USG appoints new U-Councilor, civic chair

After a spot on the U-Council was vacated and a new USG position was created, two sophomores have been tapped to fill the roles.

The USG's executive committee nominated Veneka Chagwedera '09 Tuesday night to fill the U-Council seat vacated by Kent Kuran '08's resignation last month. The committee also chose Jacob Candelaria '09 to serve as the USG's first civic engagement chair. Both nominations await confirmation from the USG senate.

The civic chair was created to revitalize the Princeton in the Nation's Service (PINS) initiative, USG president Rob Biederman '08 said. The USG launched the program in 2005 to promote service projects by coordinating student groups and increasing fundraising efforts.

But the program has received criticism from students and USG members alike for not producing tangible results.

"In the past, PINS was rather inorganic, and it seemed rather forced because the USG was the initiator," Biederman said. "We'd like to make it so [the projects are] all self-initiated, and we're just the promoter and aggregator."

During the U-Councilor selection process, Chagwedera distinguished herself with her many campus leadership posts, USG vice president Josh Weinstein '09 said.

"The committee was unanimous in its belief that Veneka is best for the job based on her experience, initiative and ability as demonstrated with her prior work on campus," Weinstein said. She was chosen from among 26 candidates.

Chagwedera, who is from Zimbabwe, is a co-president of the International Consortium and an executive board member of the African Students Association and the Princeton Admissions Link.

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She has also worked as a career peer adviser through Career Services and is a mentor in the Black Student Union's Leadership and Mentoring Program.

The new civic engagement chair will help coordinate various student groups on campus and aid them in their service projects, Biederman said.

The impetus for the position, Biederman said, was to lighten the load of campus and community affairs chair Cindy Hong '09 so she can focus campus life.

Candelaria said he initially applied for a position on the U-Council. He added that, in his new role, he would like to encourage communication among student groups engaged in service projects so they can pool resources more efficiently.

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"I hope to facilitate new and strengthen old ties between community leaders and student groups as well anyone interested in serving this community," Candelaria said in an email. "I also intend to work on launching a series of USG issue symposia which deal with regional social, political and economic concerns."

The creation of the civic engagement position is no sudden development, Biederman said, adding that the USG has been discussing the post for some time. The recent U-Council application process afforded an opportunity to select a qualified candidate, he said. The USG will hold a civic engagement town hall meeting this Friday to brainstorm ideas.

"We knew we needed to create this position at some point during this year," Biederman said. "We recognized this as an excellent opportunity and capitalized on it."