The Undergraduate Council of Students held its general body meeting Wednesday evening. According to UCS Vice President Sam Caplan ’22, University President Christina Paxson P’19 “is planning on attending one of the (Council’s) future (general body) meetings.”
Paxson confirmed to Caplan that she would be attending a meeting in the future during a meeting between UCS leadership and Paxson last Thursday.
Caplan said Paxson hopes to discuss student activism around removing the influence of donations to the University from the Koch Foundation, which is run by billionaire and conservative political mega-donor Charles Koch. Debates over the issue of Koch influence emerged when the creation of a new Center of Philosophy, Politics and Economics was proposed. The PPE Center would absorb the University’s Political Theory Project, an interdisciplinary research center which has received Koch funding in the past. At the future meeting, Paxson will explain the structure for investments at the University and “how funding works,” Caplan added.
“It sounds to me like President Paxson wants to make students aware of how (Koch) influence would impact the campus,” said UCS general body member Deborah Meirowitz ’22. “It would be good for us to … publicize everything that President Paxson has to say about the issue at hand.”
To get more informed on the issue before Paxson’s attendance, Chair of Academic Affairs Zoe Fuad ’23.5 suggested UCS speak with Students Against Koch Influence at Brown — a student group unregistered with the student activities office that has organized against the creation of the PPE Center.
Caplan also discussed potentially moving voting on referendums on issues surrounding campus life — typically held in the spring semester — to the fall semester. Paxson is “generally supportive” of this idea, Caplan said.
Caplan said Paxon told him that students should be informed of the referendums they will be voting on beforehand through efforts like holding information sessions that “invite the student body to hear about the issue more in depth.”
Paxson also suggested that the referendums be posted at the end of the fall semester and be voted on at the beginning of spring semester, so that there is time for “campaigning around it and making sure that students are acclimated to campus,” Caplan said.
Also at the meeting, UCS-Undergraduate Finance Board Liaison Johann Dizon ’24 gave updates on UFB policy. He emphasized that UFB funding should not be used to purchase alcohol and that UFB does not fund retroactive requests.
Dizon added that UFB will fund $25 for publicizing a student group’s event with no questions asked. If a student group needs more than $25 for publicity, it will need to provide explanations.
At the meeting, UCS Chair of Appointments Joon Nam ’23 announced that applications for appointments to University committees are open. The link to apply can be found in an email sent to the student body March 19.
Kathy Wang is the senior editor of community of The Brown Daily Herald's 134th Editorial Board. She previously covered student government and international student life as a University News editor. When she's not at The Herald, you can find her watching cooking videos or writing creative nonfiction.
