The last USG meeting of the semester lookedtoward the future as appointments to USG offices were officially approved and two student groups expressed their concerns following a misunderstanding regarding USG’s policy on allocation of funds.
During an open forum at the beginning of the meeting, students from USC Racing and SC Formula Racing addressed the Senate. They explained that they were approved for funding for an event several months ago, however, USG recently pulled the funding for the event. The students said there was a recent change in USG policy that prevented them from getting the money sinceit is scheduled over the summer. The students expressed their discontent and emphasized the urgency of the issue. USC Racing and SC Formula Racing students already paid for hotels and transportation, so if they were unable to attend the event, they would be losing valuable resources.
Toward the end of the meeting, Vice President Nivea Krishnan told the students that she and the Chief Financial Officer will work with the organizations to ensure the issue isresolved. Before they gave her their contact information, she assured them they would likely get the funding they were promised.
At the previous meeting, nominations for the communications department and legislative branch were introduced to the senators so they could finalize the vote at this meeting.
The following students are now officially a part of the communications department : for digital strategy, Kelly Zhou, Linda Contreras and Oscar Clajivo; for creative services, Erica Roque, Sarah Kim and Ashley Cavecche; for media, Andrew Taw, Alex Palakian and Reshma Ramesh; and for public relations, Jacob Wheeler, Connor Leeming and Catherine Kim.
The legislative branch nominees were also voted on at this meeting, with all candidates answering eloquently and specifically to each of the senator’s questions. All candidates were approved with ten yays and two abstains. The Chair of Affordability and Basic Needs will be Hunter Hinson; the Chair of Accessibility will be Julianna Melendez; the Chair of Campus Operations and Sustainability will be Sara Stienecker; the Chair of Academic Affairs will be Kate Hsu; the Chair of External Affairs will be Monica Rodriguez; the Chair of Wellness will be Phong Doozy; and the Parliamentary Secretary will be David Martinez.
Another agenda item discussed was the modification of USG Office Policies Manual by Chief of Staff Diego Andrades and others. The document guides officers of USG and instructs them how they should internally conduct business. The biggest amendment to the manual was instructions on how USG officers will work if there is another lockdown caused by COVID-19, or other type of situation that would require everyone to work remotely. Other minor changes corrected inconsistencies throughout the document, usually related to position names.
This was the last USG Senate meeting of the semester.