USG meeting discusses private prison divestment
Jason FuThe Undergraduate Student Government discussed the Princeton Private Prison Divestment movement in their weekly meeting on April 2.
The Undergraduate Student Government discussed the Princeton Private Prison Divestment movement in their weekly meeting on April 2.
University Student Government is currently seeking applicants for its First-Generation Low-Income Student Task Force. The task force, created March 29, seeks to address concerns held by low-income and first-generation students.
Assistant Vice President of the Office of Communications Daniel Day presented the framework for a new University website. The current website was designed in 2007, and, according to Day, has failed to keep up with changes in technology and shifts to mobile web browsing.
In its weekly meeting on Mar. 5, the Undergraduate Student Government confirmed new committee members, recapped a meeting on student health care and Mental Health Week, and deliberated future steps for the student room guide.
“I think that [about income] a less contentious question that still gets at the meat of what people want to know is just to ask a simple are you on financial aid or not,” Kilpatrick said.
In their first weekly meeting of the second semester, the Undergraduate Student Government discussed new position appointments and student group recognitions on Feb. 19. The Student Group Recognition Committee’s Chair Aaron Sobel ’19 presented newly recognized student groups, a distinction that grants groups access to an email listserv and deems them legitimate. As legitimate student groups, they are eligible for funding from the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students.
Undergraduate Student Government President Myesha Jemison ’18 signed on to the "No Apologies Initiative," a collaborative effort among student government leaders of Ivy League and similarly selective peer institutions to automatically remove application fees for first-generation and low-income applicants to their schools, according to a press release. The press release was penned by Viet Nguyen, Brown University Student Body President and the director of 1IvyG, an inter-Ivy first-generation college student network that provides resources to first-generation students and seeks to "improve ... campuses for all first-generation college students.” Melana Hammel ’18, co-chair of the Princeton Hidden Minority Council, also signed on to the initiative along with USG Vice President Daniel Qian ’19.
At their last senate meeting of the semester, the Undergraduate Student Government discussed the results of the bathroom code survey and the menstrual products pilot program among other issues on January 15. At the end of the meeting, outgoing USG members, USG president Aleksandra Czulak '18 and vice president Jeremy Burton '18 celebrated their terms.
In the only runoff election held after the 2016 Winter Elections, Tania Bore '20 won election as University Student Life Committee Chair.
The Undergraduate Student Government launched a free menstrual product pilot program on Dec. 4 in Frist Campus Center. The program will run until Dec. 16 and aims to address issues of accessibility and financial hardships associated with menstrual products. The program has involved placing one basket of courtesy tampons and pads in each of the nine bathrooms in Frist: four women’s, four men’s, and one gender-neutral.
“Since the clubs are private, USG carries no authority over ICC. Information would only be released on a voluntary basis that would require the consent of each individual clubs' membership, officers, management, and graduate board,” Christopher Yu '17 wrote an email. Yu is Colonial Club and Interclub Council (ICC) President.
Last Friday, Dec. 9, Myesha Jemison ’18 secured the majority of votes to become the Undergraduate Student Government president-elect. When she begins her term in February, Jemison will be the University’s first black female USG president.
Student leaders discussed the recognition of new, incoming student groups, updates on the student election, as well as the selection of the new members of the Women’s Leadership Task Force.
USG has widely solicited student feedback as they prepare to institute the program, disseminating a survey and hosting two forums for students to ask questions. While Johnson says he believes that “most students. . .will recognize the positives” of the program, Czulak recognizes that the survey results have not been unanimously in favor of the policy, and hopes that the University will be able to follow the consensus of many diverse viewpoints.
The Undergraduate Student Government discussed and the upcoming Winter Social in their meeting this Sunday.
USG Presidential Candidates Myesha Jamison ’18 and Rachel Yee ’19 debated their platforms and visions for the University student community in the Whig Senate chamber on Sunday.
Undergraduate Student Government announced the candidates for next year's offices last Sunday. Dan Qian ’19 is running for vice president of the student body. As vice president, Qian hopes to make USG projects more transparent by surveying student opinion on Senate projects before priorities are set and relaying results of weekly administrator meetings to the student body. With experience on the Senate, Executive Committee, and Core Committee, he has worked with the Vice President, President, and the rest of the Senate.
Class of 2018 Senator Myesha Jemison ’18 and former Class of 2018 vice president Rachel Yee ’19 have entered the race for USG president.
Leila Clark '18 started gathering petition signatures on Nov. 21 for a referendum to publicize the demographics of eating club members and bickerees.
petition meeting