Seniors Swamidurai, Fayad, Kho advance to Young Alumni Trustee general election

Aishwarya Swamidurai ’26, Jamil Fayad ’26, and Enzo Kho ’26 are the three candidates to advance to the general election for Young Alumni Trustee. They have been selected by their class from an original pool of 15 candidates after eight days of voting.

The Young Alumni Trustee has all the same responsibilities and voting powers as the other members of the Board of Trustees and serves a four-year term. Of the 1,499 members of the Class of 2026, 545, or 36 percent, voted in the first round of the election, according to University spokesperson Jennifer Morrill.

The Class of 2026 had the lowest number of candidates for Young Alumni Trustee since at least 2018. Last year, 31 members of the Class of 2025 ran for the position, a slight increase from the 27 who ran in 2024 and 23 in 2023. 

Swamidurai, a major in the School of Public and International Affairs who previously served as the 2024–25 vice president of the Undergraduate Student Government (USG), said that her time in USG had a significant impact on her decision to run. 

“[It] gave me the ability to learn from so many remarkable student leaders across different campus constituencies … [and] a clear sense of the multifaceted nature of Princeton communities and how people have different needs here that need to be met in different ways,” Swamidurai told The Daily Princetonian. 

Kho, a sociology major, was the 2025 USG president and also said that his time serving as president profoundly shaped his Princeton experience. 

As former USG president, Kho follows two of his most recent predecessors, Avi Attar ’25 and Stephen Daniels ’24, in running for Young Alumni Trustee.

“During my tenure, we had to navigate difficult and often high-stakes conversations surrounding uncertainty around diversity and inclusion, international student visibility and safety, dining changes, and university-wide funding constraints, among other challenges,” Kho wrote in an email to the ‘Prince.’ “The experience prepared me to respond in times of distress and pressure, and handle high-stakes conversations with intentionality.”

Fayad, an ecology and evolutionary biology major and pre-med student, discussed how his experience as a Scholars Institute Fellows Program mentor and his leadership in the Princeton University Science Olympiad Invitational informed his candidacy. 

He said that those activities led him to act as a mentor to other pre-med students and strengthened his skills in “teamwork and collaboration with others to create events, or to create a space on campus, or be a part of something that [helps] people come together.” 

The three candidates each felt there were different challenges which would affect students and the University in the coming years. 

Kho emphasized the importance of “not compromis[ing] the experience of students and the broader Princeton community” as the University continues to implement budget cuts. 

In an email to the ‘Prince,’ he wrote, “The question we must grapple with is how we continue to provide the highest level of resources, opportunities, and care despite these constraints,” particularly for students from marginalized communities and international students.

Swamidurai said that she hopes to prioritize student wellbeing as the 2026 Young Alumni Trustee. “I think it’s constantly a question that we as you know, committed, passionate and high achieving Princetonians grapple with,” she said. 

“But I think it’s also important that it’s met with an institutional commitment, telling people that we’ve got your back and you have the ability to not just do well here, but to thrive. And that commitment is going to be made, not just in the classroom, but outside it.” 

Fayad told the ‘Prince’ that he believed it is most important that Princeton maintains its commitment to preparing students for success post-graduation through internship and development programs on and off-campus. 

“Having these opportunities, and [creating] more opportunities for them to network, more opportunities for them to get internships, or prepare for their careers — I think that would be [most] important,” he said. “Having Princeton provide something for [students], be beneficial for them, and stay as number one, and stay as the place that can be safe [on] campus, producing good mental health, producing good opportunities for students to move forward into their future careers.” 

All three candidates agreed that it was important to prioritize remaining connected to campus and to increase engagement between students and the Board following graduation.

“I definitely think that it’s important that the trustees are present within the community and use existing levers to be able to ask questions … directly to students and Princetonians today,” Swamidurai said. “And so I think it’s essential that that level of transparency through direct engagement increases, using existing levers within the trustee framework.” 

Fayad said that he believed students should receive more regular updates regarding the trustees’ meetings and decision-making. “Maybe after each in person meeting, we could [provide] a little report,” he said, as opposed to “right now … they [only] send a report at each year or before the start of each year about decisions at Princeton.” 

“Contributing to the University means understanding how it sustains relationships both on and beyond campus, and being intentional about building and maintaining those connections,” Kho wrote. “During my last remaining weeks on campus, I’ll continue to deepen my relationships within the Princeton community. I will continue to show up and contribute in the spaces I’ve been part of — the work is far from over.” 

The general election for Young Alumni Trustee begins on April 29, closing on May 13. Voting will be open to members of the Classes of 2024, 2025, 2026, and 2027. The results will be announced at the Alumni Council Meeting on May 22.

Leela Hensler is a staff News writer and a staff Sports writer for the ‘Prince.’ She is from Berkeley, Calif and can be reached at leela[at]princeton.edu.

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