USG discusses new social events calendar app

President Bruce Easop ’13 began the meeting by discussing the USG’s “Mental Health Week,” which is set to begin Monday.

Social chair Benedict Wagstaff ’14 and communications director Andy Martens ’13 discussed the social app program, which will be integrated with the USG events calendar to show the times and locations of campus events. The application will also display locations of printer clusters and the availability of libraries.

Martens said eating clubs will also have access to the social map. The USG spoke with the Interclub Council, but it will be up to individual clubs to choose to participate in the app’s features. Martens is also the director of Prox and Social Media for The Daily Princetonian.

A proposed part of the app is a pass request system where students can add their name to a list of students seeking a pass to a club on a given night.

Treasurer Lillie Cartwright ’14 next updated the Senate on the USG’s activities budget. Easop noted that USG senators should seek funding approval as soon as possible.

“One of the places we get in trouble is when we wait until the last minute to get something approved,” he said.

Undergraduate Life Committee chair Adi Rajagopalan ’13 then discussed the status of gender-neutral housing. Rajagopalan said the housing program was extended and is no longer considered a pilot. Nine gender-neutral units were first introduced in Spelman two years ago.

“All rooms part of gender-neutral housing are now part of regular room draw process,” Rajagopalan said, explaining that there is no advantage to drawing as part of a mixed-gender group. Rajagopalan said that changes that the Housing Department recently agreed to were based on the undergraduate housing survey, including the decision not to create new gender-neutral suites.

U-Council chair Merik Mulcahy ’13 questioned why only specific rooms were designated gender-neutral rather than allowing a set number of gender-neutral draw groups choosing where to live. Rajagopalan left open this possibility.

“I’m not going to say we’re done,” he said.

Easop and Wagstaff next discussed the timing of social chair elections, which are currently held in the spring. The two mentioned that the elections interfered with the planning of fall Lawnparties. The Senate discussed the possibility of moving the election to the fall when the rest of the USG is elected.

The body debated whether the social chair elected this spring would serve a single semester until a new round of elections in the fall or instead a three-semester term until the fall of 2013. They also discussed the possibility of having two social chairs whose tenures temporarily overlap.

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The change in the timing of the election would result in a change to the USG constitution. Associate Dean Thomas Dunne noted that it “could be a challenge” having two social chairs, mentioning that the administration couldn’t solve a conflict between two chairs. The social chair debate was not resolved in the public meeting.

The meeting concluded with an agenda-setting session for next week’s meeting and then a private executive commission session with appointed officers.