The Council of the Princeton University Committee (CPUC) met on Monday to discuss the passage of an undergraduate student referendum on fossil fuel dissociation, updates from the Ad Hoc Committee on Sexual Climate, Culture, and Conduct, and survey findings on sense of belonging on campus.
During the Q&A period, Charlie Yale ’28 asked if the University would respond to the passage of Referendum 3 during the winter USG elections. The referendum called for the University to stop accepting research funding from certain fossil fuel companies, including BP.
Yale is a contributing Opinion writer for the ‘Prince.’
“Undergraduate referenda or referendums of any sort, are not the established process. That said, the CPUC Resources Committee is open to all expressions of opinions, so that would be the appropriate channel that exists,” Vice President and Secretary Hilary Parker ’01 responded.
Notably, there was no discussion during the meeting of Referendum No. 5, which successfully passed and called on the University to divest from weapons manufacturers including Boeing and Lockheed Martin. Handwritten signs attributed to Princeton Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) were arranged on the north lawn of Frist Campus Center on Monday afternoon displaying testimony that students and alumni had submitted to the CPUC’s Resources Committee in support of divestment from Israel.
Comments calling for divestment, submitted to the CPUC Resources Committee, posted on Frist Lawn.
Vitus Larrieu/ The Daily Princetonian
Vice President for Campus Life W. Rochelle Calhoun provided an update on the Ad Hoc Committee on Sexual Climate, Culture, and Conduct, which established four working committees in 2024: the “Improving the Outcomes for LGBTQ+” working group, an education and training working group, a communications working group, and a community responsibility working group.
The Improving the Outcomes for LGBTQ+ working group focused on the findings from the We Speak survey consulting stakeholders and setting goals to increase awareness of existing resources for LGBTQ+ students. It found that when the We Speak survey was conducted every year, there was a better understanding of existing resources among students.
The University released the findings of the 2022 We Speak: Attitudes on Sexual Misconduct at Princeton survey in December 2023, following a five-year hiatus from 2017 to 2022. Notably, the response rate fell from 51 percent of the undergraduate body in 2017 to 31 percent in 2022.
In the 2022 We Speak survey, LGBTQ+ respondents disproportionately experienced sexual misconduct, with two in five genderqueer, gender non-conforming, non-binary, or transgender respondents indicating that they have experienced sexual misconduct.
The education and training working group focused on addressing gaps in Title IX and Sexual Harassment/Assault Advising, Resources and Education initiatives and the communications group worked to build back trust in the committee with increased transparency about its initiatives.
The community responsibility working group thought about identifying spaces “except someone’s room” where students can “continue to engage in safe and productive and healthy ways” after leaving social events, Calhoun said.
Among those identified were Frist Campus Center, Campus Club, Wawa, and the Lewis Center of the Arts Forum. “When you’re looking at these spaces, you’re looking at, are they inviting? Are they comfortable? Are they well lit?” Calhoun said.
Vice Provost for Institutional Research Jed Marsh also presented findings from survey research on belonging. The core survey measured undergraduates students’ sense of belonging across 2022, 2023, and 2024. 57 percent of students fell in the mid-range of the sense of belonging scale, while 26 percent fell in the low-range and 17 percent in the high-range.
Comparatively, in 2022, 44 percent of faculty fell in the low-range, 42 percent in the mid-range, and 14 percent in the high-range.
According to Marsh, there was a strong inverse relationship between feelings of belonging and levels of anxiety and depression, with around 40 percent of those falling in the low-range of the sense of belonging scale having Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) scores of 9–27, indicating moderate to severe depression.
Undergraduate students who fell into the low-range on the sense of belonging scale in the 2023–2024 academic year and who experienced unwelcome behavior attributed the behavior they experienced most to their race and ethnicity, followed by political views and gender/sex. Seventy percent of these students experienced these unwelcome behaviors in social spaces defined as parties, social events, and social gatherings.
When asked if there was data on sense of belonging among postdocs, Marsh said they are “in the process of working through” the data now.
Marsh also showed that the sense of belonging among undergraduate students, graduate students, and faculty varied department by department, with some departments showing similar senses of belonging among the three groups and others having larger differences.
When asked what actions are being taken to address a low sense of belonging in departments with larger numbers in the low range, Marsh shared that academic administrators review these numbers in the summer academic planning group.
With Wintersession registration opening Tuesday, Executive Director of Campus Engagement Judy Jarvis highlighted an increase in participation among staff and faculty and undergraduate and graduate students.
According to a survey conducted after the 2024 Wintersession, 94 percent of participants agreed or strongly agreed that Wintersession contributed positively to their mental health.
Assistant Vice President for Strategy Management in Facilities Abby Reynolds closed out the meeting with a presentation on the work of the Office of Campus Accessibility during 2024.
“Our vision is that everyone can enter through the front door. Now, on a campus with numerous historic buildings, there’s still much work to be done, but this is the vision statement,” Reynolds said.
She mentioned the formation of the Accessibility Leaders Group, which includes collaboration with Institutional Equity and Diversity, Disability Services, University Services, the Office of the Provost, as well as Parking and Transportation. The group helped launch Accessibility at Princeton, a website that includes a comprehensive collection of accessibility resources on campus.
The office also provides detailed accessibility information on buildings included in the Campus WayFinding app, which helps students find accessible routes across campus.
The CPUC will meet next on Feb. 10 in Frist Campus Center’s Multipurpose Room.
Correction: A previous headline read "PIAD posts Resources Committee comments outside" when SJP posted the comments. The 'Prince' regrets this error.
Bridget O’Neill is a head News editor for the ‘Prince’ from Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. who typically covers the University administration.
Assistant News Editor Christopher Bao contributed reporting.
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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