USG discusses results of the recent “What I Be” project

The USG discussed the success of the “What I Be” project at its meeting on Sunday night. The project brought photographer Steve Rosenfield to campus in order to “create security through insecurity” by photographing students with words describing personal insecurities written on their bodies.

Eighty-one students and three other individuals were photographed during the week with the aim of starting the conversation of Mental Health Week, which begins this week, according to Shirley Gao ‘13, the organizer of the project.

“In my view, I think this project was a huge success,” Gao said during her presentation. “There’s really a demand to bring Steve back and to continue these conversations.”

Gao said she plans to display the photographs in art exhibits in the six residential colleges, Frist Campus Center, the Carl A. Fields Center and the Pace Center. She also plans to print the photographs on posters to hang around campus.

“The idea is that, by having this be everywhere and be very visually present in people’s lives, it’ll make people continue to think about what this project means, what it means to be vulnerable to this culture of effortless perfection at Princeton and, you know, really make people question that,” Gao said.

Along with a slideshow of compliments of the program, U-Councilor Zhan Okuda-Lim ‘15, who had his picture taken as part of the project, also praised the initiative, saying that he heard from many students that they had decided to seek help after seeing his photograph and reading his story.

“That is the power of this project. That is the power of ‘What I Be’ - showing people that they’re not alone, showing people that there is help and that there is hope,” Okuda-Lim said. “Not only has this touched people’s lives on campus, I would bet that it’s actually helped save some lives.”

The USG also discussed a new “J-term” idea, which is being explored by U-Councilors Gavin Cook ‘15 and Katherine Clifton ‘15.

According to Cook, “J-term” was inspired by similar sessions at other colleges and universities. The two visions for “J-term” so far are either to have an “Intersession pact” to encourage as many students as possible to stay on campus during Intersession or to create programming and classes for students who stay on campus during the break.

The majority of USG members who spoke on the topic supported the idea of special events to engage students who choose to stay on campus during the break but did not think that classes would be as popular.

“The reason we like Intersession is because it’s the one break ... when you don’t have work,” U-Councilor Elektra Alivisatos ‘14 said.

USG president Shawon Jackson ‘15 said during his president’s report that Vice President for Campus Life Cynthia Cherrey was “super open to the idea” of having a “J-term” when he spoke to her during a meeting last week.

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The present voting members of the USG also unanimously passed a funding request made by U-Councilor Elan Kugelmass ‘14 for bussing over spring break.

Kugelmass requested $6,000-$12,000, which would be paid back to the USG with the profits from the tickets.

According to Kugelmass, six students have signed up so far for the Boston bus and 22 have signed up for the Washington, D.C. bus. The buses will be canceled if they are not filled by the Feb. 27 deadline. It takes 45 students to sign up to fill the a bus.