Founded 1876 daily since 1892 online since 1998
monday april 18, 2016 vol. cxl no. 49
{ www.dailyprincetonian.com } STUDENT LIFE
New room app attracts over 1,900 students By Rachel Glenn contributor
Over 1,900 students have used the “Student Room Guide,” an upgraded version of a TigerApp released by the Undergraduate Student Government in early April to ease confusions in the room draw process, according to USG Housing Project member Pooja Patel ’18. Patel is a former staff writer for the Daily Princetonian. The upgraded app serves as a tool to help students when choosing rooms for the 2017-2018 academic year. The room guide offers a map and list of all of the available rooms in a more user-friendly interface. According to USG IT committee co-chair Benjamin Parks ’17, the new app improved upon some of the issues of the old app, including the interface design and aesthetics. Additionally, the design was changed in order to make it easier to find certain features, such as the floor plan display, of the app. The information contained in the app about the rooms was updated for the first
time in almost eight years, which was necessary to account for layout changes that have happened in some of the dorms since then, Park noted, adding the entire app is, in fact, an entirely rewritten program. Aleksandra Czulak ’17, USG president, said the inspiration for the app came from Parks and Maxim Zaslavsky ’17, the other cochair of the IT committee. The two saw room for improvement in the room draw process. “The old app had very out-ofdate information for its rooms list, which was our first priority to fix,” Parks explained. “In the new app, one of the top priorities was making an easier way to find and navigate floor plans.” According to Parks, the app was intended to work on all devices, but was particularly designed for use on laptops, since the smaller screens on phones limit the number of rooms an individual can see. Patel explained that the USG Senate had decided that improving the room draw experience See DRAW page 3
SPEAR CONFERENCE
COURTESY OF ALICE MAR-ABE
Over the weekend, Students for Prison Education and Reform hosted its third annual conference, Identity in the Age of Mass Incarceration. The conference included a panel on immigration detention by Eddy Zheng, Aviva Stahl and Noel Micho, featured in the photo. STUDENT LIFE
Referendum calls for reform of disciplinary processes By Kiara Rodriguez Gallego
LOCAL NEWS
contributor
Over 60 groups participate in Communiversity
Justin Ziegler ’16, an Honor Committee member for three years, submitted a referendum calling for the creation of a task force to reform the disciplinary processes currently administered by the Honor Committee and the Committee on Discipline. The referendum enumerates the following three objectives for the Task Force: that it should review the current standard of punishment, determine the possibility of finer gradations of punishment and consider the role of mental health when adjudicating cases. Despite the objectives, the referendum itself, according
to Ziegler, does not advocate for any specific changes, but rather asks the administration, in a neutral manner, to re-evaluate the current ways in which the disciplinary system works on campus. Ali Hayat ’16, Chair of the Peer Representatives, noted that though it is “absolutely necessary” that the University has an honor code, some of the penalties are too high and there should be more varied formed of punishment. Hayat is a former columnist for the Daily Princetonian. As the referendum states, currently the standard penalty for the first violation of academic integrity is suspension for two semesters and the standard penalty for the second violation is expulsion.
Ziegler said the Committee on Discipline finds that there is an academic violation in close to 70 percent of the cases brought before the group. Nicholas Horvath ’17, former Clerk of the Honor Committee, also noted that currently, neither committee is allowed to consider the role of intent in an alleged violation. In other words, the disciplinary system does not factor in whether or not the student knew that the action was an an academic integrity violation or not. Furthermore, Ziegler noted that the Committee of Discipline does not factor in mental health at all, and, recently, the Honor Code Committee has been following that trajectory as well. See REFERENDUM page 2
STUDENT LIFE
By Samvida Venkatesh staff writer
Over sixty different student groups and local artists performed on Sunday at the 46th annual Communiversity ArtsFest organized by the Arts Council of Princeton, which connects students from the University to the town of Princeton along Nassau Street. “Communiversity is a wonderful partnership between the municipality, the University, and the Arts Council. The festival is a great opportunity to find out about all the various nonprofits in the area and learn about how to get involved in the work they’re doing,” said mayor of Princeton Liz Lempert. Student-run organizations, including Princeton Chinese Theater and the Institute for Chocolate Studies, set up booths in front of Nassau Hall to display their work. All along Nassau Street, vendors from the town, artisans and craftsmen, food and beverage merchants and non-profit and charity orga-
nizations set up stalls to showcase their merchandise and activities. “Arts and food are both great vehicles for bringing people together,” Lempert said. Another major attraction that drew several onlookers was the International Parade of Flags, led by the Davis International Center. Over forty international students and staff members of the University marched down Nassau Street with flags and took a group photo at Nassau Hall. The University Band kicked off the Communiversity attractions on the Town-Gown Stage in front of the FitzRandolph Gate, while other student groups performed on four of the six stages set up across campus and town, including diSiac on Washington Road, Triangle Club on the Stanhope Stage and Valley Academy on Chambers Street. Artists and performance groups from outside the University also showcased their skill at Palmer Square and Witherspoon See ARTSFEST page 2
By Katherine Oh senior writer
The Undergraduate Student Government senate discussed the Tiger Chef Challenge and the Princeton Perspectives Project at its weekly meeting on Apr. 17. Ella Cheng ’16, former USG president, said that the inaugural Tiger Chef Challenge will take place under the tents in front of Alexander Hall on Apr. 22. “Essentially, it’s Princeton’s own version of Iron Chef,” Cheng said. According to Cheng, she had founded a campus dining student advisory board last semester to allow the student body to communicate with campus dining more efficiently. “The hope is that this will be an annual tradition, to take the place of Cane Spree,” Cheng explained. In honor of Earth Day, the challenge will also feature sus-
tainable greens as ingredients, Cheng added. Cheng said that while she is still the chair of the project group, USG president Aleksandra Czulak ’17 will be taking over in May. Pooja Patel ’18, a U-Councilor, said that the Sexual Misconduct Task Force has heard from SHARE peers and athletes regarding what these groups have been doing to facilitate conversations about the sexual misconduct policy on campus. Patel is a former staff writer for the Daily Princetonian. Terrace Club and Ivy Club recently had students sign an agreement upon successfully signing-in or bickering, respectively, stating that their membership will be revoked if found guilty of sexual misconduct, Patel noted. Patel added that the task force will reach out to other eating clubs and create an infographic on sexual misconduct policy with less legal jargon
In Opinion
Today on Campus
The Editorial Board calls for greater transparency in the University’s decision to end sprint football, and columnist Will Rivitz discusses the anti-protest rhetoric. PAGE 6
12 p.m.: Jay Rubin of Harvard University will present a lunchtime seminar titled “Translating Japanese with a Disorderly Brain.” 216 Aaron Burr Hall.
that is easier for students to understand. In addition to the Sexual Misconduct Task Force, there are also the Sororities/Fraternities Task Forces, as well as a Student Group Support Task Force. “I think these task forces could be a really good launching pads for projects for the next semester,” U-Councilor Dallas Nan ’16 said. Shannon Osaka ’17, Academics Committee chair, said the calendar survey results will be discussed in further detail at the USG meeting next Sunday. “At long last, I have received the calendar survey data,” she said. Osaka said that the Academics Committee is also working to make Peer Academic Advisers more accessible for students. Making sure that students can find a PAA across different residential colleges in the discipline that they are See USG page 3
WEATHER
DO-HYEONG MYEONG :: CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
A chalk art drawn for Communiversity featured a tiger.
USG talks Tiger Chef challenge, sexual misconduct task forces
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