Candidates for GSG elections talk transparency, mental health, budget

For the first time in two years, the race for Graduate Student Government (GSG) president is contested. Jan Ertl GS, Caridad Estrada GS, and Arafat Safdar GS are running for the top position.

Zoe Gorman GS and Andrea Aude GS are running for Vice President (VP), while Anastacia Dressel GS and Nivedita Kanrar GS are running for Vice President of Internal Affairs (VPIA).

Elections for the Executive Board of the Graduate Student Government (GSG) began on Wednesday, Jan. 14.

In their respective platforms, Ertl focuses on increased accountability from GSG and supporting graduate students during budget cuts, Safdar highlights a need for more productive conversations about mental health issues, and Estrada aims to increase transparency within GSG.

“I do want to make all expenses that the GSG makes as part of their operations public. There’s no reason not to,” said Ertl in an interview with The Daily Princetonian. Ertl is the current vice president of internal affairs for GSG.

“There’s been legitimate concern from the graduate student body that officers might be using their funds maybe a little bit too liberally.”

Ertl’s platform also focuses on supporting international students and addressing funding cuts.

Safdar’s platform emphasizes increasing student representation in GSG and focusing on mental health.

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He said he wants to address the “sociological” aspects of mental health at Princeton rather than focusing solely on increasing resources and sending out statements.

“Those are the kinds of conversations, the real conversations [about mental health] that we need to be talking more openly about and more honestly about,” Safdar told the ‘Prince.’

Safdar — the only candidate for President with no prior GSG experience — said that he has “significant experience” in leadership, thanks to his time on several committees within his academic department, Near Eastern Studies.

Estrada, the current vice president of GSG, hopes to redirect some internal spending to support student-facing initiatives — such as creating emergency and hardship funds — and “invest more in resources that really benefit everyone, not just a select few.”

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“You really need someone as president that has the courage to reform internal structures and enforce accountability of other officers, improve transparency, and restore that trust,” Estrada said.

Like Estrada, both vice presidential candidates, Zoë Gorman GS and Andrea Aude GS, highlight transparency and student engagement in their platforms.

“We have a very strained budgetary environment coming from the University, and a combination of that with limited trust and engagement on the part of students … might lead some to pass over the needs of graduate students,” Gorman said.

Initiatives that Gorman hopes to promote include a “mental health ideathon” to understand students’ mental health needs, setting standardized practices or expectations among advisors, and establishing a town hall where GSG can systematically present ideas to University administration.

Aude intends to implement more reform within GSG itself.

“Everyone operates in a very siloed manner,” Aude said in an interview with the ‘Prince.’ “I feel like if we can utilize the full extent of the board together to try and get things done, we could achieve a lot more.”

Aude hopes to include the Assembly — a representative body composed of more than 40 graduate students who represent academic departments and various student groups — more in GSG decision-making. She also aims to standardize onboarding for Assembly representatives so they can understand the full extent of their responsibilities.

Nivedita Kanrar GS, one of the candidates for the vice president of internal affairs (VPIA), emphasizes maintaining graduate student programs in the midst of budget cuts in her platform.

“A lot of the small things that we may not notice … these are the things that go first, and then by the time you lose the continuity, you lose those interactions, it’s too late,” Kanrar said in an interview with the ‘Prince.’

Kanrar also hopes to increase accountability within GSG and plans to implement initiatives that make them more accessible to the student body, such as weekly coffee chats.

Anastacia Dressel GS, the other candidate for VPIA, did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Both candidates for treasurer, Yongqi Wang GS and Varun Sivashankar GS, aim to incorporate more student input into budgetary decisions.

Sivashankar said his primary objective would be to create a publicly accessible breakdown of all GSG expenditures. He also hopes to “get a sense for whether grad students approve of an initiative or not” when the cost is “reasonably large.”

Wang is also planning to increase student input by hosting office hours and establishing a “formal platform” for students to share their ideas, such as a special email address or Google Sheet. He hopes to acquire outside sources of funding, potentially by hosting “branded activities.”

Many candidates for other positions, including facilities officer candidate Noah Zahn GS, are also aiming for greater transparency.

“You don’t want a bus route to be closed without the students knowing why it’s closed,” Zahn said.

Zahn also told the ‘Prince’ that many students have found mail in the mailroom at Meadows Apartments, a University graduate student residential complex, to be consistently misplaced and disorganized. He described this as “the most pressing issue,” and said he will increase coordination between delivery companies, graduate students, and American Campus Communities, which oversees Meadows Apartments.

