Princeton Undergraduate Student Government

This year, Princeton students have demonstrated an increasingly strong commitment to campus sustainability.  In light of this trend, the USG has been working with student environmental groups on various initiatives to make Princeton more sustainable.

On March 30th of this year, the Sustainability Working Group presented its plans for a new sustainability initiative to the Council of the Princeton University Committee, expressing its aim to induce an overall culture shift in the student population. Two of the proposals discussed to reduce paper waste were: 1) instating a printing quota for all students; and 2) setting printer defaults to 4 pages per sheet.

Not only would these proposals reduce actual paper waste, but they would, as the USG reckoned, foster a campus mentality of sustainability. But as revealed from Senate discussions and weekly Air Your Grievances tables, questions remained. Given the possibility to increase one's printing limit, would the quota actually have an impact on printing? And would students just get accustomed to changing the 4-page-per-sheet default (and furthermore find it unnecessarily annoying)? The results of the proposals were predictions that had reasonable but not scientific grounding.

The Sustainability Working Group has thus decided to approach the University's Psychology Department and discuss these proposals with leading behavioral psychologists. The working group plans to set up meetings with these professors, present them with the problem, and finally seek their advice on the system that would be most likely to reduce paper waste.

The USG administration hopes that this will be one of many collaborations with the University's world-reknown resources that actively further student interests.

Yesterday, the Sustainability Working Group advocated for major changes in the University sustainability plan in a presentation to the Council of the Princeton University Committee. The working group has identified that current sustainability efforts revolve around technological and infrastructure changes. What is missing is direct behavioral change. The group highlights at the top of its agenda a major culture shift among Princeton students to more sustainable practices. From a comprehensive sustainability pledge to a printing quota, the working group has devised creative means to achieve feasible goals for 2009 and beyond.

The new USG administration has hit the ground running, tackling the most pressing issues that face Princeton undergraduates today. From civic engagement to the P/D/F policy, the USG has been working hard to develop sustainable policy solutions that will better the overall undergraduate experience. Specialized USG Working Groups comprising three to five USG officers address issues in their domain through conducting research, meeting with University administration officials, and proposing final policy solutions. Read more to learn about the wide variety of currently active working groups.