The Undergraduate Student Government (USG) Senate convened for its first meeting of the fall semester, which centered on the appearance of two top administrators — Vice President for Campus Life W. Rochelle Calhoun and Dean of Undergraduate Students Reagan Crotty ’00. Calhoun and Crotty fielded questions in the second half of the meeting with a focus on protest policies and student advocacy.
This public showing follows a semester where administrators faced intense backlash for their response to pro-Palestine protesters from the University community. Calhoun, in particular, was met with calls to resign from her faculty colleagues, and students, due to her characterization of protesters.
“We demand the immediate resignation of VP Calhoun, in whose leadership we have lost all faith following her untruthful and, in our opinion, deliberately misleading representation of student protesters, that has proven to be the real threat to the Princeton University community,” read a faculty letter published in May, which over 120 faculty signed.
Calhoun and Crotty’s appearance reflected an attempt to enter dialogue with students following the events of the spring semester and their handling of the “Gaza Solidarity Encampment.” At the beginning of their portion of the meeting, Calhoun and Crotty thanked the students present for their leadership in advancing a handful of key issues, such as the reduction of copays for consultations and the continuation of the free Lyft ride program for medical appointments.
“I’m always happy when administration makes an effort to reach out proactively to students,” U-Councilor Roberto Lachner ’26 told the ‘Prince.’ “I have no doubt that their intentions with all their work is to make Princeton’s campus and community more inclusive and just a better place overall.”
Sustainability Chair Quentin Colón Roosevelt ’27, who was active in advocating for the USG to support pro-Palestine activities, also noted that “it seemed like they were willing to have constructive dialogue,” adding that he was glad to see higher than usual engagement at today’s meeting from students who are not USG representatives.
Colón Roosevelt is a contributing Opinion writer for the ‘Prince.’
While the USG greeted their administrator guests warmly, their visit was met with a demonstration. A small group of protesters sat in on the meeting, holding up posters with messages such as “there is no back to school in Gaza,” and “Princeton funds genocide,” with some voicing concerns during the public comments portion of the meeting.
With their presentation, the administrators aimed to clarify the University’s new protest guidelines website, which Crotty introduced in the meeting. This site includes regulations on amplified sound, camping, and poster placements.
Notably, areas like Cannon Green and the Prospect House lawn, which previously were not addressed in protest policies, are now explicitly banned as sites for demonstrations. When the website first launched, it also included a new rule prohibiting protest on the grass in front of Nassau Hall, but the University walked back this restriction in the first week of classes.
In addition to questions seeking clarifications on the new protest rules, some members of the USG expressed skepticism towards the University’s enforcement procedures, with attendees inquiring about the potential impacts of these policies on different marginalized student groups.
“Our goal is to provide the safety of everyone in our community, but as you say, without that being, you know, sort of overly, or oppressively, a presence in our community,” Calhoun responded, noting that she was not aware of any over-policing or monitoring on campus.
Campus and Community Affairs (CCA) Chair Geneveive Schutt ’26, who led the charge on this line of questioning, said the answer left her unsatisfied.
“This theme of over-policing that we kept getting to [in the meeting] is what’s happening on our campus,” Shutt said in a post-meeting interview. “There’s so much evidence to prove that individuals of color that are already marginalized on our campus are negatively impacted by over policing,” she argued.
Treasurer Uma Fox ’26 took to the mic to note her concern that over-cautioning students and placing limits on free expression would hamper dialogue in the campus community. Colón Roosevelt framed it as a potential “culture of fear on campus.”
“I think they should really be looking more into that, because I think it is really creating a culture where people might be more afraid of speaking out, or less willing to,” he said.
“I actually think our hope is that it will help clarity, and we hope will be useful so that individuals have sort of the awareness of the kinds of things that could potentially cause them to be in violation of University policy,” Calhoun responded, “[and] support our ability to be a community together.”
One student participating in the pro-Palestine demonstration in the Robertson Bowl, Noura Shoukfeh ’25, expressed concerns along similar lines to Fox.
“I was really concerned about what this could mean for all different types of communities around campus and how these restrictions would inhibit their activism or their attempts to make their voices heard by the administration,” Shoukfeh said.
Shoukfeh noted that while she felt some of the responses from Calhoun and Crotty provided useful explanations, other answers remained unclear. She said she appreciated that the University was planning follow-up discussions to address specific concerns, particularly about verbal and physical harassment related to Palestinian and Arab-Muslim students, recalling a moment when they decried inflammatory flyers found near Spelman targeting Palestinians.
“To me, I still feel like things are very ambiguous or confusing or certain changes are made, and maybe those uncertainties will be flushed out with time, but they still answered everything”, she added. “I still have a few questions and so I’m looking forward to [meeting] with [them at] a later date.” Crotty notably hinted at the start of the meeting that she expected to return to the USG’s forum again.
Beyond the discussion of protest policies, Crotty also detailed notable changes in University disciplinary policies, including the introduction of a new disciplinary action known as “suspension (not served).” The new policy allows serious infractions to be recorded on a student’s transcript without immediate separation from the University.
“I think having more flexibility there, and having situations where, since it was previously suspended, where now [students] can have this other option, I think that’s hopefully going to be really beneficial to students,” said Crotty.
If a student commits a subsequent serious infraction, the student would then have to serve penalties depending on the magnitude of the violation.
While the second half of the meeting allowed the USG to represent student’s concerns on the events of last semester, the USG considered and executed their first administrative moves of the semester in the first half of the meeting.
The Senate unanimously confirmed the core committee members for the year. Fox also presented USG’s budget for the semester, which totals $603,536.61. The budget remains largely consistent with the previous year’s allocations, with a few key adjustments.
This year’s budget includes $10,000 reserved for the Athletics Engagement Bonfire Initiative — which would fund a bonfire event, should Princeton’s football team beat Yale and Harvard this fall. It also allocates $140,000 to student-led projects, and $280,000 for Lawnparties, with ongoing reviews to monitor expenditures against this amount.
USG meetings are open for all students to attend and are held on Sundays from 5–6 p.m. in Robertson Hall 016.
Alena Zhang is a staff News writer for the ‘Prince.’
Assistant News editor Christopher Bao and head News editor Annie Rupertus contributed reporting.
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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