USG considers Campbell Hall additional bathroom referendum

The Undergraduate Student Government discussed a referendum on Campbell Hall bathrooms, the upcoming bonfire, and the Thanksgiving buses in its weekly meeting on Nov. 11.

Parliamentarian Jonah Hyman ’20 introduced a referendum that would call upon the administration to consider the installation of an additional bathroom on the upper floors of Campbell Hall, following the multiple sanitary issues in the last few years. Currently, residents of the third floor must walk down four floors to get to a bathroom.

The referendum would be put to vote in the winter 2018 elections, as long as the Senate approves the ballot language and sponsor Alex Cavoli ’20 gathers signatures from 10 percent of the student body.

“I would argue that these are some of the worst sanitary conditions on campus,” Cavoli said. “These bathrooms are severely overused, and they’re really far away, which encourages gross habits on the upper floors.”

“Not that it’s necessarily specific to this case, but I think that a lot of unsanitary conditions on campus are only existent because people are acting like animals,” Social Committee Chair Liam Glass ’19 added.

U-Councilor Rachel Hazan ’21 also noted that the conversion of Whitman College rooms in the former Writing Center into bathrooms during dorm renovations this past summer shows the feasibility of the referendum.

Hazan is a former contributing copy editor for The Daily Princetonian.

With respect to the ballot question and the content of the resolution, the Senate decided to amend minor language and include more administrative bodies, such as the vice president of facilities and the vice president for university services, to which the resolution will be directed.

The Senate approved the language of the referendum following the above revisions.

ODUS Program Coordinator Ian Deas submitted a budget request of $5,000 to the Senate for the upcoming bonfire on Nov. 18 at 7:30 p.m. To pay the labor costs of building and guarding the wood pile during the day, the event will cost in total around $30,000–$35,000.

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Deas also talked about some guidelines for the event.

“We definitely don’t want people throwing items into the bonfire,” Deas said. “Yeah, I’m referring to the ‘Yeet Ur Copy of Speak Freely into the Bonfire’ Facebook event.”

The Senate unanimously voted to approve the bonfire budget request.

Afterwards, Class of 2021 Senator Elizabeth Bailey ’21 and U-Councilor Aditya Shah ’21 introduced a budget proposal of $17,708 for the Thanksgiving buses — the same amount as last year. There will be five round-trip buses, with three to Washington, D.C., and two to Boston.

Bailey is a former contributing copy editor for the ‘Prince.’

Campus and Community Affairs Chair Caleb Visser ’20 raised concerns about the future use of Coach USA following the crash on Nov. 10. Deputy Dean of Undergraduate Students Thomas Dunne, however, responded that it would be challenging to find another vendor prior to Thanksgiving.

“From a safety perspective, I think that it’s important not to take one isolated incident and extrapolate it out that somehow it’s not a safe option,” Dunne said.

The Senate approved the budget request unanimously.

The Senate further considered sending student body surveys out to gather feedback and increase the accountability of USG but tabled the discussion until the return of Director of Communications Tori Gorton ’21.

The Senate voted to approve the consent agenda, confirming the appointments of Christina Wang ’22 and Jayson Badal ’22 to the Campus and Community Affairs Committee.