In the first three months of their tenure, Undergraduate Student Government (USG) President Enzo Kho ’26 and Vice President Aishwarya Swamidurai ’26 have attempted to tackle a fundamental limitation of their positions.
“USG is only in the role for a year, right? And admins are there for 20-plus years,” Kho told The Daily Princetonian in a joint interview with Swamidurai.
Many of USG’s biggest policy changes — the reduction of mental health copays this summer, for example — have come through working closely with University administrators, career professionals who have a host of duties beside student government. For Kho, Swamidurai, and the rest of the Executive Committee, however, the terms only last one year.
Much of Kho’s work has focused on stewarding USG’s institutional memory. During USG meetings, he has highlighted his meetings with past USG presidents and pulled out anecdotes from the USG archives.
“We can only progress so much with our work if we also have a heavy root in our institutional memory,” Kho told the ‘Prince.’ “I’ve been very grateful that a lot of former presidents and former council chairs reached out to me. I was able to understand the context [of USG].”
“Every USG administration has done incredible work. The important thing to understand here is the timeline for change. Some of the initiatives and policies that we’re pursuing are obviously long-term changes,” Swamidurai said.
Kho recently met with University President Christopher Eisgruber ’83 and Vice President for Campus Life Rochelle Calhoun, although the details of the meeting remain elusive.
In the most recent USG meeting, Kho explained that he and Swamidurai had received “lots of useful information [during the meeting] that will guide a lot of the work we can do in the next few weeks.”
“There’s a lot of behind the scenes of USG where each week there’s so many meetings with admin from different areas of campus,” Kho explained in an interview. “We make sure we’re representing students well in a way where we bring their concerns to the admin.”
Asked how frequently USG interfaces with administration, Kho and Swamidurai explained that leadership meets with administrators regularly — often weekly — and that many changes stem from these conversations.
“A lot of [policy changes] came from a lot of the conversations and meetings,” Kho told the ‘Prince.’
Swamidurai noted that most collaboration between USG and the University administration happens with the University vice presidents, such as Vice President for Campus Life Rochelle Calhoun. She also underscored that the USG meets with President Eisgruber at least twice a semester to update him about its work.
One of Kho’s main focuses under his administration is to make USG more outward-facing and accessible.
Kho said that the USG has been working regularly with the USG communications committee. He emphasized efforts such as “coffee chats through different [subcommittee] chairs,” pop-ups, and town halls, which aim to “give different platforms to the student body to engage with USG and admins.”
“A big part of USG capacity is being that bridge between the students and the admins,” Kho said. “I would say we’ve been on track in terms of making sure we keep that promise.”
Swamidurai echoed this sentiment. “An element of accessibility for USG is … the behind-the-scenes work in connecting student groups. If students reach out to us, right?” she said. “It’s really important that we respond and also bring them into conversations and let them know what’s going on, which I think has most certainly been the case.”
The newly formed Communications Committee, proposed and approved this semester, was designed to centralize messaging, manage the USG website, and improve internal coordination. Kho defended the committee’s purpose: “The reason why we wanted to form a communications committee is because [USG] actually was more bureaucratic.”
Referencing a disjointed structure for interfacing with one another, Kho stated that “there [wasn’t] that direct kind of communication [previously].”
Reflecting on his administration’s progress, Kho said, “We’re pretty fortunate and pretty happy that all the chairs, all the people in USG, are pretty engaged and active. I feel like USG’s work this year has been pretty much on track.” He added that having an engaged team allowed leadership to explore new ideas beyond the original platform.
Swamidurai emphasized that progress is more than new policy. “We came into USG, not just wanting to pursue specific initiatives but also just to connect with students. I think we’ve done that through this coffee chat model. We’ve heard great feedback from students.”
With Spring elections approaching, new budget proposals pending, and Lawnparties on the horizon, Kho and Swamidurai are focusing on continuity and clarity.
As Kho put it, “It’s really a team effort, and we’re pretty grateful that we have such a strong team.”
Andrew Arthur is a staff News writer from London, England and typically covers USG, CPUC, Princeton’s institutional legacy and administrative matters.
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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