Princeton Undergraduate Student Government

USG Ethics Code

Standards for Senate meetings:

• Maintain professionalism by avoiding personal attacks - critique without criticizing
• Substantiate your own opinion, but be respectful of others' opinion
• Communicate on a first name basis and as clearly as possible
• Keep discussions open and inclusive, yet timely and relevant
• Minimize distractions (i.e. no laptops, Blackberries, etc.)

Communication with the Prince:

• Do not belittle others' opinions or criticize one other to the press
• Solve issues internally - there is no reason to involve the Prince in our solutions
• Do not comment anonymously on Prince articles
• Disagreements are to be stated as opposition to a stance, not to the person who holds it

Executive Session:

• Anything said during Executive Session is strictly off the record
• All standards of conduct for Senate meetings apply for Executive Session
• Should be called with discretion, and for issues internal to USG

Elections:

• Elections should avoid personal attacks and be positive in nature
• The President may not endorse candidates in any way
• Members of the Senate may not make endorsements on behalf of any other individuals
• No one should have access to election results before they are approved by the Registrar, with the exception of the Elections Manager and any IT member who is charged with the sites maintenance.

Violations of Code of Ethics:

• A censure is a formal reprimand, issued in the form of a verbal speech by the highest ranking official not directly involved in front of the entire Senate.
• Complaints should go to the highest-ranking officer who is not involved, and he or she has the ability to decide whether or not voting on censure is an appropriate action
• Censure is less serious than removal from office, and must be approved by a 2/3 majority of the Senate
• President will announce violations of the Ethics Code in Senate meetings or Executive Session
• Censure will be voted on, if necessary, in Executive Session