USG Annual Report 2014 by Princeton Undergraduate Student Government

2014 - 2015 USG Senate Annual Report

“To lead is to serve.” - Elie Wiesel

TABLE OF CONTENTS Princeton University’s Undergraduate Student Government Annual Report PRESIDENT’S LETTER

MAJOR HIGHLIGHTS

COMMITTEE REPORTS

CORE COMMITTEES ACADEMICS COMMITTEE CAMPUS AND COMMUNITY AFFAIRS COMMITTEE SOCIAL COMMITTEE UNIVERSITY STUDENT LIFE COMMITTEE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY COMMITTEE

5 12 16 18 23

ADDITIONAL COMMITTEES COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE COMMITTEE ON DIVERSITY AND INSTITUTIONAL EQUITY PRINCETON PERSPECTIVE PROJECT PROJECTS BOARD STUDENT GROUPS COMMITTEE MOVIES COMMITTEE

24 27 28 29 31 32

SENATE PROJECTS POLICY INITIATIVES

STUDENT SERVICES & EVENTS

34 44

CLOSING REMARKS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

PRESIDENT’S LETTER Shawon Jackson ‘15 To my dearest Princeton community, It has been such a pleasure serving as your USG president. To undergraduate students, thank you for electing me; to faculty and staff members, thank you for your ongoing support; and to University administrators, thank you for your insightful advice about how to enhance the lives of Princeton students. All of you – from your ideas to collaborative efforts – have positively influenced this organization. Our theme for this year was inspired from Elie Wiesel’s quote, “To lead is to serve.” My goal was to challenge members of the USG Senate to view themselves as servant leaders. To help us achieve this goal, I focused on three main areas: accessibility, accountability, and approachability. Accessibility To serve the needs of the Princeton community, we must provide two things: (1) access to information and resources, and (2) access to meaningful campus opportunities. This semester, I believe USG Senate successfully provided access to information and resources. Our Communications Committee and University Student Life Committee published fun facts about Princeton throughout the year, informing students about campus resources they may not have otherwise known about. Furthermore, we successfully planned Mental Health Week, which provided students with access to information about mental health resources. Aside from these specific initiatives, the USG Senate also organized a series of Town Halls. These special meetings gave students an opportunity to listen and share their feedback on a range of issues, including sexual misconduct policy changes; diversity, equity, and inclusion; and eating club accessibility. Accountability To be servant leaders, it is also important to hold ourselves – and those we work with – accountable. To that end, Vice President Molly Stoneman ’16 and I placed each USG Senate Project Team into an advisory group. These groups, which met twice a month, served as a place for project teams to give and receive feedback on their work. Molly and I also held individual meetings with every Senate member. Our goal was to foster meaningful relationships with each of our team members, so that they are more comfortable coming to us with ideas and concerns they have about the USG Senate.

Approachability Understanding that we serve others best when we connect with them, the USG Senate has strived to create a friendly image among the student body. To make ourselves accessible to others, we held office hours in the USG Office. Students could visit the USG office, enjoy free snacks, and chat with USG Senate members. It was a great way to informally connect with our peers, and it gave students an opportunity to ask questions and share ideas. Additionally, we included “hidden links” in our weekly e-mails. The student that responded first with the hidden link(s) earned a free treat – ice cream, coffee, or yogurt. Personally, I enjoyed this initiative because it gave me an opportunity to meet with many diverse students and learn more about how students are experiencing Princeton. I am immensely proud of everything the USG Senate has accomplished to date. Still, there is much work to be done. Over the past year, we have seen an increased need to address pertinent issues around diversity, equity, and inclusion; effortless perfection; mental health; sexual misconduct; and more. Until Princeton is truly an accessible and welcoming place for everyone, the USG Senate must not become stagnant. There is much work ahead, and I look forward to what the next USG Senate will accomplish. Thank you, Princeton, for the opportunity of a lifetime.

Truly Yours,

Shawon Jackson ‘15 Undergraduate Student Government, President

MAJOR HIGHLIGHTS Midterm Course Surveys (Page 5) •

Working with OIT to develop midterm course survey platform via Blackboard

#WhatMatters Campaign (Page 26) • •

Raised awareness of USG Senate projects and initiatives Gathered input from students about future projects the Senate should pursue

Leadership Education and Diversity Summit (Page 27) • •

Providing diversity and leadership training to 50 student leaders during a 3-day, off-campus retreat Takeaways from the summit will be published online for all students to access

Princeton Perspective Project (Page 28) • •

New initiative to change campus culture around “effortless perfection” Launched project in November 2014; campaign video received 2000+ views

2014 Ivy Policy Conference (Page 34) • •

United 80 student leaders from across the Ivy League to discuss diversity issues Compiled ideas shared at conference into a comprehensive policy report; shared report with peer institutions

Mental Health Initiative (Page 40) • •

Increased transparency around policies related to student withdrawals and readmissions for mental health reasons Organized Mental Health Week 2014, raising awareness of mental health issues

Sexual Misconduct Policy Changes (Page 43) •

Collaborated with University administrators to revise Princeton’s policies around sex discrimination and sexual misconduct

Eating Club Report (Page 38) • •

Received 1100+ survey responses from students about eating club accessibility Producing a report with findings and recommendations for Interclub Council

Extended Leave Report (Page 39) •

Co-authored a report with the Princeton Gap Year Network on how to enhance the experiences of students who take time away from Princeton

Wintersession 2015 (Page 48) • •

Provided innovative programs and events to ~1000 students during Intersession Offered 60+ Wintersession workshops, led by students, faculty, and staff

ACADEMICS COMMITTEE James Baase ‘15, Chair Committee on Course of Study Ramie Fathy ’16, Richard Peay ’17, Connor Pfeiffer ’18, Janet Schirm ‘15 Committee on Undergraduate Admission and Financial Aid Elizabeth Dolan ’16, Andrew Loo ’16, Zhaonan Qu ’15, Alexander Robinson ‘18 Members At-Large Andrew Atkins ’15, Cathy Chen ’18, Christopher Huie ’16, Yash Huilgol ’18, Ethan Jamnik ’15, Guy Johnston ’16, Gwendolyn Lee ’16, Benjamin Parks ’17, Asavari Sinha ’16, Susan Sun ’17, Chris Yu ‘17 Midterm Course Surveys Status: In progress Led by: James Baase Contributors and Campus Collaborators Dean Claire Fowler, Office of the Dean of the College Lisa Herschbach, McGraw Center Director Valerie Smith, Dean of the College Serge Goldstein, Office of Information Technology Background and Goals Students have very limited ability to provide their instructor with feedback while a course is underway. In accordance with survey from the 2012 Academic Life and Total Assessment (ALTA) Survey, which indicated that over 65% of undergraduates support midterm evaluations, we are working to establish an optimal program that aggregates student feedback halfway through the semester conveniently and confidentially. This data would be for the professor alone, and would allow him or her to dynamically modify their courses around areas of student concern or difficulty. Progress Our Committee is working with the Office of Information Technology to launch a midterm survey platform via Blackboard. This will achieve all the goals related to improving the learning environment, while minimizing the need for survey administration and overhead. Essentially, professors will have a pre-made survey built into their course pages that they can modify and then implement in their courses. We are currently addressing security and anonymity concerns in order to get approval from the Dean of the College. The platform is on schedule to launch for Fall 2015.

Take-Home Exam Policy Status: Wrapping up Project Leaders: Dillon Sharp (Academics Chair Emeritus), James Baase Project Members: Andy Loo, Andrew Atkins, Elizabeth Dolan Contributors and Campus Collaborators Committee on Examinations and Standing Dean Claire Fowler, Office of the Dean of the College Motivation for this Project In recent years, take-home examinations have become a very popular platform amongst professors of all disciplines to administer their assessments. This increase has led to problems with take-home exams themselves, as well as broader conflicts between takehomes and regularly scheduled, in-class examinations. Due to a lack of standardization, take-homes come in a wide variety of formats: they may be timed or untimed, open or closed note, and need to be taken in windows ranging from a few hours to a few days. This can result in students being placed in unhealthy, stressful or unsuccessful scenarios. For example, a student can reschedule inclass exams but has no recourse for take-homes. As a result, if one were to have a take-home scheduled for the same time period as a regular exam, the student would have to divide their study time and prepare for taking the two exams back to back. Further, take-homes are often designed to last far longer than a standard 3-hour exam. While this can be strategic and beneficial in some course material, exams approaching 12 or even 24 hours of actual length take an unnecessary and excessive toll on studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; health and well being during a critical time period. Even if an exam is untimed and designed to be shorter, students with more open exam schedules will be able to dedicate more time and care to it and thus score higher than others who cannot. Because of this, all students in the course feel immense pressure to dedicate as much time to the take-home as possible given their schedule, to the detriment of their other courses and sleep. Next, there are strong concerns from both students and professors as to the ability of the take-home exam to deter cheating. Since take-homes can be completed when and wherever a student desires, the exam has very little oversight. Common complaints range from students taking extra time to using unapproved resources to aid exam performance. As the complex issue of the take-home is examined, ways of reducing these forms of cheating will need to better leverage academics technologies such as Blackboard.

