The Undergraduate Student Government (USG) Senate held its final meeting of the semester on Sunday, which featured updates from the past year. Reported achievements include the Mental Health Committee successfully reducing copays for mental health services, the Social Committee hosting one of the most expensive Lawnparties yet, and a continued trend of increasing election competition and turnout.
USG president Avi Attar ’25 presided over the final meeting, opening the floor for members to share their thoughts as the semester drew to a close.
The meeting opened with U-Council co-chairs Daniel Shaw ’25 and Aishwarya Swamidurai ’26, who discussed their proposed amendments to the freedom of expression, student privacy, and investigation protocols within Rights, Rules, and Responsibilities. Swamidurai is the USG vice president-elect.
This year also saw a ballooning budget, with USG spending $592,000 in this semester. This comes after the Spring 2023 vote to double the activities fee to $95.90, the first increase since 1996. Last semester’s budget was $656,047.
Treasurer Uma Fox ’26, who ran an unsuccessful bid for USG president in the Winter 2024 elections, told the Senate, “I think all these numbers are testament that it was a good choice to raise the student activities fee.”
Despite this budget surge, Projects Board funding ran out before the end of last semester due to an uptick in funding requests. At the time, Fox told the ‘Prince’ that USG was trying to determine the “cause” of the increase in demand.
Social Committee chair and USG president-elect Enzo Kho ’26 recapped high-profile events such as Lawnparties, First Day of Classes celebrations, and Dean’s Date festivities across the past year. According to Kho, USG spent $280,000 on Fall Lawnparties, among the most expensive in Princeton history.
Academics Committee chair Vivian Bui ’26, who led a campaign for a referendum calling on the University to allow language classes to be taken Pass/D/Fail, highlighted the committee’s support for staggered final assessments. This move has resulted in the end of Dean’s Date as we know it, slated to take into effect in Spring 2025.
The Mental Health Committee also saw a significant win this year, with chair Meera Kochhar ’26 highlighting her committee’s work to reduce copays for mental health services.
Genevieve Shutt ’26 of the Campus and Community Affairs (CCA) Committee highlighted events, ranging from trips to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade to funding support for the local farmers’ market.
The Wellness Programming working group, Athletics working group, Transit working group, Sustainability Committee and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee only discussed ongoing or upcoming initiatives.
Elections chair Alex Sorgini ’26 reflected on engagement in this year’s elections, which saw 111 candidates across the fall, winter, and spring election cycles and a 62 percent turnout in the first-year council races, which was higher than the 53 percent turnout in the general election. More than half of undergraduates voted in the most recent election, an increase from the approximate 40 percent turnout from Winter 2023.
Sorgini also emphasized that all elected positions during the most recent election were contested. “If you recall, last winter was the first time that every position was contested in a very long time,” he said. “So maintaining that interest for a second year is very notable.”
The Senate will reconvene in the spring to build on its progress and address ongoing student concerns. More details will be announced about the location and time of future meetings.
Alena Zhang is a staff News writer for the ‘Prince.’
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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