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Wednesday November 29, 2017 vol. CXLI no. 109 ON CAMPUS
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GSG rallies against Republican tax plan By Rose Gilbert senior writer
ROSE GILBERT :: SENIOR WRITER
The Graduate Student Government hosted a call-a-thon on November 28.
pay the University tuition, their waived tuition is not considered a part of their taxable income — yet, the House of Representative’s new tax bill would treat the $47,000 of waived tuition as taxable income, increasing graduate students’ taxes to over $11,000, or more than a third of most students’
stipends. Nathan Ashe, a thirdyear graduate student and the GSG representative for the English department, said that this bill would place an immense financial burden on graduate students already struggling with debt, adding that “whether or not this bill passes, we’re still only
USG passes resolution on Verdú Title IX case contributor
After weeks of allegations and petitions, the Undergraduate Student Government has passed a resolution regarding the sexual harassment case against electrical engineering professor Sergio Verdú. Graduate student Yeohee Im alleged that Verdú sexually harassed her on multiple occasions over a two-month period. In response, the University required Verdú to attend an eight-hour training session. Verdú remains employed by the University. U-Councilor Pooja Patel ‘18 presented Senate Resolution 5-2017 at the Senate meeting on Nov. 19, urging the University to “elevate its disciplinary actions” against Verdú, who was found responsible for sexual harassment in a recent Title IX investigation. Patel kept the language of the resolution intentionally vague because USG does not have access to the actual range of punishments available to the University. Instead, the resolution leaves room to incorporate what proposals the Graduate Student Government will advance
In Opinion
helpful for senators to hear from students conducting research in fields such as medicine, which legislators might consider more quantitatively beneficial to the nation as a whole. Ashe said that Prakriti Paul, a graduate student at the Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, See ACTIVISM page 5
U . A F FA I R S
U . A F FA I R S
By Jacob Gerrish
receiving $32,000 a year.” However, Ashe is hopeful that the call-a-thon will make a difference, and said that it was particularly exciting to see students from different departments coming together to protect their common interests. He added that as someone studying the humanities, he felt like it was
on an appropriate punishment. “This is a statement of support for all the students expressing concern,” said Patel. “A lot of women on campus are familiar with situations like this.” Having led a sexual misconduct task force and having researched the topic for her senior thesis, Patel knows how rare it is to find a “clear and overwhelming” amount of evidence in a sexual harassment case. “We’re just adding momentum to something that we feel that the University must respond to,” said U-Councilor Diego Negrón-Reichard ‘18. “Because quiescence and silence is not an option for the University in this case.” Negrón-Reichard believes that USG has set a precedent this year in becoming more accountable to the University’s student body. “The Senate this term, with its U-Councilors and Senators, is taking a proactive approach to campus issues,” explained NegronReichard. “The Senate is actually responding to dialogue that is happening on campus.” The Senate passed the
Senior columnist Beni Snow calls for the democratization of the Honor Comittee, and columnist Lourdes Santiago makes the case for more loan computers at OIT. PAGE 6-7
resolution on Monday, Nov. 27 and forwarded it to President Eisgruber, Provost Deborah Prentice, Vice President W. Rochelle Calhoun, Deputy Dean of the Undergraduate Students Thomas Dunne, and Chair of the Department of Electrical Engineering Sharad Malik. The Senate also voted on a resolution to change the winter elections cycle for this year. Submitted by Vice President Daniel Qian ‘19, Senate Resolution 6-2017 amends the USG Referenda Handbook by compressing the referendum process for only the Winter 2017 referendum cycle. The current USG Referenda Handbook calls for a five-week referenda process. Resolution 6-2017 combines the week set aside for the creation of the opposition coalition with the week set aside for the collection of signatures by the referendum party, thereby creating a four-week referenda process. USG did not recognize the Thanksgiving break as a full week in the referenda process because of the short nature of the week. USG also wanted to allow more time to finalize the See USG page 4
Dept. of Homeland Security motions to dismiss DACA lawsuit By Linh Nguyen and Hannah Wang contributors
The Department of Homeland Security motioned on Nov. 22 to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the University, Microsoft Corporation, and Maria De La Cruz Perales Sanchez ‘18 against the Trump administration. The lawsuit aimed to block the rescission of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. In the motion, the DHS
claimed that the plaintiffs misinterpreted the U.S. Constitution as well as federal laws, asserting that “this case should be dismissed.” The University’s General Counsel Ramona Romero wrote in an email that this kind of filing is not unusual. The federal government has also filed similar motions in other pending DACA cases in California and New York. Director of Government Affairs Joyce See DACA page 2
BEYOND THE BUBBLE
ICE raids take place in downtown Princeton By Linh Nguyen and Hannah Wang contributors
Immigration Customs Enforcement officers raided two homes in downtown Princeton on Tuesday morning, resulting in four arrests, according to the Latin American Legal Defense Fund, Inc. The group also indicated four names to the Daily Princetonian. Planet Princeton reported in a previous article
Today on Campus 12 p.m.: Esteban Rossi-Hansberg presents “The Dynamic Effects of Trade Liberalization: The Case of Latin America.” 216 Burr Hall
that the raid only resulted in three arrests. The raids took place on Witherspoon Street and John Street, according to Planet Princeton. Officials confirmed that they had federal criminal warrants for all the men who were arrested. A follow-up investigation from the Princeton Human Services Department has determined that the men do not have any spouses or children. See ICE page 4
WEATHER
The Graduate Student Government hosted a calla-thon in Green Hall on Nov. 28 from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. for students to contact key senators and ask them to vote against the proposed Republican tax plan. The bill, which the House of Representatives passed on Nov. 16, would significantly increase University graduate students’ tax burdens and make graduate education unaffordable for many students across the nation. “It’s really important that people from disadvantaged backgrounds, like my own, are able to access graduate education,” said Stephanie Zgouridi, a first-year Ph.D. candidate in the history department. Congress’ proposed tax plan would eliminate several education credits, impacting millions of Americans across the U.S., but graduate students are particularly concerned with the bill’s treatment of tuition waivers. Tuition for graduate students at the University is technically just over $47,000, but like many other graduate programs, the University waives that cost. In addition, graduate students receive stipends ranging from around $28,000 to around $32,000, which often make up all or most of their income, and pay about $3,000 a year in taxes. Because graduate students don’t actually
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