On Jan. 15, after a week of voting and 599 total ballots, the Graduate Student Government (GSG) Election Committee announced the results of the 2025 GSG officer elections, naming Amari Tankard GS as the next GSG president. Tankard, the incumbent president, ran unopposed. Caridad Estrada Cardona GS and Jan Ertl GS won two key contested races for Vice President (VP) and Vice President of Internal Affairs (VPIA), respectively.
The elected GSG executive board includes four newcomers and eight returning GSG officers. Tankard, Estrada, and Ertl are among the returners. The recently-incorporated position of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Chair, currently occupied by Estrada, will be unfilled for the upcoming term due to a lack of candidates.
Current GSG VP Chris Catalano GS, who will serve as Facilities Officer in the upcoming board, told The Daily Princetonian that the election “went smoothly” despite “some hostilities in recent years.” Last year‘s elections featured several heated exchanges by graduate students over Slack on the role of DEI and the DEI chair.
This year‘s elections also featured 18.3 percent turnout, a slight increase from last year’s 16.6 percent turnout.
Tankard, a fifth-year Ph.D. student in the molecular biology department, said in an interview with the ‘Prince’ that she looks to continue building initiatives for equitable graduate student housing and dining plans. Tankard specifically referenced the 12 Free Meals Program pilot introduced by the GSG last fall, which doubled the number of free meals graduate students receive per semester.
While the 12 Free Meals Program pilot provided graduate students with an average of one free meal per week, Tankard said that she hopes to expand the program in her upcoming term to match the two free meals a week that all undergraduate upperclassmen receive.
“I’m really happy that the pilot program that we worked on all spring semester last year made it into the fall in order to offer those 12 meals,” Tankard told the ‘Prince’ in an interview prior to the election. “We’ve made it really our biggest priority to consecrate those 12 meals as part of what grad students are offered full time, not just as a pilot, and we want to expand that program.”
Estrada, the VP-elect, similarly emphasized improvements to the graduate student meal plan as a key component of achieving “true parity” for graduate students. “It’s about building a sense of inclusivity in the larger Princeton ecosystem, where graduate students feel just as valued and supported as their undergraduate counterparts,” she told the ‘Prince.’
Elected GSG officers also said they will continue to fight for greater transparency from the University in terms of decisions that affect the student population.
“Often, graduate students are not considered when programs are being implemented or spaces are being decided,” said Tankard. “It can get really frustrating when we see new spaces being defined to be used only by the undergraduates, even though we are one-third of the student population on campus.”
Catalano, the incoming facilities officer, said his tentatively-titled “Rent Stabilization and Transparency” initiative will push for more graduate student input on rent increases. In particular, regarding the newly-constructed graduate student Meadows Apartments, Catalano explained that “the rents have gone up more than inflation, more than our [the graduate student] stipend.”
Secretary-elect Zoë Gorman GS, one of the four newcomers to the executive board this year, said she has “few complaints” with the election process. “We’re very busy grad students, and our priorities are research-focused,” she noted, adding that GSG is “a great way to get more engaged in the community.”
Gorman also discussed hopes for “concrete changes” to academic policies related to mental health. There have been six student deaths since she arrived at Princeton four years ago. “As a community, we should not tacitly accept losing sometimes multiple students per semester,” she said, adding that she believes changing academic policy “in a fair and transparent manner” will not compromise academic excellence “but rather enhance a culture of a genuinely intellectual environment that was built upon a love of learning and scholarship.”
Ertl, who served last year as GSG treasurer, said his first priority as the vice president of internal affairs will be “ensuring smooth transitions between outgoing and incoming officers” in order to “maintain continuity in our work.”
“Students can tell when we are really invested in this position,” Tankard said. “When you provide a space and a venue for students to relax, unwind, and truly take advantage of what Princeton has to offer, GSG is amazing — the graduate school community is amazing.”
The elected GSG executive board members will take office on Feb. 4.
Vivien Wong is a staff News writer for the ‘Prince’ from Charlottesville, VA. She typically covers campus clubs and university finances.
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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