Azza Cohen ’16, Ella Cheng ’16 and Justin Ziegler ’16 were selected as the finalists for this year’s Young Alumni Trustee.Each year, one member of the graduating senior class is elected to represent their year on the University Board of Trustees for four years.
Justin Ziegler '16, an Honor Committee member for three years, submitted a referendum calling for the creation of a task force to reform the disciplinary processes currently administered by the Honor Committee and the Committee on Discipline.The referendum enumerates the following three objectives for the Task Force: that it should review the current standard of punishment, determine the possibility of finer gradations of punishment and consider the role of mental health when adjudicating cases.Despite the objectives, the referendum itself, according to Ziegler, does not advocate for any specific changes, but rather asks the administration, in a neutral manner, to re-evaluate the current ways in which the disciplinary system works on campus.Ali Hayat '16, Chair of the Peer Representatives, noted that though it is "absolutely necessary" that the University has an honor code, some of the penalties are too high and there should be more varied formed of punishment.Hayat is a former columnist for the Daily Princetonian.As the referendum states, currently the standard penalty for the first violation of academic integrity is suspension for two semesters and the standard penalty for the second violation is expulsion.Ziegler said the Committee on Discipline finds that there is an academic violation in close to 70 percent of the cases brought before the group.Nicholas Horvath '17, former Clerk of the Honor Committee, also noted thatcurrently, neither committee is allowed to consider the role of intent in an alleged violation.
The Muslim Students Association is hosting a number of events this week in honor of Islam Awareness Week, an annual, nation-wide effort to promote understanding and awareness of Islam.Rather than just promoting awareness of Islam, though, the goal of this week’s events is also to promote dialogue between Muslims and non-Muslims at the University, said Amir Raja ’18, president of the MSA.
Islamophobic comments targeting students on campus have appeared on Yik Yak, a mobile app that allows anonymous postings visible to users from the same geographical region,after the terrorist attacks in Brussels.Student leader of the University's Religious Life Council Nabil Shaikh ’17 noted that he saw a post earlier this week on Yik Yak that alleged that half of the world’s Muslims are radical and that there are even some Muslims at the University that fit this description.
