Candidates are making their final push with stickers and campaign posters along Trousdale Avenue as undergraduate students cast their votes for the USG president and senators.
We asked USC students for their thoughts on the university’s student government. Many have expressed speculation about USG’s power to implement real change around campus.
“I don’t really know the extent of USG’s power. So I think that some candidates might have really extravagant ideas that they don’t have the authority to do,” said junior economics and political science major Shwetha Rajmohan. “I think part of their goals just can’t be met because they just don’t have that kind of authority.”
Junior Ellen Cheng conveyed similar sentiments about what USG can accomplish.
“I guess, personally, I don’t participate that much in student body just because in the past I haven’t exactly seen certain initiatives that have been incorporated, and it’s not exactly clear what the tangible results [of the] student body [are],” said Cheng.
As some of the last votes are cast, candidates have made their final pushes for the presidency and senate. We ran into one USG presidential candidate, Ali Bhatti, who shared why he hopes to serve the student population.
“I wanted to change the culture of USG and make it for the students and really go to students directly, rather than having students come to USG. Because right now, if you’re not in [USG] you really have no idea what USG is doing,” said Bhatti.
If elected, he wants to take a top-down approach to the role and implement student-based initiatives.
Freshman Amelia Novak wants to see the results that candidates like Bhatti are promising.
“I’d want to see more action. I know that there’s a lot of specific initiatives that each campaign is wanting to take, and I would just want to see those honestly be filled out. I know that one of them was free laundry and one of them was removing gates,” said Novak.
The election results will be announced at the USG senate meeting on Tuesday, February 25th at 7 p.m.