeting.
"No one really does listen to us. 1,297 people said that they cared about something and we didn't do s—t. I don't understand why we've been waiting for so long," Weinstein added.
After the USG meeting and a personal meeting with Lenahan and USG vice president Rob Biederman '08, Weinstein retracted his statements, blaming himself for the comments.
"I got caught up in my emotions," Weinstein explained. "I felt that I needed to be further ahead. I feel that's really immature."
"I haven't had a final product. I've been painting a picture but never had a finished picture. For me, I feel that I've been working a lot. It's frustrating when things don't work out well. Everything is in the works, but not every project has the finished product. I just hope I can get things done faster," Weinstein added.
Biederman said he was "surprised" at Weinstein's outburst.
"The USG has been working on late meal. Why we didn't discuss it at every meeting is because we would have been talking about the same thing every time," Biederman said. "All of us have been working really hard. To say that the USG has done nothing is very surprising."
Weinstein's frustration with late meal extends beyond the USG. Since the new late meal alterations were originally tied to University plans for residential college life, Weinstein hoped to bring his case before a meeting of residential college masters. When he broached the idea with Dean of the College Nancy Malkiel, however, she told him students do not usually attend such meetings.
"Students don't make presentations of this sort (or really of any sort) to the Council of Masters," Malkiel explained in an email to Weinstein, a copy of which was provided to The Daily Princetonian.
"When she said this to me, I thought it would be the end of the world," Weinstein said.
Despite his frustration, Weinstein said he agrees with Lenahan and Biederman that the USG has been working hard on the issue. The three USG members also said the University has been working with student government to try to implement plans.
"I'd like to push for more, but I think we've been doing a lot," Weinstein said. "The administration has its goals in mind. And we just have to find an equilibrium in everything."
"There is dialogue," Lenahan said. "In some cases we would prefer more. We just try to work with them."
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