Progress The USG Senate presented concerns regarding take-home exams to the Committee on Examinations and Standing (COEXS), who was very supportive of guidelines and understanding of the problems at hand, and the Academics Committee drafted language that recommends reasonable guidelines and limits for take-home examinations. Upon final approval by COEXS, the document will be disseminated to all faculty members teaching undergraduates in early Spring 2015. Recommendations In the long-term, the faculty committee has indicated a willingness to re-examine the structure of Princeton’s examinations period. This includes reading period, dean’s date, and exam period, as well as the dates during which a take-home may be given. It would be very useful for the academics committee to pursue this in the future, given the degree to which courses are requiring both dean’s date and finals period assignments as well as the much greater popularity of the take-home. TigerHub Status: Complete - Ongoing attention recommended Led by: Benjamin Parks, James Baase Project Members: Christopher Huie, Asavari Sinha, Ethan Jamnik, Andrew Atkins, John McNamara (USG Senator Emeritus) Contributors and Campus Collaborators Office of the Registrar Office of Information Technology Office of the Dean of the College Graduate Student Government Goals Create a new, modern online platform for students to access their enrollment and course information Execution of Goals As of the end of 2014, the new TigerHub platform has launched for student use. The Academics Committee put in a tremendous amount of work in directing the platform’s look and feature set, and tested for bugs and errors extensively. The Academics Committee is in an ongoing partnership with the Registrar’s office and the Office of Information Technology to address student concerns with the platform and optimize it by adding to and refining many of the platform’s features. The Committee has already ensured that in the first round of updates, OIT will improve the responsiveness of the system, enable the calendar to scale to a user’s window (allowing all courses to be visible at once), and enable sharing of calendars with friends. The Committee has also communicated the need to investigate the pinning/adding of courses and implement the ability for the user to select a color for each course. 7

Grading Policy Status: Complete Led by: James Baase Project Members: Ethan Jamnik, John McNamara (USG Senator Emeritus) Contributors and Campus Collaborators Ad-Hoc Committee on Grading and Assessment Office of the Dean of the College Office of the President Progress After working with the Ad-Hoc Committee on Grading and Assessment on producing a set of grading recommendations, the Academics Committee helped achieved a final repeal of the Universityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s grade deflation policy. The faculty approved the policy change in September. Writing Center Crash Course Status: Complete - Should certainly be repeated in the future Led by: Gwen Lee Contributors and Campus Collaborators Amanda Wilkins, Princeton Writing Center Director Background and Goals Writing seminar provides students with the opportunity to carefully analyze their own writing as well as that of their peers, in order to better understand how to craft compelling academic papers. This detailed writing instruction is usually taken during the freshman year, but not all students are able to take a Writing seminar course during their first semester at Princeton. It is very likely then that students will take courses that require them to produce academic writing before completing a Writing seminar. Therefore, this project seeks to develop a crash course run by the writing center for students not assigned fall writing seminars, so that they may leverage writing center tips and techniques as early as possible. Progress The Committee, working with the writing center, ran a series of extremely popular and well-attended writing crash courses in the residential colleges. In order to meet demand, additional sessions were held in the writing center for students of all class years who were interested. Exit survey data was taken in order make the program better in future iterations.

Freshman Academic Expo Status: Complete - Repeats every Fall Led by: Christopher Huie Project Member: James Baase Supported by: Entire Committee Contributors and Campus Collaborators Dean Claire Fowler, Office of the Dean of the College Rosemarie Maze, Office of the Dean of the College Building Services Background and Goals The Academic Expo is a yearly event run by the USG Academics Committee, with the support of the Office of the Dean of the College, in order to provide freshmen with a comprehensive look at all possible departments and certificates. It also incorporates all of the academic centers and support services that are available for their use throughout their Princeton careers. The event is consistently well attended by the vast majority of the incoming class, and even provides undecided sophomores with the opportunity to once again browse majors of interest. Execution of Goals The Academics Committeeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s annual academic expo, run at the beginning of frosh week in September, was a success. Over 50 departments and programs were represented, and student attendance from both the freshman and sophomore classes was in excess of 1500. The program will be run again as usual next fall, although we are examining whether an even bigger space would be appropriate for the event. New Academic Exploration Event Status: In progress Led by: Cathy Chen, Yash Huilgol Project Member: James Baase Contributors and Campus Collaborators Directors of Studies, Residential Colleges Dean Bogucki, Engineering School Building Services Background and Goals The Committee is pursuing a new, spring semester event to more intimately connect prospective majors with peer academic advisers and professors in the departments. Currently, students only interact with their own Peer Academic Advisers or those in their residential college. This event will allow students to ask questions of any upperclass adviser, and also receive course selection advice (which is otherwise lacking in normal advising channels). 9

The event will occur in conjunction with a large campaign to promote a new website that lets students search all Peer Academic Advisers by department or extracurricular activities. Course Evaluations Status: In progress Led by: James Baase Project Member: Connor Pfeiffer Contributors and Campus Collaborators Committee on the Course of Study Office of the Dean of the College Registrar Background Students currently only see a portion of the evaluation data they provide, and also have no idea about the relative workload of a given course in comparison with others Progress The committee presented a proposal to the Committee on Course of Study in January, which subsequently approved a subset of new fields for student use. A new field capturing relative workload in a course will be added to course evaluations. The information field of â&#x20AC;&#x153;reason for taking classâ&#x20AC;? will be revealed to students, in order to allow them to better characterize the evaluations data available. Additionally, the committee and the registrar will be exploring a survey for students who drop courses. The survey will enable professors and administrators to get feedback on why a course was dropped, and possibly enable enhancements to the course in question that improve the learning experience or course administration. Quintile Ranks Status: In Progress Led by: James Baase Contributors and Campus Collaborators Office of the Dean of the College Background The report of the Ad-Hoc Committee on Grading and Assessment concludes that grades are not inherently comparable across departments. Further, data indicates substantial grading variations across different departments in terms of number of A-range grades awarded. Taking this info into context, it can be reasoned that the present, unofficial quintile ranks presented to students on TigerHub are relatively meaningless due to these variations. 10

Progress The Committee presented its concerns to administrators in the Office of the Dean of the College, and will be following up to continue the dialogue and achieve a new method of quintile ranking. We are considering having quintile ranks by department as an alternative. Academic Calendar Status: In Progress Led by: James Baase Progress The Academics Committee, and the USG Senate more broadly, has taken the concerns of students very seriously regarding the two-week holiday break for the 2015-2016 academic year. In response, the chair met with a variety of administrators, including the registrar, several deans in the Office of the Dean of the College, and the president in order to voice student concerns. Work on improving the calendar for next year is ongoing, and the results of a USG Senate calendar referendum will be significant in driving further investigation. More broadly, the committee will work in its next to term with administrators who have expressed an interest in changing the calendar as a whole, to examine not only the placement of exams after break but also the structure of exams period itself as well as semester length.

CAMPUS & COMMUNITY AFFAIRS COMMITTEE REPORT Chaired by Paul Riley ‘15 Spring Committee Members: Yentli Albrecht ’16 Jameil Brown ’16 Gabriela Novogatz ’17 Andrew Sun ’17 Fall Committee Members: Michael Cox ’17 Ryan Dukeman ’17 Taylor Jones ’18 Shobhit Kumar ’18 Gabriela Novogatz ’17 Ugonna Nwabueze ’18 Cadee Qui ’18 Summer Shaw ’16

Raina Sun ’16 Janelle Tam ’17 Thuy Tien Vu Tran ’15 Emilee Tu ’16

Emily Turner ’16 Serena Zheng ’17

Andrew Sun ’17 Raina Sun ’16 Janelle Tam ’17 Thuy Tien Vu Tran ’15 Emilee Tu ’16 Emily Turner ’16 Christina Vosbikian ’18 Serena Zheng ’17

Communiversity Status: Completed Project Members: Yentli Albrecht ’16, Kiana Amirahmadi ’16, Hilary Edelstein ’14, Andrew Sun ’17, Erin Turner ’17, Kaitlyn Yin ‘15 Campus Collaborators: Kristin Appelget, Director, Office of Community and Regional Affairs Erin Metro, Associate Director, Office of Community and Regional Affairs Background Communiversity is an annual gathering co-sponsored by the Students of Princeton University and the Arts Council of Princeton. This year’s celebration was held on April 27, 2014 from 1:00 PM – 6:00 PM in downtown Princeton on Nassau and Witherspoon Streets, in Palmer Square (on the Green), and throughout the University campus. The event attracted more than 200 artists, crafters, and merchants from around the tristate area and around 40,000 students and community members. Throughout the day, there was continuous live entertainment on six stages along with a wide array of delicious food from around the globe.

