USG changes Undergraduate Life Committee charter to include grad students

Undergraduate Life Committee chair Adi Rajagopolan ’13 presented the charter, noting that graduate students will now comprise about one-third of the committee. The reformed committee will have three co-leaders: an undergraduate representative, a graduate representative and Vice President for Campus Life Cynthia Cherrey.

Rajagopolan said the new charter will facilitate cooperation between the USG and the Graduate Student Government. The name change was intended to reflect the increased cooperation with graduate students.

The Senate approved the charter, with 19 voting in favor, two voting against and one member abstaining.

Earlier in the meeting, Honor Committee Clerk Antonia Hyman ’13 proposed a change to the Honor Committee Constitution.

Previously, the constitution read, “in determining whether an Honor Code violation has occurred or the severity of such a violation, the committee may take into account whether the student should have reasonably understood that his or her actions were in violation of University policy and/or exam room procedures.” The revision would state that the committee “will” take such considerations into account.

Hyman said the change clarifies the fact that negligence is not an acceptable excuse for an Honor Code violation.

Easop noted that the vote required approval from three-quarters of voting members to pass. The motion passed 21 to zero with one abstention.

Webmaster Linda Zhong ’15 presented proposed changes to the USG website. These included a redesigned layout and more transparent access to TigerApps and the Projects Board.

U-Councilor Lily Alberts ’13 discussed the Your Path to Princeton website, designed to introduce the Class of 2016 to Princeton.

Alberts explained that the website will feature a question and answer section, which will allow incoming freshmen to ask questions about campus to current students. She called on USG members to volunteer to answer these questions on the website.

Academics Chair Steven Rosen ’13 presented the recently released ALTA report. Some Senate members were concerned that with the recommendation to allow students to rescind the pass/D/fail option after learning their grade, a ‘P’ could indicate that a student received a poor grade. Other concerns raised included how ALTA updates will be communicated to the student body.

Rosen said that a similar system to the proposed change to the P/D/F option has worked at other colleges.

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Social chair Benedict Wagstaff ’14 recapped Lawnparties and said that attendance probably dropped from last semester and that sales of Lawnparties merchandise dropped from last semester. Merchandise was only sold online for the first time this semester.

Finally, projects manager Greg Smith ’15 summarized the USG projects over the past semester. Among the events Smith highlighted were Mental Health Awareness Week, Taste of Prospect, Clash of the Colleges and the launch of the Princeton2016.com website.

Smith said that results of the COMBO III survey will be released in the fall to ensure that the release does not detract from discussion of the results of the ALTA survey.