Pao Engelbrecht GS, also running for facilities officer, wrote to the ‘Prince’ that housing, cost of living, and road safety are the central focus of his platform.

“Having a home that actually feels like home can make a huge difference in student life, especially for international students.” Engelbrecht wrote.

Erfan Hosseini GS, the third candidate for facilities officer, did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Kevin Zhang GS is a candidate for special events chair. “There can be more transparency in all of the events planning,” he said. One of his goals is to increase variety in events and internal communication surrounding event scheduling, especially within GSG, so members know what others are planning.

Mingkun Zhao GS, the other candidate for special events chair, aims to include more self-care events into graduate student life. “We work as a community, as a whole, and I hope that by organizing more self-care events, we can advocate for students to care about their mental health aside from their research progress,” Zhao said in an interview with the ‘Prince.’

Other candidates focused on the need for greater availability of wellness and support resources for graduate students.

“I want to make health and life resources easier to find and less intimidating, while also creating more casual, low-pressure ways for grad students to feel connected,” Health and Life Officer candidate Hantao Wu GS wrote to the ‘Prince.’

Ananya Chakravarti GS, running for reelection as health and life officer, also emphasized visibility, inclusivity, and sustainable wellness programming as essential to her role.

In a written statement to the ‘Prince,’ Chakravarti identified “barriers to accessible healthcare and accommodations, gaps in preventative care, and the ongoing strain on graduate student mental, emotional, and physical health” as the most pressing issues.

Chakravarti outlined several potential initiatives she hopes to introduce, such as culturally themed wellness events, weekly wellness challenges, expanding menstrual product availability, and on-campus blood draws.

Viola Chen GS, running for International Student Affairs Officer, is focusing on ensuring international students have the necessary information and resources to adjust to living in another country.

“If there’s demand, I think it could be helpful to pool a bunch of questions every month [to ask the] Davis International Center [IC] and send out the responses so everyone can see them,” Chen said.

Lynn Hirose GS, another candidate for International Student Affairs Officer, also emphasized helping international students more smoothly adjust to living in the United States. She suggested hosting events that are more “relaxed” to better welcome students who may feel isolated.

“The problem that always arises with hosting these kinds of events is it’s difficult to identify isolated students, because they simply do not show up,” Hirose said.

Marti Vives GS, another candidate for International Student Affairs Officer, is centering his goals around legal matters. He aims to work with the Davis IC to pilot a program that offers free immigration attorney consultations.

“Especially in this complex landscape, I think it would be useful for students to have as a resource some free consultations for current cases or future cases,” Vives said.

Clara Blanco GS is also running for International Student Affairs officer. She was unable to provide a comment.

Keshav Shukla GS and Yassine Ait Ali GS are running for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) chair.

Shukla is advocating for more programming targeted towards specific affinity spaces. Additionally, he said he will create a “confidential and anonymous reporting portal” where students can report instances of bias.

“I would want to help establish recurring weekly [or] bi-weekly affinity spaces for graduate students who are specifically part of certain historically marginalized communities within graduate education,” Shukla said.

Ali has served as the acting DEI chair since last semester. His plans include forming stronger connections with the Graduate School’s Access, Diversity, and Inclusion Office and relaunching the GSG Buddy Program to pair first-year graduate students with students in higher years.

The program would allow first-year students to “anticipate and navigate the challenges of Grad School, making sure everyone enjoys Princeton in the best way possible,” Ali wrote in an email to the ‘Prince.’

Robel Geda GS, who is running unopposed for social officer, and Carla Crucianelli GS and Poorya Mollahosseini GS, the candidates for academic affairs officer, did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Voting for Executive Board positions will remain open until Jan 25. All candidate statements can be found here.

Elizabeth Hu is a News contributor from Houston, Texas. She can be reached at eh9203@princeton.edu.

Amaya Taylor is a News and Prospect contributor from Memphis, Tenn. She can be reached at at9074@princeton.edu.

Oliver Wu is a News contributor for the ‘Prince.’ He is from Stony Brook, N.Y. and can be reached at oliver.wu@princeton.edu.

Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com

Correction: A previous version of this piece said that Hector Hernandez GS is a candidate for VPIA. This is not true. The ‘Prince’ regrets this error.