Students share mixed reactions as mandated officer and treasurer trainings return to in-person format

At the beginning of the 2026-27 academic year, officers in student organizations on campus received emails from the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students informing them that they had to complete mandatory, in-person leadership training in order for their clubs to continue hosting activities. Treasurers of clubs had additional mandatory training.

This training was previously held asynchronously online and consisted of videos that had to be viewed in order for a student organization to re-register and continue to hold activities. 

University spokesperson Ahmad Rizvi told The Daily Princetonian that in-person training isn’t new. “This is not new training. This is simply a return to in-person sessions after they shifted online during COVID,” Rizvi explained. 

Still, some student organization officers were caught off guard by the news that they had to attend an in-person training at a specific time in order for their clubs to continue operating. 

Logan Mraz ’29, the Commodore of Princeton Sailing, said in an interview with the ‘Prince,’ “It surprised me a little bit because there was no indication that required training would be coming over the summer.”

Similarly, Xavier Latimer ’29, treasurer for the Princeton Private Equity Club, said he found the notification surprising. “I personally hadn’t seen anything suggesting this training would be coming, so I suppose it was a bit unexpected.” 

Latimer is a Sports contributor for the ‘Prince.’

Mraz said that although the training was a surprise, he “can see why an institution like Princeton, that gives a decent amount of independence to student groups … would want officers to have some baseline knowledge of leadership and safety.”

Rizvi said the training covers important policies and best practices that all ODUS-sponsored student organizations should abide by. Sebastian Merkatz ’29 attended the treasurer training for his club, the Princeton DJ Collective, and told the ‘Prince’ that “the training consisted of an overview of treasury tools such as Concur and Prime, as well as some do’s and don’ts pertaining to club spending and external fundraising.”

“I think I really needed certain elements of the training to get ready to lead a team that is so serious,” he said.

Noah Runesha ’29, who attended the treasurer-specific meeting on behalf of the club basketball team, said that while he was expecting there to be some amount of mandatory training for re-registration, much of the information was redundant.

“I thought a lot of the training was repetition of things I have already learned about in other training … and I thought they weren’t super relevant towards club sports,” he said.

Mraz said that “if you’re someone like me who cares about leading groups and making sure people are safe in their activities, some of this was pretty helpful. I think they should continue mandating training in the future.” 

David Estrada is a staff News writer for the ‘Prince.’ He is from Los Angeles and can be reached at de8214[at]princeton.edu.

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