Proposed USG referendum would change Honor Committee policies

A referendum to appear on the ballot in this week’s USG elections would require the Honor Committee to change its penalty for students who write over the time limit during exams. The referendum, which the USG discussed at a meeting on Sunday evening, would also require the Committee to periodically publish statistics about the number of students who appear before the Committee.

Honor Committee chair Antonia Hyman ’13 and clerk Kosaluchi Nwokeneche-Mmegwa ’14 presented the referendum on the ballot.

Hyman said the referendum comes as a result of informal conversations about the transparency of the honor system and the nature of the cases that the Honor Committee receives. Hyman wrote an op-ed in The Daily Princetonian on March 13 to propose a larger campus discussion about the Honor Code and announced the creation of a series of focus groups that will examine cases in which students write over time.

Students caught writing over time are considered to have gained an unfair advantage and earn the standard penalty for an Honor Code violation, a one-year suspension. If passed, the referendum will change the standard penalty for writing over time during an exam to probation and may invoke a one-year suspension depending on the severity of the infraction.

The referendum also proposes that the Honor Committee release statistics of the number of cases heard and penalties issued in each year, to be published in a five-year aggregate in order to protect the confidentiality of students, according to the referendum.

“I think that this will give the student body a better sense of what actually goes on,” Hyman said.

The referendum will need to pass with a three-quarter majority in order for the changes to be put into effect. Elections begin Monday at noon and continue until Wednesday at noon.

Members of the Mental Health Initiative, including U-Councilors Farrah Bui ’14, Katherine Clifton ’15, Zhan Okuda-Lim ’15, Elektra Alivisatos ’14 and former USG president Bruce Easop ’13 presented the Initiative’s upcoming survey and plans for a Mental Health Week executive board.

The executive board would plan Mental Health Week, solicit feedback from students, give student health groups on campus an opportunity to collaborate, serve an advisory role with the Center for Psychological Services and update the schedule of events on the Initiative’s website, mindfulprinceton.com.

“To me, the two benefits of having a model like this is, one, it would allow more time and flexibility for the USG team in particular to focus on more policy side initiatives, and I think that will definitely be possible through the survey data,” Easop said. “The other thing is that, with a week like this, one of the most important things is communication and also having engaging events that students are really interested in and having new, kind of innovative ideas each year.”

Class of 2016 senator Eduardo Lima also presented a proposal for a new mattress rental system.

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According to his project proposal, the USG would purchase five air mattresses to start the program and would charge students $2 per night to rent a mattress. The initial cost of the mattresses would be paid off using these fees, and any profits will go toward maintaining and expanding the program.

Projects Board chair Jared Peterson ’14 also requested $2,000 to fund Basant Mela, a South Asian kite festival hosted by Pehchaan and the South Asian Students Association. The funding request passed with 22 USG members in favor and one abstention.