Execution of Goals This past semester, members of the CCA Committee and undergraduate students met on a bi-weekly basis to organize the Universityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s portion of the event, which included coordinating with Building Services to provide tables and chairs for student groups and Public Safety to ensure that all attendees had a safe, enjoyable afternoon, and working with the Office of Regional and Community Affairs in order to publicize and make the event a success. SHARE Collaboration: Violence Intervention and Prevention Week Status: Completed Project members: Joanna Anyanwu '15, Brandon Holt '15, Anna Niroomand '16, Ozioma Obi-Onuoha '16, Gussie Powell '15, Trap Yates â&#x20AC;&#x2122;14 (Former CCA Chair) Campus Collaborators: Jacquelyn Deitch-Stackhouse, Director of SHARE Amada Sandoval, Director, Women's Center Background With the newly created liaison position with the SHARE (Sexual Harassment/Assault Advising, Resources and Education) Office, the Campus and Community Affairs Committee collaborated with this office to put on Violence Intervention and Prevention (VIP) Week. VIP Week reached over 200 students and events included a lecture by Tony Porter on masculinity, a study break to inform students about stalking, beat poetry by Pages Matam, and a discussion with Aida Manduley on the unique impact that power-based personal violence has on the LGBTQ community.

Downtown Discounts Status: Completed Project Members: Yentli Albrecht ’16, Jameil Brown ’16, Janelle Tam ’17, Thuy Tien Vu Tran ’15, Emilee Tu ’16, Emily Turner ’16, Serena Zheng Background This year, the Campus and Community Affairs Committee sought to do something new in its quest to provide more discounts for students throughout the year through a weeklong event entitled “Downtown Discounts.” Execution of Goals The CCA committee decided to reach out to local businesses to get discounts for students during the last week of classes (April 28, 2014 – May 2, 2014). The discounts ranged from 10% - 50% off of a purchase of fruity yogurt or ice cream. In the future, the hope is that we can make this a staple at the end of both the fall and spring semesters.

The CCA Committee expanded this initiative to Reading Period where students took advantage of discounts from Small World Coffee as they were writing papers for Dean’s Date and studying for final exams.

Restaurant Week Status: Completed Project Members: Entire CCA Committee Background Fall 2014 marked the 3rd Annual Restaurant Week! The event took place from November 10 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 14, 2014 and provided a nice segue into the Orange and Black Ball on Friday, November 15, 2014.

The CCA Committee partnered offered two options: 1. The Fine Dining Experience: Restaurants provided a 3-course prix-fixe menu (appetizer, entree and dessert) for $25, plus tax and tip 2. Restaurant Week Exclusive: Restaurants provided a unique 2-or 3-course dinner option for $10-15 dollars, plus tax and tip

We had 17 restaurants and over 1,500 students participate. Additionally, this marked the first year we collaborated with Rider University to incorporate more students.

SOCIAL COMMITTEE REPORT Chaired by Logan Roth ‘15 Committee Members: Aileen Huang ’17, Dallas Nan ’16, Reid Bergin ’15, Helen Yu ’16, Josh Roberts ’17, Katherine Wolff ’15, Mallory Banks ’16, Nabeer Khan ’15, Ramie Fathy ’16, Richard Polo ’16, Trip Henningson ’16, Victoria Sassoon ’16, Yasmeen Almog ‘17 Spring Lawnparties 2014 Contributors and Campus Collaborators: Thomas Dunne, Deputy Dean of Undergraduate Students Dianne Spatafore, Director of Campus Club Princeton Student Event Committee The Alcohol Initiative Fund Lawnparties is traditionally a day to celebrate the end of classes for the undergraduate population at Princeton. Twice a year, the social committee organizes music, food, and fun for the students on a beautiful day in both the fall and spring. The event takes place on Prospect Avenue, inside the eating clubs, and on the eating clubs’ properties. The day is traditionally a day of drinking, so in order to minimize injuries or illness due to alcohol poisoning we made sure there was a multitude of dining options for students. We also purchased a number of baggo boards to play outside by where the eating trucks will be set up as well as temporary tattoos for students. There was also merchandise for sale. We planned on donating the funds from merchandise to charity. We received some feedback, however, that we should consult the student body before choosing a charity organization in the future. 2 artists performed at the event: neo-soul singer Mayer Hawthorne and electronic artist Griz. The rationale behind choosing these artists was that Griz, with high-energy dubstep inflicted soultronica would provide an intense start and that Mayer Hawthorne would carry the soul link into some smooth and grooving songs as students begin to mellow towards the end of the day. Furthermore, as hip-hop was featured in the last Lawnparties, the committee thought it would be appropriate to feature other types of music to accommodate the diverse taste and culture on campus. The event cost $90,000 with $55,000 going towards headliners. The remaining $35,000 was spent on food, activities, security, and the concert production costs. Roughly 4,000 people attended.

Spring Dean’s Date Celebration Contributors and Campus Collaborators: Dianne Spatafore, Director of Campus Club The Alcohol Initiative Fund Dean’s date this year featured an ice cream bar during the day and a nacho bar at night. Usually the USG Senate only provides food during the day for students at 5:00 when their work is due. However, in order to ensure that fewer students become ill due to the traditionally high amounts of drinking, the social committee decided to provide food at night on the street as well. Interclub Council Truckfest The social committee supported the music at the Truckfest in order to attract student bands. The event itself had some issues with lines, but the entertainment went very smoothly. The Interclub Council and the Pace Center for Civic Engagement organized the event. Fall Lawnparties 2014 This time around, we had merchandise but no charity aspect. We sought mostly to increase the amount of food and the activities outside of the eating clubs. We had a graffiti wall where students could paint, and we hired a student artist to paint a design to be displayed until it was painted over by other students. This was a great thing that students enjoyed, and I hope this gets expanded in the future. The rest of Lawnparties went as planned. Snow Globe Making Event This event was comprised of a table set up in Frist. Students could come and make their own snowglobes using mason jars and arts and crafts supplies. This was a hit! A lot of people came out, but in the future, I would suggest this gets publicized a bit more, and that there should be something else, like hot chocolate or a design competition to get students even more interested. Fall Dean’s Date We handed out blankets for the day event, and they were quickly taken. We also had krispy kreme donuts. The donuts were quite cheap,so the Committee may be able to order more in the future. This way, it is not such a problem if students take more than one. At night, we ordered Mamouns, and pizza. However, we anticipated for there to be many more people. I think less people are willing to brave the weather for fall dean’s date. In the future, I would make sure to have enough food for 200 people in the fall, and 500 in the spring. I would also recommend that the day event does not include the countdown clock (it didn’t this time around), but that it also starts right at 5pm if not afterwards. Starting at 4:30 is unfair to the students who actually use the event as a release from their stressful dean’s date, where they work right up until 5pm. 17

UNIVERSITY STUDENT LIFE COMMITTEE REPORT Chaired by Ella Cheng ‘16 Committee Members: Alexandra Aparicio ’18, Jianing Cheng ’17, Sergio Cruz ’18, Scarlett Grabowska ’17, Ashley Hatcher ’15, Carly Jackson ’16, Vera Lummis ’18, Marni Morse ’17, Maria Perales ’18, Jessica Reed ’18, Alec Regulski ’16, Zinna Senbetta ’16, Sarah Qari ’16 End-of-Year Statuses: Policy Sexual Misconduct/Title IX Policy: Publicity about Changes Status: Graphic created, yet to be posted on social media (likely by 2015-2016 Senate) Led by: Marni Morse ’17, Simon Wu ’16 (Chief Designer) Marni generated the content for a graphic which Simon created detailing and summarizing the changes in the Sexual Misconduct Policy for the University in light of Title IX. The graphic is created, but has yet to be posted on social media. It may potentially be printed and posted in the Frist Campus Center. Activities Fund for Low Income Students Status: Has been floated by the administration, will undergo deeper talks/development under 2015-2016 Senate Led by: Maria Perales ‘18 Maria met with Dean McKay and Dean Dunne to discuss the possibility of a fund, which would subsidize activities (i.e. Breakout, fees for clubs and sports, club retreats). Future talks will be scheduled between USLC and the Office of Financial Aid and Vice Provost for Diversity and Institutional Equity Michelle Minter. Eating Clubs – Increasing PUID Nights and Promoting Inclusivity Status: Terminated due to overlap with Eating Club Report Led by: Vera Lummis ’18, Jessica Reed ‘18 Vera reached out to the residential college Deans of Student Life to ask if we could ask RCAs to conduct surveys with zees regarding their perspectives about the eating clubs as a social venue, and ways that they could potentially be more inclusive. With the spearheading of the Senate project, the Eating Club Report, we ended this project, however, since its concerns were also addressed by the report.

