USG discusses student group policies

Members of the USG discussed making changes to the process for approving new student groups and corrected an inconsistency in the USG constitution at a meeting on Sunday evening. As a result of the evening’s vote, the criterion for disbanding a newly formed student group will be a majority vote of the USG members.

Benedict Wagstaff ’14, chair of the Student Groups Recognition Committee, presented the three new groups that the committee recently approved: Princeton Muse, a group that encourages one-on-one open dialogue between strangers, Princeton Talks, which organizes students to speak to their peers on campus, and Princeton Latinos, the result of a merger of the former Chicano Caucus and Accion Latina y Amigos. Wagstaff then introduced a proposal for several changes to the USG constitution regarding the SGRC and to the committee’s charter.

“The goal was to make this more relevant to the way that the committee has worked up until this point,” Wagstaff said, explaining the reasons for the changes. “There’s been plenty of things that have been in this constitution and this charter that have never really been done in practice, and we were looking to sort of potentially add in this component of helping student groups where they need it.”

One of the two major changes was to correct an inconsistency within the charter about the number of votes necessary to repeal a newly approved student group. Previously, the charter stated in one place that a two-thirds majority vote was needed in order to disband a group, while the charter stated in another place that a simple majority was needed. The USG constitution, however, required a simple majority vote.

The USG had always enforced the requirement of a two-thirds majority vote, so the USG voted on whether a two-thirds majority ought to be required. This vote did not pass, making the requirement a vote by a simple majority.

The second proposed change was to allow the SGRC to undertake certain projects that would allow it to go beyond the basic recognition of groups by helping new groups get started and monitoring their activity, among other projects.

George Maliha ’13, who was speaking for academics committee chair Dillon Sharp ’14, who was absent, said he worried the proposed changes would give too much power to the SGRC since it would extend their activities beyond the basic functions of the committee.

“It’s sort of in line with the other committees we have,” Wagstaff said in response, alluding to the fact that other USG committees do not need to ask for permission from the Senate to continue with certain projects. “If this is supposed to be a USG committee, which it is currently, then I think it should be treated like a USG committee. If it’s not, then it should be an independent committee that has its own set of rules.”

Since the proposal did not pass, the SGRC will continue to be unable to create additional projects without the approval of the USG.

University Student Life Committee chair Greg Smith ’15 then presented an idea brought to his committee by TurboVote, an organization that encourages students to register to vote and vote in larger numbers.

TurboVote reached out to the USLC, asking it to write to the University administration and request an appointed staff member to lead efforts to institutionalize voting and voter registration on campus.

Associate Dean of Undergraduate Students Thomas Dunne said the University currently offers all the services that TurboVote wants to provide.

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

Class of 2015 Senator Deana Davoudiasl also presented a $2,500 funding request for Tiger Universe, noting that she was asking for the money all at once rather than one item at a time so that the amount requested would be large enough to merit approval by the USG. As per USG policy, funding requests less than $1,000 do not need to be approved by the entire senate.

“The point of this funding request is to be transparent with you guys and to hold ourselves accountable,” Davoudiasl explained. “I wanted to come to you guys just so you have a long-term gauge on how much we expect to spend and also because I want to hold us accountable to spending below a certain amount.”

A few members of the USG expressed concerns that these events should be funded by the athletics department rather than the USG. Davoudiasl explained that the committee was not necessarily advertising for the athletic events but rather encouraging school spirit and helping students create memorable experiences.

The funding request passed with a vote of 20 in favor and one abstention.

The USG also discussed plans for the Frist Ad-Hoc Committee, the recent Council of the Princeton University Community meeting and ways to lessen the budget for supplies in the USG office.