Did he make the grade?

If there was anything that outgoing USG president Alex Lenahan '07 made abundantly clear during his tenure, it was his penchant for communicating with fellow students.

After winning the presidency by a large margin in a runoff vote in December 2005, Lenahan immediately issued an e-mail to the student body, outlining his goals for the year and promising a term characterized by dialogue and direct, concrete responses to undergraduates' needs and concerns.

Ever since he took that telling first step, students have gradually become accustomed to Lenahan's lengthy e-mail missives on grade deflation and the four-year residential colleges. Though some students faulted him for a tendency to explain policies instead of promoting action, Lenahan stood firmly by his belief that informing students and encouraging discussion on important issues would ultimately benefit the undergraduate body.

"You want to have tangible short-term progress," Lenahan said, "but you also have to think about how your actions are going to set up future students or future USG members to work on issues."

USG president-elect Rob Biederman '08, who served as vice president under Lenahan, said Lenahan succeeded in boosting the image of student government, which was an important step for accomplishing many of the USG's goals this year.

"I thought the biggest takeaway from what he did was not in any single initiative but that he got people excited about USG," he said. "Everyone on campus [now] knows what the USG is, and we are better for it."

Lenahan's determination to address issues of campus life also won him considerable support from USG members. He rallied against the University's grade deflation policy, surveying students' attitudes and e-mailing the student body with his thoughts on the problem, arguing that the academic caliber of students admitted to Princeton has improved in recent years.

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Outgoing USG academics chair Caitlin Sullivan '07, who disagreed with Lenahan's stance on grade deflation, said she nevertheless admired his willingness to respond to students' concerns.

"What he was doing was responding to student demands, since many were unhappy with how the policy was functioning," Sullivan said. Once he developed his vision on behalf of those students, she added, "he was committed to following through on it."

Lenahan said it was his duty not only to guide the USG toward long-term goals, but also to become involved in day-to-day projects. "Coming in, my goal was to make the USG as effective as possible and to really represent the voice of the students," he said of his efforts to reform the organization.

One of his major efforts to streamline the inner workings of the USG was a new system of reporting, wherein senators and other members of the organization would have to give action-specific updates on their projects. Descriptions along the lines of "I have been working hard on my initiative [over] the last two weeks" were no longer acceptable and had to be replaced with "I met with Dean Dunne on Thursday."

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Lenahan said he chose to make the USG and its mission to improve the lives of undergraduates his primary concern, eclipsing academic work and personal life.

"Being USG president is basically a full-time job, with less regular hours," he said. "I get 150 e-mails a day, and there are ongoing things I need to be working on. My record was 21 hours [of work] in one day."

The overall success of Lenahan's presidency depends on what a student body president is supposed to accomplish and how much of his own vision he should apply to the position.

Leslie-Bernard Joseph '06, Lenahan's predecessor, approached the post on very different terms. His tenure was marked by an emphasis on addressing broad societal problems and their manifestations on campus.

Joseph focused on issues of race and what he felt was a lack of participation in public service on campus, creating the Princeton in the Nation's Service initiative and the Committee on Race and Campus Community.

Lenahan's approach was more pragmatic and focused directly on tangible issues that would yield concrete benefits to the undergraduate community.

"What does the USG do?" former USG president Matt Margolin '05 said in an interview about Lenahan. "It's not a legislative body. It's the job of the student government to listen to students' concerns. The president is really there as a link between the president of the University and the student body."

"My opinion has always been that if students think something is important, we think something is important," Lenahan said. "My goal was that if someone had something they thought would ... improve Princeton, their first thought would be 'I'm going to take this to the USG,' and I would want them to see progress on [their idea]."

Lenahan took an active role in discussions about the evolution of Campus Club as a future student social space and successfully oversaw student-life improvements, such as a higher e-mail storage quota and the earlier start of late dinner at Frist Campus Center.

Still, many seem to remember him most for his activities relating to grade deflation and four-year colleges.

"I think Alex worked extremely hard throughout his term," Sullivan said, "and the grading policy was [his] most public and prolific issue. He has really thought long and hard about his role in spearheading that effort."

Despite his clear dedication to that cause, some are unsure whether he achieved much success. "I think he himself would say he was disappointed that he didn't accomplish more on grade deflation," Biederman said. "I thought it was a difficult challenge, and the probability of success going in was very low. [So], I don't think he can be faulted with that."

"What's the measure of success? The single hardest thing to do in USG is to lay down concrete plans because things are always changing," Margolin said. "One of the best things with Alex is that he responded so well to change. I think he's done a very strong job."

Lenahan said his intention was not necessarily to change the grade deflation framework but to encourage conversation on the topic. "One of the things I never liked was the impression that this policy was done and set in stone," he said. "Like anything in the academic world, we should be continually discussing and debating it."

As far as the future of the USG is concerned, Lenahan believes Biederman "will do a good job" and will continue the progress made in the past year.

"Four-year colleges will start under Rob's tenure," he said. "It's important for the USG [to continue to pay] attention so that students' thoughts and concerns are addressed along the way."

Lenahan said he will wean himself gradually off his current role when Biederman takes office on the first day of second semester. "We're finishing up the Campus Club discussions, and I'll still probably go to those," he said, "but I'll get back to things I didn't have time for, like everything besides USG."

"I'll still be paying attention to things that are going on," he added, "and maybe getting a good night's sleep on occasion."