USG referendum eliminates freshman officer positions

The PCER referendum passed with 71.4 percent of the vote.

Yongmin Cho ’14, the sponsor of the referendum, noted in an email that its primary purpose is to encourage students to think about how unregulated investments could carry social harm. He said the next step would be to “finalize our research” and investigate the University’s investment scheme.

Eventually, Cho said, the committee will take its demands to Nassau Hall.

The second referendum, sponsored by Tulio Jose Alvarez Burgos ’12, will eliminate specific officer positions for the freshman class, creating a five-person council instead. 76.7 percent of voters supported the referendum.

“It’s a good first step toward reforming class government,” Burgos said in an email. “Further changes should be made to increase accountability and prevent the roles from becoming meaningless titles,” he added.

Along with the two referenda, the spring ballot included elections for class officer positions, U-Councilors and, for the first time, alumni class officers for the Class of 2012. Notably absent, however, was an election for the USG social chair position. A constitutional amendment approved by the USG Senate on April 1 moved the election for social chair to the fall and extended the term of the current social chair, Benedict Wagstaff ’14, by one semester. The amendment was passed to ensure that an experienced chair would be in charge of planning fall Lawnparties.

Alumni class officers have never appeared on the USG ballot until this year. The Class of 2012 elected Lindy Li ’12, the current class president, to continue representing its interests after graduation. She garnered 41 percent of the vote, beating John Monagle ’12 and Laura Pedersen ’12.

“I feel incredibly grateful and excited to be elected, and I hope to do the best job possible for my classmates,” Li said in an email. She also said moving the alumni elections to the USG ballot was a “great idea.”

Julie Chang ’12 was elected alumni vice president in a hotly contested race with four other candidates, winning 32 percent of the votes. Nina Bahadur ’12 beat Shannyn Gaughan ’12 for alumni secretary, taking 55 percent of the vote.

“I have never been involved in the USG before, so this will be an exciting new experience for me,” Bahadur said in an email.

Andrew Nielsen Lewis ’12 won the position of alumni treasurer in an uncontested election.

Despite the fact that some alumni position winners didn’t gain a majority of votes, USG president Bruce Easop ’13 said in an email that there will be no runoff elections for any office this year. He explained that because the Alumni Office administers the elections for alumni positions, they are governed by a different set of rules than normal USG elections. In the case of a tie, though, he said that a runoff would be necessary.

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

The USG will see little turnover next semester, as many of the current officers were reelected to their positions, including four of the five officers of the Class of 2013. President Zach Beecher ’13, vice president Stefan Kende ’13 and social chair Jamie Joseph ’13 were reelected in uncontested elections. Treasurer Hanna Tian ’13 was reelected to her current position, winning 66 percent of the vote against Josh Bachner ’13. Tian and Bachner were unable to be reached for comment. Ben Chan ’13 was elected secretary in an uncontested race, replacing current secretary Kendra Simon ’13, who did not seek reelection.

Three current officers from the Class of 2014 will return to their positions: president Luchi Mmegwa ’14, treasurer Sophia Deng ’14 and secretary Mary D’Onofrio ’14.

Dylan Ackerman ’14, currently the Student Groups Recognition Committee chair, was elected vice president of his class, beating the incumbent Jason Adleberg ’14 in a close race. Ackerman won 52 percent of votes to Adleberg’s 48 percent. Both were unable to be reached for comment.

Cameron Henneberg ’14 was elected social chair, beating Matt Pugliese ’14 in another close race. Henneberg received 53 percent of votes to Pugliese’s 47 percent. Henneberg, currently a U-Councilor, said he expected a close race.

“I knew Matt and I were both very strong candidates,” Henneberg explained in an email.

The Class of 2015 officers will remain unchanged. President Jon Ma ’15, vice president Samisha Bansal ’15, treasurer Cordelia Orillac ’15 and secretary Yeri Lee ’15 were reelected in uncontested races. Danny Johnson ’15 was reelected as social chair, garnering 56 percent of the vote against two challengers, Nabeer Khan ’15 and Valentin Hernandez ’15.

Johnson is also a copy editor for The Daily Princetonian.

Ten U-Councilors were also elected, including Elektra Alivisatos ’14, Farrah Bui ’14, Katherine Clifton ’15, Gavin Cook ’15, Hae Bin Kim ’13, Elan Kugelmass ’14, Zhan Okuda-Lim ’15, Paul Riley ’15, Sarah Wiley ’13 and Yifan Zhu ’15.