Eating Disorders Counseling Outreach Status: E-mail collecting student questions sent out; currently collecting questions Led by: Ashley Hatcher ’15, Carly Jackson ‘16 In order to publicize the resources at Counseling and Psychological Services specific to eating disorders (counselors, nutritionists), Ashley and Carly created an open-ended survey in order to collect questions regarding eating disorders and the Universityprovided services related to them. The survey was sent out via a USG email. The plan is to take these questions and have them answered, either in an FAQ or multimedia form, by the experts and eating disorders counselors at CPS. Dining Electronic Meal Exchange System in Eating Clubs Status: Pilot version being tested Led by: Nihar Madhavan ’15 A pilot app and website have been made by OIT. Shawon Jackson ’15 and Ella Cheng ’16 will be testing and using the pilot app. Ella is in communication with Executive Director of Dining Services, Smitha Haneef, about progress on this project. Late Meal Swipes for RCAs Status: In Progress Led by: Ella Cheng ‘16 Dean Michael Olin suggested that USLC reach out to Dean Valerie Smith in order to see if this proposal could be submitted to the Council for Masters for a vote. It was put up for a vote in the past, but was not approved. Late Meal Credit at Cafe Viv/Witherspoon Status: Under re-evaluation Led by: Scarlett Grabowska ’17 Communications with the administrative point person from Retail Services, Andrew Fleischer, were irregular, making this project difficult to execute. However, this effort will likely be folded into future late meal overview/review efforts in the 2015/2016 Senate. Frist One More Packaged Item Status: Under re-evaluation Led by: Scarlett Grabowska ’17 Communications with the administrative point person from Retail Services, Andrew Fleischer, were irregular, making this project difficult to execute. However, this effort will likely be folded into future late meal overview/review efforts in the 2015/2016 Senate. 19

Grocery Program for Independents Status: Survey sent out, collecting data Led by: Alexandra Aparicio ’18, Carly Jackson ‘16 A survey with questions about an ideal grocery program for independent students was sent out to the student body. USLC is collecting feedback, and the 2015-2016 USLC will likely be synthesizing the data in order to design a better program. Alexandra and Carly reached out to numerous nearby grocery stores and food businesses, and found that many student-friendly delivery programs exist; they just aren’t publicized well or are optimized for students to easily order and have their items delivered. Therefore, Alexandra and Carly are looking to advising these businesses about how to streamline their delivery processes and optimize them for students, as well as compiling information for independent students about how and from where to order. Independent Students Listserv Status: Spreadsheet sent out and e-mails collected, listserv yet to be made Led by: Sarah Qari ‘16 An e-mail was sent out to the student body with a form that collected the netIDs of students who were interested in joining an independent students listserv. We had to collect contacts this way, since Housing did not share its list upon request. Facilities Campus Pub Status: In Progress (long-term project, USLC now has seats on Campus Planning Focus Group) Led by: Ella Cheng ‘16 Due to lack of progress in administrative talks, USLC spearheaded a referendum in the Winter 2014 election to demonstrate a student mandate. It passed on Fri. Nov. 28 with 2,166 undergraduates in favor and 409 undergraduates opposed. Ella and the 2015-2016 USLC Chair, Kathy Chow, and USLC members will be bringing this referendum up in talks and discussions within the Campus Planning Focus Group, which will discuss long-term plans in University building and architectural plans. Students were invited to sit on the committee after conversations Ella had with Dean Dunne. Residential Communal Spaces (i.e. common areas in dorms, laundry machines, kitchens, hallway bathrooms) Status: In Progress Led by: Marni Morse ‘17 We split this project into residential colleges and upperclassmen housing. Marni drafted a survey in order to address disparities between Wilson and Butler common spaces in particular. This project will likely be continued by the next Senate or USLC, and reenvisioned. 20

Campus Walking Tour Status: Fall walk completed, will continue every semester Led by: Scarlett Grabowska ‘17 Project Member: Ella Cheng ’16 Contributors and Campus Collaborators: Office of Campus Life (Vice President Cherrey) Public Safety Facilities Housing Residential College Masters We executed the walk in the mid-campus area (starting from Dillon Gym to Blair Courtyard to Baker Rink to Public Safety up to the Butler/Wilson area to Prospect House). Notes were taken about student concerns about safety, lighting, pavement, etc. and distributed to the relevant administrative bodies and individuals. We will be conducting walks now every semester, and plan to conduct the next walk downcampus. We will also be following up on notes taken during the fall walk. Bathroom Locks & Codes Status: Meetings conducted, more focus groups/meetings will be held before decision is made Led by: Ella Cheng ‘16 Contributors and Campus Collaborators: Housing Services Public Safety University Services Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students Ella has already been in administrative talks about the topic following a one-question poll asking students if they wanted all locks/no locks/status quo (only girls’ restrooms have locks). This topic will be covered at the next USLC meeting, and focus groups and panels with administrators will be held in order to collect individual student stories and opinions. A second, more detailed poll is likely. Events Campus Rec Free Fitness Classes Status: Completed Led by: Ella Cheng ’16 Contributors and Campus Collaborators: Kara Nitti Campus Rec Director of Recreational Programming Continued as usual, but also looking to have all group fitness classes funded by the University in the first place for the future. 21

Positive Social Media Campaign Status: In Progress Led by: Sergio Cruz â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;16 In order to promote positive communication and messaging on social media venues like Yik Yak and Facebook, Sergio worked with Chief Designer Simon to design giveaway items i.e. buttons promoting positive social media, a physical exhibit and manifestation of positive forums like Tiger Admirers, and a potential social media campaign. However, this project did face some controversy and objection from the student body, so more time will be spent fleshing out its mission and vision. The focus is on positive messaging, not at all on objecting to social media forums themselves just because they pose a risk of exhibiting negative content.

Communications Friday Fun Facts Status: Completed, Ongoing Led by: Jia Ning Cheng â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;17 We continued posting fun facts about campus life on USG social media sites!

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY COMMITTEE REPORT Chaired by Clement Lee ’17 The IT Committee improves student life by providing accessible and convenient. We plan on unveiling some of the Tigerapps we have under development currently such as a Lost & Found app. We hope to build stronger connections with the Princeton Entrepreneurship Club and COS 333 to allow for the addition of external apps. USG Internal Website: CURE (Centralized USG Resource Engine) Status: Completed Led by: Clement Lee ‘17 Project Members: Aleksandra Czulak ’17, Molly Stoneman ’16 Goal: Provide a web portal for USG members to access information Execution of Goals: Moved website from WordPress.com to TigerApps servers for the purposes of creating a members-only section. Evaluation: The initial move worked very well, but current members do not use the site frequently to gather information about USG. Lawnparties Website Redesign Status: Complete Led by: Clement Lee ‘17 Project Member: Logan Roth ‘15 Goal: Bring a new, cleaner design to Lawnparties. Execution of Goals: Archived old website; Wrote new website using HTML/CSS Evaluation: Met goals rather accurately (2400+ site visits), though the current framework is likely not enough; additional work will be needed to for future websites Server and Security Upgrades Status: In progress Led by: Clement Lee ‘17 Goal: Move server infrastructure onto new servers that cost less and are faster; prevent hacks; ensure security best practices are followed Execution of Goals: Created a lower-end development server and a cheap production server to handle light loads; updated Wordpress accounts, and moved operating system to stable and secure version; centralized administration tools

COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE REPORT Chaired by Richard Lu ’16, Director of External Affairs Committee Members: Kristen Coke ’16 Public Engagement Co-Chair, Annie Tao ’16 Public Engagement CoChair, Simon Wu ’17 Chief Designer, Kathy Chow ’17 Website Manager Highlights • Creation of the Communications Committee • Revamp of the USG website • USG Newsletter • #WhatMatters Campaign This is the inaugural year for the Communications Committee, which was proposed by President Jackson’s administration to facilitate communications and external affairs needs. We envisioned an open dialogue between Senate members and the committee for social media engagement, newsletter issues, videos, designs, and website posts. In addition to working with Senate members, we also put a focus on student engagement within USG affairs, creating innovative ways for students to hear about USG projects and keeping an eye on the issues that affect them. Social Media Kristen Coke ’16, Public Engagement Chair Our goals for the year included 1. Raising our follower counts on all of our social media accounts 2. Fostering a more positive image of USG to the student body 3. Making USG more visible and transparent to the student body So far, we have been able to restart our USG Instagram and post more frequently about USG and ODUS-sponsored events and announcements from our Facebook and Twitter pages. We significantly increased our number of followers on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram over the past year. We also created a video that introduces the student body to the USG Senate by featuring a diverse group of USG Senate members explaining why they joined USG. We have also facilitated two new projects, Project Princeton (our whiteboard project initiative to go around Frist and ask students a question and see what their responses are) and Fun Fact Fridays, in which we post fun facts about Princeton on Facebook.

