About USS
USS is the official student government of The New School. Elected from all divisions of the University, we are here to represent your concerns to administration, plan all-campus parties and events, make political statements, hear your issues, co-fund one-off events thrown by other people, and more!
USS begins with U. So, visit our meetings, come to our socials, propose an event, or run for office. We look forward to meeting you soon!
History of USS
2000 – 2001
Vice President for Student Affairs, Linda Reimer, begins working with a Student Advisory Committee and meets regularly with the group to discuss student-related issues.
Linda Reimer establishes the Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities to develop and oversee a university-wide Code of Conduct and to work with students to establish a university-wide student union.
Fall 2001 – Spring 2003
Students meet regularly with the Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs, Roger Ward, to discuss student governance at the university and to discuss the possibility of forming a university-wide student union.
Students focus on developing school-based student governance systems. The Lang Student Union and the Graduate Student Senate emerge as strong and influential models for student governance at the university.
Fall 2004
Two Graduate Faculty Student Senate representatives, Nicholas Allanach and Carey Sellin-Vetter, begin gathering information on current student governments around the university and meeting with students who had previously attempted to form a university-wide student union.
Spring 2005
An interim University Student Senate is formed. Extensive outreach and correspondence is initiated and established with other student groups on campus.
On the 1st of March 2005 the interim Senate holds its first university-wide student government meeting. The main focus of the inaugural meeting is to establish stronger ties between the different colleges, and to make the interim Student Senate the official representative student group of The New School.
Fall 2005
A GroupWise account is established for the interim Senate and a Listserv is created to allow the interim Senate to communicate more effectively with members and the student body.
The interim senate holds bi-weekly meetings and advertises via both New School Observer and the university-wide listservs in an effort to build grassroots support for the Senate’s activities and goals.
The interim Senate drafts and adopts an interim constitution and initiates regular meetings with the Assistant Vice President for Student affairs to discuss the process of becoming officially recognized by the university.
Fall 2006
The Senate elects interim officers under its constitution: Brittany Charlton (Lang/NSSR) and Carey Sellin-Vetter (NSSR) are elected Co-Chairs, Hugh Fox (Milano) as Vice-Chair, John Conway (General Studies) as Secretary One, and Jake Weingarten (Lang) as Secretary Two.
The interim senate presents a formal proposal to the Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs seeking official recognition from the university.
The Senior Vice President for Student Services invites Senate leaders Brittany Charlton and Carey Sellin-Vetter to present the proposal to the Board of Trustees Committee on Student Services. The Committee announces unanimous support for the recognition of the Senate and charges the students with developing a revised constitution for presentation to the board for approval.
Spring 2007
Interim Senate revises its constitution to allow for representation based on student enrollment at each school.
The Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs works on behalf of the interim Senate to review and finalize the constitution, and to get it approved by the Office of the General Counsel.
On April 24, 2007 the Constitution of the University Student Senate of The New School is approved at a joint meeting of the Educational Policy and Institutional Policy Committees of the Board of Trustees and the University Student Senate (USS) is officially recognized.
Trustee Julien Studley gifts seed money to the newly recognized Senate to fund its inaugural university-wide elections and to furnish an office for the Senate.
Fall 2007
The first election of the University Student Senate is held. USS moves into its office in 65 Fifth Ave.
Spring 2008
An executive board is established by the USS and five committees are formed. These include finance, events, communications, advocacy, and academics.
The Chairperson of the USS, Hendrick Cho, embarks on a USS promotional campaign and meets with President Kerrey, Jim Murtha, Linda Reimer, Doris Suarez, and the deans to seek support for the Senate.
USS provides funding to OPEN (LGBT student group) to help them pay for an event.
The USS hosts its first formal event: an inter-graduate school social. President Kerrey and Provost Ben Lee along with 300+ graduate students attend.
Elections for the 2008-2009 term are held. 26 students run and 16 are elected. All 8 schools are represented. NSGS Graduate Student in Media Studies and Film, Peter Ian Cummings, is elected president.
Fall 2008
The University Student Senate begins serving its first full academic term.
USS attracts hundreds of students to all-campus events such as parties, assemblies, an LGBT social, and a Students of Color Welcome Event. USS partners with OSDA and Student Services to co-sponsor a number of events including new student orientation events and a huge party on election night of Barack Obama, in Theresa Lang Student Center.
During a campus occupation, USS meets in Valentino’s deli!
Winter 2009
USS website launches! Yaay!