USG elections see more contested positions

Unlike recent years, most Undergraduate Student Government elections this year will be contested, according to an email from USG president Shawon Jackson '15 announcing the candidates on Friday.

Three candidates are vying for the presidency: William Gansa ’17,USG vice president Molly Stoneman ’16 andchair of the USG University Student Life Committee Ella Cheng ’16.

This is a marked departure from last year’s USG elections, in which there were only two presidential candidates, both of whom were male.

According to chief elections manager Amara Nnaeto ’17, the campaigning process has begun smoothly without any serious disputes. Nnaeto said she is optimistic about the diversity of candidates.

“This election will be more contested, which is great because we want as many people that are interested in running for election to not be afraid that they’re not going to get in,” Nnaeto said.

According to Jackson's email, there are 28 candidates running for a senate position this year, which is a decline from 30 candidates last year.

No candidates are running for either Class of 2016 senator positions, treasurer or campus and community affairs committee chair. Nnaeto said that the vacant positions will be filled by an appointed chair application process to take place after elections.

Cheng said that, among the candidates, she has the most elected experience by serving as a senator and Student Life Committee chair, and has been involved in numerous USG projects. She added that in order to make changes within USG and for students, she would need to run for president.

Cheng is a former staff writer for The Daily Princetonian.

“When I first went into office, I was very well aware of students’ [views] of USG among certain groups of students on campus, which say, ‘This doesn’t really do anything, and it doesn’t really help me,’ ” she said.

Cheng explained that the duty of USG was to its students, and that more projects should be focused on structural changes. She said that she wants to address incumbency concerns, increase transparency and incorporate more student ideas into USG planning.

“There needs to be a bigger set of changes to make sure that the projects actually make big impacts and that students know about them,” Cheng said.

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Stoneman, who has experience serving on the Class of 2016 Council and in the senate, said she believes her understanding of the facets of USG will allow her to make reforms in the best interest of the students. She noted that serving as vice president this past year has allowed her to evaluate USG’s potential on a personal level.

“I believe the role of USG president is to set the vision of USG. My vision is to create a campus where every single person feels engaged and empowered,” Stoneman said.

Stoneman said she also hopes to encourage women’s leadership on campus, in addition to revamping Lawnparties and expanding freshman leadership programs.

“Our mission is not only to provide leadership opportunities and direction for administrators on an internal level, but to really reach out to every student in a way so that they feel connected, and so that they not only feel more connected to this campus and to each other, but they can, in turn, feel more comfortable in engaging [others] and being empowered,” she said.

Both Stoneman and Cheng noted that there are fewer women than men in leadership positions, a disparity they said they wish to address.

The last USG female president was elected in 2002.

Gansa, a newcomer to USG, is the only male running for presidency.He declined to comment.

“USG’s pervasive culture of incumbency has severely inhibited its ability to promote necessary change on campus,”Gansa said in hiselections candidate statement.

USG executive secretary Aleksandra Czulak ’17 and U-councilor Dallas Nan ’16 are running for vice president.

Phillip Adams ’17 and Princeton Public Works chair Simon Wu ’17 are running for social chair.

USG website manager Kathy Chow ’17 and Student Life Committee member Carly Jackson ’16 are running forStudent Life Committee chair.

Former Academic Committee and Social Committee member Ramie Fathy ’16 is running unopposed for academics chair.

The Class of 2017 senate candidates are Mohamed Shalan, and senators Chris Shin and Kishan Bhatt.

Class of 2018 senate candidates are Sarah Baber, Evan Bell, Jeremy Burton, Karis Cha, Samuel Davies, Paul Draper, Christian Krueger, Ethan Marcus, Lukas Novak, Rohan Patlolla, Connor Pfeiffer,Samuel Russell, Sarah Sakha, Nehemiah Teferi and Jordan Thomas.

Pfeiffer is a member of the Editorial Board of the 'Prince.'

In addition to the senate candidate elections, two referenda will be voted on. The first concerns the transparency of the University's mental health policy, and the second involves the proposal of a campus pub.

Voting will begin at noon on Nov. 24 and end at noon on Nov. 26.