USG Senate Newsletter Annie Tao ’16, Public Engagement Co-Chair; Kathy Chow ’17 Website Manager This year, we also launched the USG Newsletter. The purpose of this newsletter was to provide specific updates about what the USG Senate was doing. To create these Newsletters, we used Mailchimp, a site that allows you to develop a clean newsletter layout and send it to multiple recipients. Initially, it was difficult to gather content for the newsletter, as many USG Senate project teams did not have concrete updates to share frequently. As a result, we began sending the newsletter monthly instead of every two weeks. USG Website Kathy Chow ’17, Website Manager This semester, we re-launched the USG Website. Working off the new design provided by Angela Liu ’16, I updated all the out-of-date information on the USG Website, which includes everything from the 2014-2015 vision and mission statement, to re-linking the Senate Attendance sheet, to going through all the pages to ensure that discontinued projects are taken out and services/events still happening in the upcoming year are updated. We also replaced the slider pictures on the homepage with a photo of the 2014-2015 senate, updated the members’ bios page, and the Projects pages of the Senate and Class Government. Finally, following a suggestion proposed by Zhan Okuda-Lim ‘15, I combined all the relevant USG Documents and Constitutions into one page under the “About” tab that makes them more organized and easier to access, thus increasing transparency. Canvassing Project Coordinated by Richard Lu ’16, Director of External Affairs The Communications Committee worked with the entire USG Senate to launch the Canvassing Project during the Fall 2014. The purpose of this project was to give USG Senate members an opportunity to meet and engage with other students. We wanted to hear ideas and feedback from the students we serve. To achieve this goal, we developed a brief handout outlining the work the USG Senate has achieved to date. Various Senate members then went around to dorms on campus, introducing themselves to new students and asking for their feedback. In the future, we would like to give students advance notice before going to their rooms. This will allow them to have some ideas on their mind beforehand. We also found it useful to ask for feedback on specific projects, rather than general ideas.

#WhatMatters Campaign Led by entire Communications Committee Our Committee launched the #WhatMatters Campaign in January 2015. The purpose of this campaign was twofold: (1) raise awareness about what the USG Senate has done and is currently doing, and (2) gather input and ideas from students about what the USG Senate should do in the future. We put up posters around campus to highlight what weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve accomplished, and we gather studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; ideas using a polling site (allourideas.org/whatmattersprinceton). The site received over 43,000 votes throughout the month of January. The next USG Senate will use the responses to inform future projects and initiatives.

USG COMMITTEE ON DIVERSITY AND INSTITUTIONAL EQUITY

Chaired by Albert Choi ‘15 Committee Members: Julie Chen ’17, Andrew Hahm ’17, Mitchell Hammer ’17, Shawon Jackson ’15, Ozioma ObiOnuoha ’16, Sol Taubin ‘16 Core Goals The main goals of our committee were to (1) raise awareness of issues related to diversity and equity, and (2) provide students with the tools and vocabulary needed to effectively engage with these issues. Ultimately, we aimed to ensure all Princeton students have a meaningful experience, regardless of their identity and background. Listening Tour and Student Focus Groups Between April and May 2014, our Committee met with several campus administrators and staff members to learn what work the University is currently doing around diversity, equity, and inclusion. During these meetings, we also proposed initial project ideas our Committee was considering and gathered feedback on how we should move forward. The following semester, we organized a series of focus groups with undergraduate students. In these focus groups, students shared their ideas and concerns about diversity and equity on campus. We consolidated the feedback we received from these focus groups to inform our future projects. Town Hall on Gender-Neutral Housing In November 2014, our Committee organized a Town Hall on Gender-Neutral Housing, allowing students to engage with various campus administrators who work on this issue. While attendance was relatively low, some useful ideas did come from this event. Afterwards, our Committee produced a fact sheet with pertinent information about gender-neutral housing policies. This fact sheet will be shared with the entire student body, ensuring that all students have a sound understanding of the University’s gender-neutral housing policies. Leadership Education and Diversity (LEAD) Summit At the end of February 2014, our Committee will launch the first-ever Leadership Education and Diversity Summit, a three-day, off-campus retreat that trains 50 student leaders on diversity and leadership. This event will allow participants to understand the importance of diversity in the context of leadership, meet and engage with business leaders and Princeton alumni, and foster meaningful relationships with other students. Conversation with Wendy Kopp ‘89 In collaboration with the Pace Center for Civic Engagement, Community House, and Teach for America, our Committee is brining Wendy Kopp ’89, founder of Teacher for America, to campus on February 9, 2014. She will participate in a fireside chat with Janie Lee ’15, former president of Students for Education Reform, on access, diversity, and inclusion in education. 27

PRINCETON PERSPECTIVE PROJECT

Chaired by Shawon Jackson ‘15 Student Advisory Board Members: Janet Adelola ’17, Nusrat Ahmed ’17, Billy Arendt ’16, Katie Breen ’15, Marie Brooks ’15, Deana Hamlin ’17, Isabella Lloyd-Damnjanovic ’17, Mary Heath Manning ’17, Max Rogers ’16, Sophie Wang ‘16 Campus Collaborators Dr. Alexis Andres, Director of Student Life, Butler College Mr. Nic Voge, Associate Director, McGraw Center for Teaching and Learning Dean Tara Kinsey, Associate Dean, Office of the Dean of the College and Office for Campus Life Mr. Bruce Easop, Leadership Fellow, Office of the Vice President for Campus Life Mission The Princeton Perspective Project aims to change campus culture around effortless perfection and normalize conversations around struggle. Progress Initial Launch in November 2014 We began by sharing the Princeton Perspective Project website (perspective.princeton.edu), which contains powerful stories from students opening up about their struggles, resources for students experiencing setbacks, and articles and videos related to “effortless perfection.” Highlights from out initial launch: • PPP Campaign Video received more than 2000 views • 150 students changed their Facebook profile pictures to promote PPP • PPP featured in The Daily Princetonian and The Princeton Alumni Weekly Students, faculty, and staff members all had positive responses to the project. We also received useful feedback about how to refine our mission and incorporate more students. Event with Rachel Simmons In November 2014, PPP and the Women’s Mentorship Program brought Rachel Simmons to campus. A New York Times bestseller author and educator, Rachel shared her personal story about defining success on her own terms. She also held a workshop on dealing with criticism. Moving Forward The PPP team is working to gather more stories from students, alumni, faculty, and staff members. We hope that members of the Princeton community will continue to express their vulnerability. While our initial launch focused on video testimonials, we are open to stories of any form (narrative pieces, poetry, artwork, etc.). We are also organizing a PPP Speaker Summit in which students can share their stories in person, and smaller events will be held throughout the year to encourage future dialogue around “effortless perfection” and notions of success. 28

PROJECTS BOARD REPORT Chaired by Tyler Lawrence ’16 and Carolyn Yang ‘15 Committee Members: Lina Saud ’15, Paul Riley ’15, Hannah Swenson ’16, Austin Pruitt ’17, Naman Jain ’17, Kaijia Tian ‘17 Overview The USG Projects Board funds student group events on campus. As the primary source of funding for many student groups, Projects Board strives to support as many campus activities with our given budget. We allocate money in a content-neutral manner, so long as there is demonstrated student interest. Projects Board’s primary source of funds is the USG, with about a third! of our funding from Admissions Office and the! Office of the Vice President. Each year we receive approximately $70,000 from the USG Senate to allocate to student groups. Highlights Projects Board served as a funder for the USG’s Wintersession program, providing grants to several individual classes that required supplies. Grants were disbursed through the USG Senate, and enabled a wider array of programming than would have been possible without funding. In March 2014, Projects Board began the process of switching from our old application process, which involved a rather cumbersome third-party database, to the University’s Student Activities Funding Engine (SAFE). We consulted extensively with the administration to ensure that SAFE would serve both our needs and the needs of our applicants. After an initial adjustment period, this shift has streamlined the process for both student groups as applicants and Projects Board as a funder. Notable improvements with SAFE • We can view how much other funding sources have chosen to grant an applicant, allowing us to better ensure that groups are not receiving more funding than they need. • We can more clearly specify what components of an event we are funding (e.g. only food, but not decorations) • Groups can use the same application to apply to Projects Board, Alcohol Initiative, and academic departments, streamlining their process Certainly, there are still areas for improvement in SAFE, such as incorporating a meeting slot registration function (which we now conduct through WASS). We look forward to working with the administration in the coming year to continue to improve SAFE.

Furthermore, we created two new positions on the board: Social Media Chair and Auditor: The Social Media Chair updates a Projects Board Facebook page with event information about the student activities that have received funding from Projects Board. Ideally, student groups will also post updates and photos of these events on this Facebook page as well. The Auditor follows up on funding transactions to ensure that groups are using Projects Board funding for their intended purposes, especially for large scale or new events. Evaluation We are pleased to have maximized our budget, having dispersed nearly all of the USGâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s funds without running out. This was possible partly because of our reliance on our alternative funding sources whenever appropriate, which allowed us to stretch the USGâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s all-purpose money through the entire year. Moving forward, we would also like to consider additional sources of funding for multi-day events on campus, such as conferences or symposia. Additionally, we would like to establish our presence as representatives on this campus who can provide suggestions to improve event elements and recommend campus or community resources for the event planning process.

