Updated: Honor Committee referendum passes, all incumbent USG members re-elected

The Honor Committee will now be required to change its standard penalty for students who write over the time limit during exams and to publish statistics about the number of students who appear before the committee, after a vote by the student body on a referendum attached to the latest USG ballot. The results of the USG elections were released Friday.

In races for USG positions, all incumbent candidates kept their seats.

According to the results of the USG elections, 96 percent of students who voted were in favor of the referendum. The referendum required three-quarters of student votes to be cast in support to go into effect.

“I thought that the referendum would pass very easily,” Honor Committee chair Antonia Hyman ’13 said. “I think this is reflective of the committee doing a good job in representing what the students want because it’s their Honor Code.”

The standard penalty for a student who writes over time during an exam will now be probation and a recommendation of a zero on the exam. The current standard penalty of a one-year suspension will only be given if the infraction is severe.

Statistics regarding the number of cases heard and the penalties issued will be published every year in a five-year aggregate in order to protect the confidentiality of students, the referendum said.

The newly elected U-Councilors, who will serve throughout the 2013-14 school year, are Mallory Banks ’16, Jameil Brown ’16, Katherine Clifton ’15, Azza Cohen ’16, Laura Du ’14, Daniel Johnson ’15, Elan Kugelmass ’14, Zhan Okuda-Lim ’15, Paul Riley ’15 and Yifan Zhu ’15.

Banks and Johnson are both staff writers for The Daily Princetonian.

All of the positions for 2014 class government were uncontested. Luchi Mmegwa is the president, Dylan Ackerman is the vice president, Sophia Deng is the treasurer, Mary D’Onofrio is the secretary and Cameron Henneberg is the social chair.

All of the positions for 2015 class government were also uncontested. Jon Ma is the president, Samisha Bansal is the vice president, Cordelia Orillac is the treasurer and Yeri Lee is the secretary.

There were no candidates for the position of Class of 2015 social chair. According to chief elections manager Rachel Nam ’15, the 2015 class government will send out an application to members of the Class of 2015 for the social chair position after the elections are over, and the elected members of the council will conduct interviews and appoint someone to the position. Three out of the four officers must vote to confirm the appointment of the social chair.

Four out of the five 2016 class government positions were also uncontested. Justin Ziegler is the president, Richard Lu is the treasurer, Priya Krishnan is the secretary and Molly Stoneman is the social chair. Gwen Lee won her campaign for vice president against Dan Chen. Lee received 77.58 percent of the vote.

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There was competition for each of the four 2013 alumni class government positions. Stefan Kende was elected president with 51.7 percent of the vote, having received more votes than Anthony Pappenfus. Zach Beecher will serve as vice president, having received more votes than Chris Palermo. Beecher received 58.44 percent of the vote. Jason Ramirez will serve as treasurer, having received more votes than Megan Karande. Ramirez received 58 percent of the vote.

A run-off election will be held Monday through Wednesday between Lily Alberts and George Maliha for the position of secretary, as no candidate received a majority of the vote in the first round. Olivia Panaccio Tresham has been eliminated from the run-off.

Alberts is a columnist for The Daily Princetonian.

The new U-Councilors and class officers will begin their terms on June 1.

According to Nam, 2,135 students voted in this election across all four years, about 500 more voters than last year’s spring elections.

Though she could not say what caused the increased voter turnout, Nam said she thought the newly inaugurated voting stations in Frist made it more convenient for students to vote and the lengthened campaign period helped candidates get their name and platform out to more people.

“I think an increased voter turnout is a sign that people care more about what the candidates have to say and what their platforms are,” Nam said.