USG discusses PrinceTHON project

USG Social Chair Logan Roth ’15 presented the PrinceTHON project to the Senate at the first meeting of the new administration on Sunday night.

According to its website, PrinceTHON has started "a year-long effort of innovative projects to unite the community and fundraise for big impact causes, culminating in Princeton’s first dance marathon" which will take place on April 5. The eight-hour event will raise money by charging $25 for every person that registers, Roth said.

Proceeds raised through the dance marathon will support the Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation in its mission of developing less painful and invasive surgical procedures, the website reads.

Roth explained that the group, which has 20 board members, does not need funding, but instead wants to raise awareness about the event by turning to USG. Roth is involved in the project and featured on the PrinceTHON website.

In addition to the planned dance marathon, PrinceTHON is also working on creating more opportunities for Princeton students to directly help with pediatric research at SZI by offering internships and postgraduate fellowships, according to the website.

The USG Senate also recapped and evaluated itsWintersession programat the meeting.Although 84 percent of students rated the quality of courses as four out of five or higher, one issue that the USG hopes to address next year is student attendance.

U-Council chair Elan Kugelmass ’14 noted that the USG wishes to raise student attendance from 60 percent to 80 percent. He said thatthere were some classes that were expected to be full based on enrollment, but in reality, not all of the students who signed up were in attendance.

In order to address this issue, Kugelmass suggested that students should provide a deposit when taking a class, although this would mean that attendance would have to be more heavily monitored.

Roth proposed a smaller class size and that in the future, when students sign up for Wintersession classes, they should be well aware that they are expected to attend all the classes.

U-Councilor Laura Du ’14 also noted that some professors commented that they would have liked to teach a course during Wintersession.

Although some members of the USG believed that the addition of faculty would take away from the “essence of the student instructors,” they discussed the possibility of students and faculty teaching together in future Wintersession courses.

The USG also approved a $4,000 fund request for Mental Health Week in order to bring photographer Steve Rosenfield back to campus for the second What I Be photography project on campus. The request was approved in a vote of 15 in favor, six opposed and one abstained.

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Correction: Due to a reporting error, an earlier version of this article inaccurately described the way PrinceTHON will raise money. The 'Prince' regrets the error.