STUDENT GROUPS COMMITTEE REPORT Chaired by Jeffrey Kessler ‘15 Committee Members: Rina Azumi ’16, Elise Backman '15, Julie Chong ’17, Sameen Haroon ’14, Gregory Loshkajian ’16, Ryan McDonnell '15, John Su ’16, Benedict Wagstaff ’14, Paul Yang ’16, Jack Zhou ‘15 New Student Groups During Spring 2014, the Student Groups Committee approved 9 new student groups: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

Princeton Undergraduate Energy Association Princeton Hidden Minority Council Humans of Princeton Princeton Garden Project Princeton Operations Research Society Princeton Wilderness Society Princeton Brewing Club Undergraduate Engineering Council Open Source at Princeton

During Fall 2014, the Student Groups Committee approved 10 new student groups: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11.

Society for Princeton Urbanists Princeton Francophone Society Princeton Committee on Bipartisanship Princeton University Letterpress All-Nighter Princeton Muay Thai Club Princeton Data Science Club Princeton Polish Society Figments Speculative Fiction Magazine Verte Sharsheret

Moving Forward The committee plans to spend some time examining the process for applying for recognition. In particular, we will closely examine the documents and questions that need to be prepared by student groups before coming before the SGC. Our goal will be to make applying for recognition as accessible a process as possible. We are also evaluating how we can better communicate with groups once they are approved, and how we can check in with new groups.

MOVIES COMMITTEE REPORT Chaired by Patrick Thompson ‘14, Jack Mazzulo ‘16 Committee Members: Jason Adler ’17, Azza Cohen ’16, Anne Ferlmann ’16, Cadee Qiu ‘18 Highlights In additional to the “usual” weekends of movies, we held, for the first time, a screening of 3 Senior Thesis films for students in that certificate program. Furthermore, we showed The Perks of Being a Wallflower as part of Mental Health Week. Goal The main objective is to provide students on campus with a low-cost way to see quality movies, and to provide an alternative to “The Street” on weekends. Execution of Goals Movies at the Garden Theater During the Spring and Fall semesters, we showed a free movie at Garden Theater almost every weekend (about 11 times each semester). We coordinated with the Theater each week to obtain the movie for the following weekend. Our choices were from a list of “second run” (i.e. generally about one or two months old) movies given to us by the Theater or any DVD that we could provide. This weekly event was advertised in two ways. Firstly, the information was always included in weekly USG e-mail to the whole student body. Secondly, it was advertised on our Facebook. Furthermore, the USG paid $1,000 to show The Perks of Being a Wallflower 3 nights during Mental Health Week 2014, alongside our regular movie, and 3 senior thesis films were shown in Spring 2014. New Committee Structure In the Fall 2014, our Committee revamped its leadership structure. We added specific roles for our committee members to ensure all tasks could be completed efficiently and effectively. The new roles include the Public Coordinator, the Special Events Coordinator, and the Outreach Coordinator. Moving Forward Our Committee will continue to think about how to improve its communication to students, by making sure the USG President sends an announcement regarding the movie at least 24 hours in advance and posting more frequently on social media about our events. We are also thinking about how we can further our collaboration with student groups, and organize more moviesrelated events outside of our showings at the Garden Theater. 32

SENATE PROJECTS TABLE OF CONTENTS Below please find a comprehensive list of USG Senate projects, broken down by category. POLICY PROPOSALS AND INITIATIVES

2014 IVY POLICY CONFERENCE

DINING POLICY

EATING CLUB REPORT

EXTENDED LEAVE REPORT

MENTAL HEALTH INITIATIVE

SEXUAL MISCONDUCT POLICY CHANGES

STUDENT SERVICES & EVENTS

CONVERSATIONS

HAPPINESS PROJECT

PRINCETON 2018/2019 & PRINCETON PREVIEW TEAM

PRINCETON PUBLIC WORKS

STUDENT EVENTS CALENDAR

THANKSGIVING BUSES

WINTERSESSION

POLICY PROPOSALS AND INITIATIVES 2014 Ivy Policy Conference Status: Completed Led by: Shawon Jackson ’15 and Paarth Shah ‘16 Project Members: Tumise Asebiomo ’16, Aleksandra Czulak ’17, Kushal Dalal ’17, Chandler Harris ’17, Nicholas Hu ’15, Naman Jain ’17, Richard Lu ’16, Zinna Senbetta ’17, Molly Stoneman ’16, Christopher Yu ’17 Mission The purpose of the 2014 Ivy Policy Conference was to bring together about 80 student leaders from across the Ivy League and encourage them to exchange ideas and best practices about how to improve their respective campuses. The theme of this year’s conference was, “Identity and Inclusivity: Fostering a Community of Individuals.” We aimed to have more students thinking about diversity, equity, and inclusion on their respective campuses. Details on the Conference During the conference, students heard from well-respected speakers, participated in breakout sessions, and attended social events to interact with other conference attendees. There were also performances from Princeton performing arts groups. Program highlights include: • Panel on Socioeconomic Diversity in the Ivy League • Breakout Sessions on Diversity • Keynote speeches o Dr. Renee Alexander, Director of Intercultural Programs at Cornell University o Professor Naomi Murakawa, Princeton University o Lisette Nieves, White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics o Professor Imani Perry, Princeton University o Mr. Robert Reffkin, CEO and Founder of Urban Compass • State of the Ivy o Student leaders from each Ivy discussed their campus priorities Please visit the 2014 Ivy Policy Conference website (www.ivypolicyconference.com) for more information about the event. Outcome After the conference, our team produced a comprehensive policy report. This report detailed how conference participants perceived diversity issues on their respective campuses, and also includes recommendations on how to address those issues. Paarth Shah ’16 compiled this report and shared it at the 2014 Ivy Leadership Summit at Cornell University. 34

Dining Policy Project Status: Ongoing; moved to University Student Life Committee Led by: Nihar Madhavan Class of 2015 Senator Project Members Senate Members: Azza Cohen ’16 U-Councillor, Ella Cheng ’16 USLC Chair 2016, Committee Members: Sarah Qari ‘16, Arfan Siddique ’17, Christie Jiang ’17, Carly Jackson ‘16 Contributors and Campus Collaborators University Services Retail Residential Colleges University Health Services Interclub Council Goals We are trying to work with the various campus organizers of dining services to initiate policy change to meet students needs, and make every student’s dining experience more pleasant. Execution of Goals We met with a range of administrators, pushing small- and long-term projects separately. We also released a survey to the student body. Data 238 students responded to our survey. Our independent student focus groups were unfortunately under-attended, with only 2 people signing up. We unfortunately don’t have data on our ongoing projects. Evaluation Our survey response rate was high, and the results were very useful. People were also very opinionated, writing in comments extensively. Our focus groups were unfortunately held right after spring break, which was a mistake we made. Photos/Figures The following pages include interesting graphs from the survey:

Next Steps Moving forward, the projects that fell under the Dining Policy Project are now under the University Student Life Committee. This will keep all dining-related projects in one central location.

Eating Club Report Status: In Progress Led by: Aleksandra Czulak ’17, Nihar Madhavan ’15 Project Members: Daniel Mozley ’17, Dallas Nan ’16, Simon Wu ‘17 Contributors and Campus Collaborators Interclub Council (ICC) Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students Goals The main purpose of this project was to determine how to make the eating clubs more accessible to undergraduate students. In particular, our team was interested in how the eating clubs can become more financially accessible, organize more social events that are appealing to all students, and provide dining options that are accommodating to everyone. Execution of Goals To date, we have achieved two main goals: 1. Campus-Wide Survey: In collaboration with the Interclub Council, we developed and distributed a comprehensive survey on eating club accessibility. The survey received over 1100 responses, and the response rate was evenly distributed amongst class years. Many students added additional comments on the survey, revealing how much student interest there was in this project. 2. Eating Club Town Hall: Our team also organized a Town Hall with members of the Interclub Council and a representative from the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students (Dean Bryant Blount). While attendance was relatively low, we received useful ideas about how the eating clubs can be improved. Future Action Items Moving forward, our team will compile the survey results and develop a full report on the accessibility of Princeton’s eating clubs. The report and its findings will be published during Spring 2015. We will also share our recommendations with the Interclub Council.

