USG senate reviews fall budget, goals for coming semester

The Undergraduate Student Government Senate discussed their fall budget and their goals for the semester during their first meeting of the year on Sunday.

USG president Ella Cheng ’16 said that she is pursuing a joint town hall with Dean of the College Jill Dolan and Vice President for Campus Life W. Rochelle Calhoun to serve as an open forum outside of Senate meetings.

Cheng is a former staff writer for the ‘Prince.’

The USG has been working to make changes on the dining front, Cheng explained, including the Princeton Preferred Foods Project as well as heritage months. Cheng added that the Campus Dining Student Advisory Board — which is co-chaired by Cheng with Director of Dining Services Smitha Haneef — will become a long-term forum to provide feedback about dining on campus.

U-Councilor Jacob Cannon ’17 suggested USG asks the administration for updates on their efforts for diversity and equity, either through the Council of the Princeton University Community or through a public meeting.

Among Cheng’s ongoing projects was a plan for student group leader training, which she explained would occur in partnership with Career Services. Designed in part as a response to last year’s Urban Congo incident, in which a student group sparked outrage after a controversial performance, the training process could infuse professional development skills, Cheng said.

The training would also give club leaders a chance to speak with the equity office to discuss how to handle equity issues that might come up in organizing student groups.

U-Council chair Naimah Hakim ’16 said she is excited about the U Matter campaign and asked if there would be a specific role for the USG to play in this campaign. According to Cheng, Sexual Harassment/Assault Advising, Resources and Education director Jacqueline Deitch-Stackhouse hopes to work with USG to publicize U Matter and there might be more opportunities for involvement in the future.

Cheng and USG vice president Aleksandra Czulak ’17 also noted that they are meeting with University President Christopher Eisgruber ’83 this coming week to go over what USG has in store for the semester.

The Senate voted to approve the fall budget as presented by treasurer Hunter Dong ’17. Some of the internal funding items included $5,000 for “office expenses,” which Dong explained would be used for constantly restocking office supplies, including paper, meeting materials, snacks and coffee.

Dong said he hopes there will be more avenues for worthwhile activities like the PrinceTHON dance marathon to receive funding through USG. Because it is not an official group and the event occurs only once a year, PrinceTHON has previously been unable to apply for funding through ODUS or Projects Board, Dong noted.

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Cheng explained that there would be negotiations over USG office staff’s salaries included in Dong’s budget overview. This would involve shifting work hours so that the paid staff members would not be working during dinner hours, when students tend not to visit the USG office.

During the meeting, the Senate also approved the appointment of Class of 2017 senator Cailin Hong, who is replacing Chris Shin ’17, and chief elections manager Sung Won Chang ’18, who is replacing Grant Golub ’17.

Hong is a former design editor for the 'Prince,' and Golub is a former staff writer.

Social committee chair Simon Wu ’17 explained that the recent Lawnparties went well in terms of logistics.

“I heard generally positive feedback on the act itself,” Wu said.

Wu added that the committee would consider the feedback from the last two Lawnparties to make sure everyone on campus can be involved in process of artist selection.