Last year, Emily Li was the director of advocacy for the University Student Senate when they were emailed an audit detailing how a senator spent $75,000 of students’ money.

A day after finding out, senators received another email. This time it was from the senator who spent the money, Senate Chair Adam Young, announcing his resignation. Young maintains that he did not step down because of the audit and that his purchases did not total $75,000. Li said they had no knowledge of the purchases until the audit.

Young left Li and the rest of the senate alone with an exhausted budget to face an angry student body demanding answers and their money. 

When it was time to elect a new senate for this academic year, Li was driven to apply for Young’s position by a love for the New School community and a desire to make change. 

As this year’s USS chair, Li wants to answer for last year’s wrongs and build a better USS.

“How do we say to the students who had their club money restricted or weren’t able to even host events from last year, not even just, ‘we’re sorry,’ but show them something more material?” Li said.

After the senate failed to disperse funds last year because of an exhausted budget, students and student organizations, including Li, wrote a letter to the University Student Senate, President Joel Towers, Provost Renée T. White, and Student Leadership and Involvement (SLI) staff. 

The letter demanded “an immediate investigation into the misplacement of the spring 2025 University Student Senate funds.” Community members expressed anger directly to the senators and called for accountability from the university and the senate. 

After Young’s alleged spending was published by the New School Free Press, students raised questions about how the USS should be spending their money.

The USS’s fund is solely made up of a $9 fee that students must pay every semester. With an average of 8,700 students enrolled at TNS, the senate budget totals nearly $157,000 a year.

According to its constitution, the USS is supposed to allocate money towards social events, workshops, conferences, seminars, materials and necessities for student programs, travel for participants in student programs, and emergency situations. 

The constitution also mandates that the finance committee must keep live, updated, and detailed financial statements of any spending by the USS during the academic year. The director of finance (DoF) is also required to present the annual budget, get it approved by a majority of the USS, and re-present any additional allocations to be pre-approved. 

In fall 2024, the university said it would implement a more formalized, organized, and streamlined funding request review process with additional oversight from Student Leadership and Involvement. 

Andrade Fearon, senior director of SLI, told the New School Free Press the controls were meant to prevent wild west-like spending and to ensure purchases could be tracked by the senate and university.

Young said at the time that the senate was working with Fearon and SLI to increase budget transparency for the 2024-25 academic year.

But when Young bought furniture and arcade machines and used the USS credit card to go on dates, the senate couldn’t see a live number of their budget. And the majority of Young’s purchases were not discussed with the larger senate or the DoF at the time.

A number of Young’s purchases were approved by university administration, an anonymous senator told NSFP last year. But the senate was still operating off the budget they planned at the beginning of the year. 

By February, senators were told they had unknowingly spent most of their budget.

But by April, student clubs were relying on GoFundMe to pay for the activities the senate had already decided to allocate money for.

“It was a horrible experience hearing people basically plead for something we promised them,” current USS Vice Chair Ryder Glickman said. 

Prior to being appointed vice chair, Glickman also witnessed Young’s spending from within the student senate. 

Glickman said, “I would argue the former chair and vice chair were not a part of the community. They were sort of above the community, trying to live out a political fantasy.”

To ensure the senate spends students’ money the way its constitution intends, Li and the USS are establishing a new spending structure and outlining more rules for managing funds. 

Li said they also want accountability from all those involved in last year’s scandal, especially the university. The misappropriation of funds, senators said, could reflect a bigger concern about how the administration protects and represents students. 

“I still believe that the university could have done more to hold that person accountable, even when the argument is made that they’re no longer under our jurisdiction,” Li said. 

The previous senate introduced rules for impeachment of senators, especially those who mismanage funds. They attempted to impeach former Vice Chair Linfei Yang for his alleged involvement in Young’s spending, but Yang stepped down before a motion passed.

Mostly, Li said they want to create systemic change and continue the work they’ve been doing for years.

Li has been an active member of numerous organizations around campus. They started the student-faculty solidarity group leading up to and during the 2022 part-time faculty strike. Li continued organizing through the New Student Workers Union (NewSWU) in the hopes of creating a wall-to-wall union of student workers. 

They also co-founded The New School Young Democratic Socialists of America and can often be seen supporting many other student causes around campus.

“What inspired me … is basically love for this community, that love for [the idea that] things can be different here, and that things can change … we also, as students, have the power to move on a lot of issues at the university,” Li said. 

Li hopes to bring their love of community and values to the USS by increasing transparency and visibility. The new DoF, Drew Vernor, has already gotten to work implementing changes.

Vernor was a leader of a student organization last year and directly felt the impact of the mismanaged funds. 

“I realized, ‘Okay, why am I being frustrated if I’m not going to get involved?’ … I think the best thing about being a student senator is knowing I can directly affect what happens at The New School,” Vernor said. 

Some initiatives the USS plans to roll out this year include new checks and balances; keeping the budget accessible, visible, and current; building relationships with registered student organizations (RSOs); and finding ways to directly support students.

The student senate updated their constitution this year, requiring that “a minimum of 60% of the budget each semester must be allocated externally.” 

In addition, Li and the new senators have established a new spending structure. 

After a request from the previous DoF, Samera Shim, the university agreed to let the student senate view a live number of the funds in the USS account this year. 

“Everyone on my team can see what money is being allocated … so I’m not the only person who has access to the money,” Vernor said. “We also have student advisors [who] are … going to be continually monitoring.”

When it comes to finances, Li said, “My promise is that students will be able to see that information.”

“Since the system is directly connected to the form clubs are going to submit, there is no way to hide any amount of money. It’s extremely transparent,” Vernor said.

USS also has plans to allow more face-to-face time between RSOs and senators by going to club meetings and engaging with what students are doing on campus. 

“RSOs are so important … they bring people together,” Glickman said.

Beyond RSOs, USS plans to fight for the university to become a sanctuary campus, provide materials for students, and create funding avenues for those struggling with living costs. 

The senators said they recognize the distrust and betrayal that students may feel towards the USS and are taking steps to rebuild their relationship with the community.

“It’s going to be a challenge this year, but one that I think the new senators are really ready to tackle … We’ve all been talking about how upsetting it’s been to be left with this kind of nasty legacy that … doesn’t reflect the new composition of senators,” Li said. “I honestly think that a lot of those things — events, material ways to get help and support — are the way that we’re going to build that trust … I also realize it takes time.”