USG votes against freshman election appeal, approves budget resolutions and student organization requests

At its Sunday meeting, the Undergraduate Student Government senate disputed an election appeal brought by disqualified class council candidate Ipichiesimhe Inaughe ’30. It also approved a Projects Board charter resolution, a New Jersey Transit Pilot Program budget request, and the registration of 10 new student organizations.

After reportedly spending about eight dollars over the allotted campaign allowance of $50, Inaughe was notified of her disqualification on Oct. 5. USG Chief Elections Manager Emi Ren ’29 claimed Inaughe violated the clauses outlined in the Senate Election Handbook because she had reported spending only $49.68 on her expenditure form despite a $56.68 DoorDash receipt and a two-dollar tip.

Ren cited sections 502 and 607 of the handbook, which respectively prohibit candidates from “deceiv[ing]” an Elections Manager and from spending more than the campaign allowance. Ren said that she and Deputy Elections Manager Kasch Marquardt ‘29 disqualified Inaughe over what they saw as a violation of these policies.

Marquardt is a contributing Data writer and a contributing Copy editor for The Daily Princetonian.

Inaughe requested to appeal the decision and presented her perspective to USG members at the Sunday meeting. She claimed she purchased some of the receipt’s contents for personal consumption, not for the campaign, which explained the discrepancy. 

“To me, in [that] moment, it felt like [Ren] had already made up her mind I was guilty, and she was looking for reasons to prove the fact that I was guilty,” Inaughe told the ‘Prince’ after the meeting. 

“I hope the USG will better give information out to their candidates as to what their rights are,” she added.

Ren pushed back, saying that ultimately consuming the items for herself did not negate their intended use at the time of purchasing. Photos posted for Inaughe’s campaign on Instagram showed all the purchased items spread on a campaign table at Frist.  

“There is a lot of gray area with any sort of legislation or any piece of media,” Ren said in an interview with the ‘Prince’ after the meeting. “There is so much that could go into about intent, but we cannot see those. All we can see are the actual physical numbers, and that’s what we want to go based off.”

U-Councilor Salma Alhsni ’28, one of the three USG members who filed Inaughe’s appeal, argued that the disqualification of Inaughe’s campaign would discourage certain groups from running for USG office in the future. 

“Scrutinizing and punishing somebody to the extent that we are will discourage people in the future from running,” Alhsni said. “And the people who will be discouraged are the people who are most likely the people who will view themselves to be most likely to be scrutinized. And so it will be minorities, and it will be people who would otherwise run if the process was not so scrutinous.”

Alhsni also argued that USG should place more weight on candidates’ testimony during the disqualification process. 

“As representatives of the student body and as servants of the student body, we [have to] take people at their word,” Alhsni said. “We operate within an honor system here, and we operate within an honor system in this university in general. And so, if somebody says … that they did things either unintentionally or mistakenly, I think we should take them at their word.”

After Senate members passed multiple motions to extend time, they ultimately voted against approving Inaughe’s appeal. Her disqualification stands. 

“If anything, this has motivated me more to be able to speak out for people,” Inaughe told the ‘Prince’ after the meeting, adding that she feels even stronger motivation to run for class council in the future. “I really want to be in a position of power to be able to help people like me who feel wronged.”

USG Treasurer Marvel Jem Roth ’28 also presented a Project Board charter resolution, which would raise the amount of money Projects Board can allot to student organizations — from $1,000 to $1,150 — before necessitating a majority vote from the Senate. 

This decision was made with inflation and the USG’s current cumulative budget in mind, according to Roth. As the $1,000 grant limit was set arbitrarily and years before the USG funding increase, Roth said that allocating an additional $150 in student activities fees for each request would be beneficial for affinity groups and student clubs.

USG continued the meeting by approving the registration of several new student groups. Some of the approved organizations included Princeton Medical Journalism, Princeton Romanian Society, Persians of Princeton, Princeton Roblox Club, and Yoga and Brunch Club. Student Athletes in Finance, Caspian Games, and the Princeton Trap and Skeet Club were proposed but not approved; they were invited to reapply after implementing changes. 

U-Council Chair Isaac Barsoum ’28 also presented a proposal to review and expand the 2025 New Jersey Transit pilot for a second year, increasing the number of tickets to New York City to 200 and adding 100 free tickets to Trenton to the program. The resolution would request a total of $10,270 to fund reduced-price train tickets for students and expand their access to New York and Trenton, and it passed unanimously. 

“I'm hoping that the transit pilot can be used to push for transit affordability programs in general, including options like a Princeton subsidy for students to use NJ Transit or just a statewide student discount for one-way trips,” Barsoum said at the meeting.

Barsoum is an associate Opinion editor for the ‘Prince.’

The NJ Legislature’s Assembly Transportation and Independent Authorities Committee will hear a bill on Thursday that would allow certain organizations, including universities, to negotiate NJ Transit discounts for their affiliates. 

USG meetings are held on Sundays at 5 p.m. in Robertson 016 and are open to the public. 

Claire Ding is a News contributor for the ‘Prince’ from Cherry Hill, N.J.

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

A correction was made on Oct. 12: A previous version of this article implied that Roth participated in an interview with the ‘Prince’ following the meeting. It also stated that Roth mentioned a USG budget surplus, but she was actually referring to a generally larger budget. The ‘Prince’ regrets these errors.