Extended Leave Report Status: Complete Led by: Azza Cohen ‘16 Project Members: Katherine Clifton ’15, Eden Full ‘15 (Gap Year Network), Naimah Hakim ‘16 (Gap Year Network), Jose Lopez ‘16 (Gap Year Network), Sol Taubin ’16 Contributors and Campus Collaborators Our main collaborators are the students we serve – we did a survey, two focus groups, and countless personal interviews in order to better understand the problems facing students who take time off (voluntary and involuntary). The Gap Year Network was our main partner, especially the three students who helped write the report. The collaboration between USG and an ODUS student group was fantastic. We also worked with Dean Dunne, who directed us towards people to talk with. We are currently working with OIT, ODUS, and Housing. Goals Our main goal was to understand the main issues facing students who take time off, and base simple, effective solutions on these findings. Now, our main goals are to continue the conversation and begin implementing our solutions. Our main solution is a re-orientation program for returning students-- whether they deferred or took time away from Princeton. We believe one of the main problems is the lack of community and disenfranchisement felt by students who take time away from Princeton and we seek to not only illustrate simple ways to ease their transition back, but also to create a sense of community. Execution of Goals Survey: We wrote the survey with the Gap Year Network. We publicized this through the USG email, listservs, and personal emails to friends who had/were currently away from Princeton. Focus groups: We held the focus groups alongside the survey. We had a representative from USG, and at least one from the Gap Year Network. We took extensive notes which we used in the report. Personal interviews: When students began to reach out to us with their experiences, we responded by pushing ourselves to find students with stories to tell. We conducted personal interviews to better understand the subtleties behind the experiences detailed in the survey. Writing the report: The report is a collaborative effort between USG and GYN. We split up the sections and had “writing parties” when we wrote together one on Google Doc and could help each other.

Data We conducted 2 focus groups and an online survey. The focus groups had 5 students and 9 students respectively (14 students total). The GYN also informally discussed students’ stories and concerns throughout the year at study breaks, meetings and social dinners attended by roughly 60 unique students. The Extended Leave Survey included 86 responses (35 male, 51 female). 14 were alumni, 7 were advanced standing, and 69 were currently enrolled. In the survey, 44 respondents took leaves after matriculating, while 39 deferred admission. 12 were Bridge Year students. Of those who deferred, 19 participated in a structured program other than Bridge Year. The vast majority (66 respondents) spent exactly one year away from school, but the number of semester away ranged from 1 to 9 (i.e., four and a half years). The three most common reasons chosen for taking time away were (1) pursuing new experiences, (2) mental health concerns and (3) academic struggles. Respondents’ most common activities while away were travel, paid work and volunteering or service work. Across the board, students made mostly positive statements about their personal experiences away, including marking Agree or Strongly Agree for this statement: “I grew more during my time away than I would have grown at school”. Most students across the board also rated their satisfaction with the university’s support during the time away as positive or neutral. Outcome We produced a comprehensive report about the experiences of students who take time off. The report is published on the USG website and includes concrete recommendations about how to enhance the experiences of Princeton students who take time off. Mental Health Initiative Status: Continuing (Mental Health Week 2014 and Mental Health Referendum: Complete) Led by: Zhan Okuda-Lim ’15 Project Members: Mallory Banks ’16, Rachel Bromheim ’15, Isabelle Byers ’16, Christopher Cook ’17, Laura Du ’14, Ji-Sung Kim ’18, Priya Krishnan ’16, Ariana Lazzaroni ’15, Amalya Megerman ’16, Anchal Padukone ’16, Sarah Sakha ’18, Fred Shaykis ’15, Emilee Tu ’16, Jasmine Wang ’17, Kei Yamaya ’17, Jason Yu ’16 Campus Partners: Dr. Calvin Chin and Counseling and Psychological Services; Dr. Kathy Wagner and University Health Services; Lewis Center for the Arts; Peer Health Advisers; Student Health Advisory Board; SHARE; LGBT Center; Pride Alliance; Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students; Class Governments; Women’s Center; Carl A. Fields Center; Undergraduate Film Organization; Garden Theatre; American Whig-Cliosophic Society; Club Nom and Ask Big Questions; Campus Recreation; Steve Rosenfield of Ganesh Photography; Residential Colleges

Goals The goals of the Mental Health Initiative are as follows: (1) Collaborate with students, administrators, and campus partners to investigate and propose constructive policies regarding mental wellness on campus; (2) conduct programming to raise awareness about mental wellness on campus and to reduce the stigma surrounding mental health issues; and (3) spark constructive dialogue about mental wellness that is essential to creating a supportive community. Execution of Goals After the creation of the Board, we organized Princeton Mental Health Week 2014. In conjunction with multiple campus partners, we hosted various events, workshops, and other activities to promote awareness about mental wellness on campus, connect students with resources, and spark dialogue among students. In light of student feedback and recent concerns expressed about withdrawal and readmission policies for students facing mental health issues, we are began focusing on addressing policies and procedures regarding student mental health on campus. Our work moving forward will involve bridging the gap between students and administrators, pushing for more transparency on policies and procedures, and working with students and administrators to investigate and support needed improvements. Data from Mental Health Week • The Perks of Being a Wallflower (movie at Garden Theatre) o Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights o Approximately 100 attendees per evening • Mardi Gras Glow Party o About 80 to 100 students • UHS Test Your Mood Screening o 75 students • “What I Be” Project o 64 participants; sign-up slots were filled within 2 hours • Whig-Clio Debate: “Princeton Is Flunking Mental Health” o About 40 students plus several community members • Postcard Palooza o Over 60 student participants; over 150 vintage Princeton postcards • Club Nom; topic: “What Makes You Truly Happy?” o 15 student participants (capacity) • McGraw Stress Reduction Study Break o About 50 students • Pride Alliance CafeQ o About 15 students for individual conversations • Mental Health Week Survey: 62 Responses 41

Major Updates since Mental Health Week 2014 Policy During the 2014 USG Winter Election, 95.5% of students supported a referendum calling on the administration to increase transparency in protocols and practices relating to student withdrawals and readmissions for mental health reasons. Since the referendum passed, the Princeton Mental Health Initiative Board has worked with campus administrators to increase transparency on these issues: •

In December 2014, the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students published an updated Frequently Asked Questions document that includes additional information for students. In addition, the title was updated to reflect that the FAQs document online does address the authoritative protocols and practices relating to student withdrawals and readmissions for mental health reasons.

•

The Office of the Dean of the College updated its "Taking Time Away" webpage to direct students to the FAQs document for questions about withdrawals and readmissions for mental health reasons.

•

As of February 2, 2015 the "Voluntary Withdrawal" section of the Undergraduate Announcement will include new language indicating that students who have voluntarily withdrawn can expect to be readmitted provided they can "demonstrate readiness to resume full-time study without further significant difficulty or interruption."

Programming We are working with Counseling and Psychological Services to host workshop about helping friends and peers who are going through mental health issues. We are also working on an insomnia awareness/healthy sleep habits event for the spring. This would be comprised of workshops on sleep and rest, followed perhaps by a fun pillow-fight event. Mental Health Week 2015 We are planning for a week that is more focused with fewer key events that are held when students are more available (e.g, late afternoons and evenings) Some ideas in the works include: •

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“Me Too Monologues”: Started at Duke, this event allows students to anonymously submit stories, which are then performed by other students. We are working with Theatre Intime. Robert Fogarty’s “Dear World” photography project. Similar to “What I Be,” but with a focus on “stories of hope, stories of struggle, stories of a brighter day.” 42

Sexual Misconduct Policy Changes Status: Completed Project Members: Shawon Jackson ’15, Daniel Johnson ’15, Richard Lu ’16, Zhan Okuda-Lim ’15, Molly Stoneman ’16 Revising current sexual misconduct policies In July 2014, the Office for Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Education informed Princeton that its current procedures did not meet the requirements of federal legislation, including Title IX and the Violence Against Women Act. Title IX prohibits discrimination based on sex or gender in education, and this law applies to sexual misconduct cases. President Eisgruber then charged the Council of the Princeton University Community to examine and revise its policies related to sexual misconduct, and the USG Senate was an integral part of this policy-making process. While working to enhance our sexual misconduct policies, we aimed to gather meaningful input from students and make this decision-making process transparent to students. To this end, we organized a Town Hall with campus administrators to address this topic, attracting over 40 students from the general public. Faculty-Student Committee on Sexual Misconduct At the start of the 2014-15 school year, President Eisgruber created a Faculty-Student Committee on Sexual Misconduct. This Committee serves an advisory group to the University president and provost regarding Princeton’s work to prevent sex discrimination and sexual misconduct. The USG Senate helped the chairs of the committee decide who the student representatives should be. We sent out an application to all students, interviewed finalists, and nominated 4 students to be considered. The chairs of the committee interviewed all of our nominees and chose 2 of them to be part of the committee. Sexual Misconduct Climate Survey In November 2014, the USG Senate organized a Town Hall to discuss what type of sexual misconduct survey the University should pursue. After this Town Hall, Shawon Jackson ’15 and Molly Stoneman ’16 met with relevant administrators to discuss concerns students have with a survey not developed by and specifically for Princeton. After considering feedback from the USG Senate and other campus stakeholders, the FacultyStudent Committee on Sexual Misconduct advised President Eisgruber to have the University create its own sexual misconduct climate survey, rather than using one from an outside organization. President Eisgruber accepted this recommendation.

