The final Undergraduate Student Government (USG) Senate meeting of the semester took place on Sunday. USG president Enzo Kho ’26, vice president Aishwarya Swamidurai ’26, committee chairs, and class senators reflected on their accomplishments in the past year.
USG executive board positions typically begin in the spring semester and conclude in the fall.
Kho touted the success of the USG Civil Liberties and International Student Experience working groups. According to Kho, the Civil Liberties working group “engaged the student advocacy groups around campus,” and the International Student Experience working group has increased support for international students in light of uncertainty around visas.
Kho also said the Projects Board was able to fund 85 more student groups than last year, following a budget increase from $140,000 to $160,000.
By the end of the spring semester, USG expects to release an Academic Life Total Assessment (ALTA), a comprehensive student academics report spearheaded by U-Councilor Shria Ajay ’27. USG last produced one ALTA in 2011.
“I’m super excited for this big survey, which would allow us to understand the general environment and landscape that we’re in academically at Princeton,” Kho said.
Swamidurai then discussed the policy work that USG has carried out over the past year and “directions of where to move going forward.” A particular area of focus was a referendum passed overwhelmingly by the student body last year that supported allowing students to elect the pass/D/fail (P/D/F) option for language class grading.
Swamidurai said that language department heads raised concerns about allowing P/D/F grading in 100-level classes, but noted that the Office of the Dean of the College (ODOC) was receptive to the idea of a P/D/F option in 200-level courses. Next week, USG will meet with language instructors and the Princeton Center for Language Study to propose allowing P/D/F in 200-level language courses, as well as piloting select 100-level courses as P/D/F-only.
“We think that both of these achieve the goal at a primary level while simultaneously addressing concerns that language instructors have,” Swamidurai said. “We hope that this is the first step in beginning to have a broader understanding of how students can P/D/F languages.”
Next, Swamidurai gave an update on a resolution passed last semester to expand due process protections in University disciplinary proceedings; USG has since submitted an evaluation of University disciplinary policies and reform recommendations to the Council of the Princeton University Community (CPUC) Committee on Rights and Rules.
Finally, Swamidurai listed some of USG’s goals for the future, including protecting students’ data from online harassment, continued student advocacy on dining changes, and expanding work and internship opportunities for international students.
“I share all of this to say that there is a lot more work to be done. These conversations will continue into January and the spring semester,” she said.
Next, all committee chairs and class senators provided an overview of their work this past year except for Undergraduate Student Life Committee chair Anuj Krishnan ’27 and Social Committee chair Aum Dhruv ’27, who were not present. Dhruv is a staff Audience creator for the ‘Prince.’
Krishnan was recently elected USG vice president. Dhruv recently mounted an unsuccessful bid for USG presidency, losing to USG treasurer Quentin Colón Roosevelt ’27.
Swamidurai presented on behalf of Krishnan, highlighting his advocacy against the University meal plan changes.
Academics Committee chair Connor Romberg ’27 discussed hosting the Academic Expo for first-years and roundtable discussions on recent modifications to the final assessments period and classroom artificial intelligence policies.
Kho, presenting on behalf of Dhruv, highlighted increased social media engagement for the committee, changes to Lawnparties safety and food accessibility, and success of various USG events.
Campus and Community Affairs (CCA) chair Oscar Barrios ’27 said that the CCA was able to expand programs such as Tigers in Town. This was made possible in part by CCA receiving its “largest ever budget” this year, according to Barrios.
Sustainability Committee chair Sastha Tripathi ’28 described hosting an Alumni in Sustainability Panel as a major success of the Sustainability Committee. The committee is currently holding several nature hikes over reading period, which Tripathi said served to “provide alternative study breaks.”
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Committee chair Brian Mhando ’26 pointed to improved gender neutral bathroom access and making prayer mats freely available to students as two successes. “When I came in this semester, I guess DEI wasn’t really a savvy thing, so I’m quite surprised with how far we’ve come since last spring,” he said.
Mental Health Committee chair Allen Nieva ’26 highlighted identity-focused mental health discussions as one important initiative. The committee also submitted an Excused Absence Policy Recommendation to ODOC, meant to advise new faculty members on excused absences due to mental health reasons, and held the first Ivy League mental health conference in five years.
“I notably expanded this committee to historic numbers to expand access, not just to the subject of mental health, but opportunities for mental health advocacy,” said Nieva.
Class of 2028 senator Vivian Chang ’28 spoke about “the tremendous success” of a recent pilot of subsidized NJ Transit tickets she ran with co-senator Raghav Pradhan ’28. Class of 2026 senators Samuel Kligman ’26 and Hriday Unadkat ’26 discussed collecting student perspectives on dining in response to the Huron Report, as well as amending the USG Constitution.
The meeting concluded with an attendance review of members. The Senate voted to go into executive session for the review, which made it closed to the public — the only non-member present being the ‘Prince’ reporter. Colón Roosevelt and Kligman were the only two votes opposed to the executive session.
Following winter recess, weekly USG Senate meetings will resume with a newly-elected USG executive board under the leadership of Colón Roosevelt.
Oliver Wu is a News contributor for the ‘Prince.’ He is from Stony Brook, N.Y. and can be reached at oliver.wu[at]princeton.edu.
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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