In addition to the referendum on the Honor Committee proposed by Dan May ’11, the USG spring elections ballot will include a referendum proposed on the Congressional Employment Non-Discrimination Act. A planned third referendum will be removed from the ballot, USG president Michael Yaroshefsky ’12 said.
The included referendum, proposed by the Princeton Equality Project and cosponsored by the Princeton American Civil Liberties Union and the Pride Alliance, asks the USG to recommend that the University’s Board of Trustees officially endorse the legislation on behalf of the student body.
According to the ENDA Referendum’s Facebook page, there are 29 states in which an individual can legally be fired on the basis of sexual orientation. In an additional nine states, no workplace protection exists for gender identity and expression.
ENDA, which has been proposed in every Congress since 1994 except for the 2005-06 Congress, would prohibit employers in all states from discriminating against employees on the basis of sexual orientation. The bill, introduced by Massachusetts representative Barney Frank and endorsed by President Barack Obama, passed in the House after the Democrats regained the majority in 2006, but was never passed in the Senate.
The text of PEP’s referendum says that, by officially endorsing the legislation, the Board of Trustees will be acting “in accordance with its mission of preparing the next generation of leaders in the workforce.”
“Princeton alumni are constantly facing the threat of employment discrimination regardless of the skills and knowledge they acquire at Princeton,” PEP president Andrew Blumenfeld ’13 said in an email. “Students need to know about this, and the University needs to act.”
On April 15, The Daily Princetonian reported that PEP had collected over 300 signatures for the referendum, more than the 200 required to get the proposal on the ballot. The referendum requires a simple majority to pass, as long as this majority accounts for at least one-sixth of the enrolled undergraduate student body.
If the referendum passes by this margin — around 860 votes — Yaroshefsky would make the recommendation to the Board of Trustees on behalf of the student body.
Though Blumenfeld said he is unsure of the impact the trustees’ endorsement would have on the bill’s chances, he added that it is nonetheless important for PEP to do what they can to raise awareness.
“It is difficult to predict what direct impact a University position will have on the bill’s future,” Blumenfeld explained. “We feel strongly that ENDA represents a common-sense issue of equality, and that provoking a campus-wide and then national conversation can create significant momentum that will deliver this important civil rights victory.”
Until late Sunday afternoon, the USG had been planning to include a second referendum on the ballot that would ask students three survey questions regarding their opinions on the University administration, the impact of the administration’s decisions on student life and the amount of student feedback the administration apparently solicited in making its decisions.
The three questions would be followed by a fourth asking if students thought the referendum should be included on the following year’s ballot or not.
The referendum, proposed by Kyle Smith ’09, first appeared on the ballot in the spring of 2008. In both 2008 and 2009, an overwhelming majority of students said that they disapproved of the administration’s actions and its lack of engagement with students while making decisions, and the students voted to include the referendum again on the following year’s ballot.
“There was a gap where we just didn’t have a general idea of what students’ opinions were,” Smith said. “I remember hearing people talking to friends and were passionate about various issues, and it struck me as an opportunity to solicit student feedback and have an idea of what people think.”
Spring 2010 saw a reversal of these trends, however, as a majority of students who voted expressed a favorable view of the administration. Though a large majority of students — 510 to 172 — thought the referendum should be included on the next year’s ballot, the majority did not constitute the necessary one-sixth of the student body.
The USG was consequently “not obligated” to include the referendum on this year’s spring ballot, Yaroshefsky told the ‘Prince’ on April 26 of last year. Nevertheless, elections manager Laura Eckhardt ’14 said that the self-perpetuating measure was once again on the ballot this spring.
“This referendum is a follow-up from last year’s election because the student body overwhelmingly voted ‘yes’ to Part D of the referendum so we are accordingly including it on the spring ballot this year,” Eckhardt said in an email to the ‘Prince.’
However, Yaroshefsky later told the ‘Prince’ that he would remove the referendum from the ballot.
“It did get a majority of votes, but too few students voted for the result to be binding according to our constitution. As a result of that, it’s not going to be on this ballot,” Yaroshefsky said. “Nobody has sponsored it. It’s too late now to include it on this ballot, but it could be included on future ballots if somebody sponsors it.”
After the referendum did not receive the necessary one-sixth of votes last year, last spring Yaroshefsky told the ‘Prince’ that he would recommend that this year’s administration send out a separate survey, independent from the USG ballot, to solicit student opinion on the administration.
However, his administration has not initiated this project because it is planning to send out a number of other surveys, including COMBO III, and would not want students to get “survey exhaustion,” he explained.
“If students say that they want this done or if the Senate sponsors it, we would do it,” Yaroshefsky added.
Read More
U. investigating swastika graffiti in graduate student apartment building
Sena ChangGraffiti of a swastika was discovered in mid-July at Princeton’s Lakeside graduate housing complex, prompting Public Safety to boost patrols and investigate. The Department of Public Safety’s investigation is still ongoing, with no suspects identified.
Graffiti of a swastika was discovered in mid-July at Princeton’s Lakeside graduate housing complex, prompting Public Safety to boost patrols and investigate. The Department of Public Safety’s investigation is still ongoing, with no suspects identified.
U. discontinues Wintersession, citing budget constraints
Hayk YengibaryanThe University will discontinue the Office of Campus Engagement and Wintersession in September amid budget cuts, ending the six-year program that has offered winter session since 2021.
The University will discontinue the Office of Campus Engagement and Wintersession in September amid budget cuts, ending the six-year program that has offered winter session since 2021.
Princeton boosts financial aid despite potential budget cuts, new endowment tax
Devon RudolphThe financial aid increase comes amid a rocky financial picture for many elite universities, which are confronting the loss of research federal funding and an endowment tax passed by Congress in July. It could also reduce Princeton’s tuition-paying student population.
Princeton's recent announcement of a boosted financial aid program could allow the University to be exempt from the recently passed federal endowment tax.