STUDENT SERVICES & EVENTS Conversations Project Status: Completed Led by: Sol Taubin ‘16 Project Members: Mariana Bagneris ’15, Jacob Cannon ‘17, Kathy Chow ’17, Clement Lee ’17, Hema Lochan ’16, Rishita Patlolla ’15, Chris Shin ’17 Contributors and Campus Collaborators: Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students Office of Religious Life Women’s Center Carl A. Fields Center LGBT Center Ask Big Questions Goals: Conversations is a project meant to get people talking, and meant to make programming on identity more accessible, visible, and engaging for the average student on campus. Conversations is structured around two components: 1. Allowing students to have meaningful conversations with one another 2. Creating a streamlined entry-point for students to connect with identity-based programming on campus Execution of Goals: We held the first Conversations Event in Spring 2014. To publicize the event, we created a website (princetonconversationsproject.weebly.com) that had information about this project, along with a consolidated list of campus resources. During our first event, we trained about 15 students on how to facilitate meaningful conversations. These students then led small conversations throughout the Frist Gallery during Late Meal one evening. We had many students attend the event and learn about campus offices (who tabled at the event). The theme of this event was about how one’s identity impacts their campus experience.

We held our second event in November 2014. Similar to the first event, we had about 50-75 people who participated in our programming. Various Campus Centers tabled at the event, and the Princeton Perspective Project was present. The theme of the second event was about notions of success. Happiness Project Status: Complete Led by: Claire Nuchtern ’15 Project Members: Kishan Bhatt ‘17, Azza Cohen ‘16, Mallory Banks ’16, Kristen Coke ’16, and Annie Tao ‘16 Contributors and Campus Collaborators We collaborated with the Davis Center for the Postcard Project in order to get information about how best to handle international postcards and postage. For the ball pit event, we are collaborating heavily with the Ask Big Questions fellowship at the CJL as well as the USG Senate project Princeton Public Works. Goals Our project had a broad mandate - make Princeton students happier. Our team this semester decided to put a particular spin on that through focusing mainly on events. We wanted to have events that gave Princeton students the chance to do something outside of their ordinary routine and that allowed them to meet new people or reconnect with old friends. Execution of Goals Postcard Project The purpose of this event was to provide students an opportunity to write postcards to family and friends. We had a Facebook event as well as good other social media publicity (twitter, listservs, etc.) that helped us “sell out” of Postcards twice during the event. Ball Pit Event The purpose of this event was to provide a unique and fun space for students to have conversations with other students on campus. We collaborated with “Ask Big Questions” to promote dialogue amongst students, encouraging undergraduates to meet someone new. In all, this event was a great success. Moving Forward While the specific events we held were successful, there was no specific direction for this project team. Thus, we decided to wrap up this project at the end of spring semester 2014.

Princeton 2018 / 2019 and Princeton Preview Team Status: In Progress Project Members: Mariana Bageris ’15, Kathy Chow ’17, Kristen Coke ’16, Shawon Jackson ’15, Clement Lee ’17, Richard Lu ’16, Molly Stoneman ‘16 Contributors and Campus Collaborators Office of Undergraduate Admission Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students Office of the Dean of the College Princeton 2018+ and Princeton 2019+ Facebook Pages Our team collaborated with the Princeton Office of Admission to create and manage Facebook groups for admitted and current students. The Facebook groups allowed admitted students to engage with current undergraduates and other incoming students. Initially, there were some spammers who gained access to the group, but we changed the privacy settings to ensure that would not happen again. Princeton 2018 and Princeton 2019 Websites Our team also modified content for the Princeton2018.com website, a page that provides incoming students with useful information about Princeton. We will also work to make this page even more useful and engaging for the Class of 2019. Princeton Preview We collaborated with the Princeton Office of Admission to develop innovative programs and events for Princeton Preview 2014, given that it was only one day. Our team launched the “Pre-P-Rade”, in which pre-frosh walked down Elm Road toward Dillon Gym as current students cheered them along. To encourage current students to attend the event, all students who tweeted or instagramed about Preview were entered into a raffle for an iPad Mini. We also coordinated communication about changes to Preview to the student body. In addition, our team produced a comprehensive proposal for the Office of Undergraduate Admission about how to revamp Princeton Preview for future years. Princeton Public Works Status: Ongoing Led by: Simon Wu, 2017, Chief Designer Project Members: Katherine Clifton ’15, Laura Du ’14, Amara Nnaeto ’17, Chris Shin ‘17, Annie Tao ‘16 Contributors and Campus Collaborators Campus Club Lewis Center for the Arts, Martha Friedman Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students 46

Goal The purpose of this project was to create more spaces for the high-traffic display of student art. We also aimed to create more art-for-everyone events in projects engaging the entire student body. Execution of Goals During Spring 2014, we organized an exhibition for Humans of Princeton. We also spent this semester reaching out to various students, student groups, and campus offices to gather their feedback on the types of projects our team should pursue. During Fall 2014, we organized the Placemat Project. This project allowed students to showcase their artwork on a “placemat” in the dining hall. We printed and laminated over 200 art submissions we received, and placed them in each of the residential colleges. Our team also collaborated with Princeton Film Productions to publicize a Film Festival. During this event, students produced short films within 24 hours. In the coming semester, we plan to host an Arts Mixer for student groups affiliated with the arts. Student Events Calendar Status: Ongoing Led by: Kishan Bhatt ‘17 Project Members: Jacob Cannon ’17, Daniel Mozley ‘17 Goal The purpose of this project was to create a student-events calendar that centralizes campus events for students. We aimed to develop a calendar that is mobile-friendly too. Progress At the beginning of the fall semester, our team researched student-events calendar from outside vendors. After piloting several options, we developed a document that outlined the benefits and setbacks of each calendar system. Toward the end of first semester, we then learned that the Office of Information Technology is interested in developing a students-events calendar. As such, we consolidated information from our research on outside calendar system and made recommendations to OIT about how they can create a user-friendly student-events calendar for students. OIT is currently developing this calendar, and the USG Senate will continue to provide input.

Thanksgiving Buses Status: Completed Led by: Jacob Cannon ‘17 Project Members: Chad Nuckols ’17, Chris Shin ‘17 Goal Our goal was to provide affordable bus services to Connecticut, D.C., and Massachusetts for students to use over Thanksgiving break. Execution The buses went smoothly to their destinations and back in the allotted time. Although there were some delays, all students received ongoing updates about changes to arrival and departure times. We also assigned bus captains for each bus, who volunteered to take attendance at no cost. 190 students were served which means in accordance with the deficit, we spent $3.16 on each student, which was high and unexpected. Moving Forward In the future, we hope that the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students can spearhead this project, allowing it to become more institutionalized. Wintersession Status: Completed Led by: Katherine Clifton ‘15 Project Members: Mariana Bagneris ’15, Mallory Banks ’16, Jacob Cannon ’17, Kristen Coke ’16, Chad Nuckols ‘17 Goal The main goal of Wintersession is to provide innovative workshops, programs, and events to students who are on campus during Intersession. Our hope is that students will take advantage of this break to relax, connect with other Princetonians, and learn something new. Execution We had over 60 Wintersession courses, ranging from dance workshops to poetry classes to coding workshops. About 1000 students registered to participate in Wintersession. In addition to the workshops, we also promoted campus events during the week, including movie screenings. To thank the Wintersession instructors, who led courses at no cost, we provided them with a catered lunch at the end of Intersession. We enhanced the Wintersession website (wintersession.tigerapps.org) making it easier for students to enroll in courses. While there were some technical difficulties, the site functioned well overall. We will continue to think about how to ensure students show up to the classes they signed up for. 48

CLOSING REMARKS The USG Senate would like to thank you for taking the time to review our Annual Report. We are here to serve the Princeton community, and we hope this report provided some insight on how we worked to achieve this goal over the past year. We also want to thank each member of the Princeton community for its ongoing support. Without your input and ideas, we would be at a standstill. Yet it is because of your engagement and your willingness to make Princeton a better place that we are able to pursue projects and initiatives that enhance the Princeton experience for everyone. Our team sends its best wishes to the incoming USG Senate, led by Ella Cheng â&#x20AC;&#x2122;16. We are confident that they will continue to make Princeton a more accessible place for all, and we look forward to hearing about their many successes.

Respectfully submitted, 2014-2015 Undergraduate Student Government Senate

ACKNOWLEDMENTS C OMPILATION : Aleksandra Czulak ’17, Executive Secretary Shawon Jackson ’15, USG President Molly Stoneman ’16, USG Vice-President C OVER D ESIGN : Simon Wu ’17, Chief Designer