32 take part in USG elections

Thirty-two candidates are seeking election to the USG this year, with the polls opening on Monday after a week of campaigning. The winners will be announced on Friday.

Three members of the Class of 2013 are seeking the office of USG president, currently held by the graduating Michael Yaroshefsky ’12: Bruce Easop, Catherine Ettman and Shikha Uberoi.

Easop, currently the Class of 2013 senator, said his experiences both inside and outside the USG have equipped him for the role of president.

“I think my combination of hands-on project experience inside USG with leadership experiences in other organizations would really help me represent a variety of student experiences, but at the same time I know how to get things done within the USG,” he said, noting in particular his experience as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Bioethics.

Easop added that he hoped to reform the course guide, set up a more advanced network of academic advising and connect the USG more directly to the campus as a whole.

“One of the things I hope this election accomplishes is to actually bring a little energy to USG, to energize the student body about what we actually do accomplish,” he explained.

Ettman, the current USG vice president, also stressed the need for change in the academic advising system. She added that if elected she would look to improve student health both mentally and physically by offering better food in the C-store and attempting to destigmatize psychological counseling.

She also said that working for the Vice President of Campus Life over the summer gave her a valuable and unique perspective on the administration’s attitude toward students.

“They’re worried about the Class of 2024,” Ettman explained. “They have a really different perspective, and I think that’s something that students need to be aware of, especially when you’re going to the negotiation table.”

Like Ettman and Easop, Uberoi pointed to her extracurricular experiences as evidence of leadership abilities. Uberoi is a co-founder of Princeton Against Sex Trafficking and Princeton South Asian Theatrics.

“I feel like I’ve been doing so much work on campus and serving the community hands-on at a grassroots level, starting groups, leading groups, reorganizing them, I just felt like it was almost a natural progression,” she said of her decision to run for president.

Uberoi, who withdrew from the University for eight years to play professional tennis, also highlighted the value of her work during those years away.

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“I managed my own career, managed companies, started businesses. I know I can lead.”

Meanwhile, running for vice president this year are Merik Mulcahy ’13 and Stephen Stolzenberg ’13.

Mulcahy, who has served two terms as a U-Councilor, said he is running because he wants to improve the infrastructure of the USG while expanding its role on campus.

“I am running for vice president because I believe that the USG needs to develop its internal processes in a way that will improve the quality of our work and expand our capacity for facilitating collaboration on campus and because I want to make information and resources more available to students,” he said in an email.

Stolzenberg, elected campus and community affairs chair in 2010, said he had a more personal motivation for his decision to run: a philosophy taught to him by his parents.

“If you expect to have community that can serve your needs and the needs of others, you have to take responsibility for it,” he said.

He cited his time as the CCA chair — during which he directed Communiversity while also selecting members of the Honor Committee — and other tasks as valuable past experiences. If elected, he said he hopes to make late meal available to upperclassmen and to reform the academic calendar, most notably giving students the day off on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.

Incumbent Lillian Cartwright ’14 and Dylan Ackerman ’14 are running for the office of treasurer.

Cartwright highlighted her past success in this role. “I was able to keep the USG financially stable by efficiently managing our budget of over $350,000 in student fees,” she said in an email, adding that she also made the budget more transparent through weekly expenditure updates and hopes in the future to seek outside sources of funding for large-scale events.

Ackerman said he believed even more transparency in the budget was necessary.

“The USG budget isn’t available for students to look at, which I have a fundamental problem with,” he said. “I want that budget to be accessible by students; I want students to know these are the plans the USG has to do with your money.”

He also said that as treasurer he hopes to implement a system whereby financial proposals could be considered more in depth before senate meetings to ensure the best use of USG funding.

The offices of USG academics chair and undergraduate life committee chair are both uncontested. Steven Rosen ’13 is seeking reelection to the former, and Adi Rajagopalan ’13 is seeking reelection to the latter.

Three candidates are running for the campus and community affairs chair: Caroline Hanamirian ’13, Carmina Mancenon ’14 and John McNamara ’14.

Hanamirian, the editor-in-chief of Business Today, said she combined real-world financial experience with a love of service and the community.

“I think it’s really important to come into this position with an appreciation for service and an understanding that at the end of the day businesses on Nassau Street want to make money and kids at Princeton want to save money, and there’s a way we can align those two pieces,” she said.

She added that she hoped to encourage shops on Nassau Street to adopt a standardized system of alerting students to discounts while also alerting businesses to the major events in the Princeton academic calendar.

McNamara, who has served as the USG executive secretary for the past year, echoed her sentiments.

“When family and friends come to visit they are amazed at how much the town of Princeton has to offer, but I believe as students we fail to fully take advantage of life north of Nassau Street,” he said in an email. “Our college experience shouldn’t stop at the front gates, and I believe it would be my duty as CCA chair to make the town of Princeton a place that students can truly call their own.”

Mancenon emphasized her own real-world financial experience at a “fashion microfinance organization” called Stitch Tomorrow, which she presented at the World Economic Forum, as well as her work as social chair of the International Students Association and on the Pace Council.

Running for 2013 senator are Erin Byrne, the chief designer on the USG for the past year, and Andrew Blumenfeld, the incumbent. As there are two senate positions for each class, the candidates are running uncontested. Byrne said her past involvement with the organization gave her the confidence to become a leader in it and looked not so much to push thorugh policy initiatives as to represent her class to the best of her ability.

“I wouldn’t say I have my own agenda,” she explained in an email. “My goal is to represent my class and amplify its voice in discussions and decisions.”

There are three candidates for the Class of 2014 senator: Dillon Sharp, the incumbent, as well as Lisa Femia and Charissa Shen. Femia said her time in real-world politics motivated her to run for class government and added that she hoped to reform the lock-out policy and improve Tiger Transit. Shen, the projects manager of the USG for the past year, said she has had experience with multiple facets of the USG and noted that she has read through over 1,000 student suggestions. Sharp did not respond to request for comment.

Fifteen freshmen are running for the senator position: Phway Aye, Elise Backman, Caleb Bradford, Gavin Cook, Chris Costantini, Deana Davoudiasl, Kyle Douglas, Mary Funk, Shawon K. Jackson, Dalia Katan, Nabeer Khan, Madhu Ramankutty, Paul Riley, Shu Saha and Yifan Zhu.

See Monday’s paper for further coverage of the Class of 2015 candidates.