Flynn Blackburn, a freshman studying film and media studies, was asked how he felt about the upcoming Undergraduate Student Government (USG) elections.
“What does it do,” he asked. “What can it do?”
As the official governing body over the over 20,000 undergraduates at USC, USG is supposedly driven to improve the undergraduate experience for all Trojans, according to the USG website.
Yet, last year’s election saw a 15% decrease in voter turnout compared to the year prior, with only about 17% of the undergraduate student body participating, according to Annenberg Media.
Even after Tuesday’s USG presidential and vice presidential debate — USC’s biggest student government debate of the year — Trojans are questioning what the student parliament really does.
With just four days until the voting window opens on February 17, Annenberg Media spoke with USC students to learn about their thoughts and hopes on the upcoming election.
Ava Lomahan, a sophomore majoring in biology, said she hopes the incoming student government will engage in more projects to allocate funding for “more construction”, citing unequal development between sports facilities and the rest of the campus.
“There’s a lot of buildings that need more attention than others, [including the] science buildings,” she said.
USC reportedly spent about $242 million in total revenue and $242 million in total expenses in the 2023 to 2024 academic year, according to an equity in athletics data analysis conducted by the Department of Education.
Ben Huang is a candidate in the upcoming election for president. He said that he sees USG as a form of advocacy for students.
“The president acts as the liaison between university administration, the board of trustees [and] the student body,” Huang said.
He said that an essential part of his and Wynn Hammond’s motivation for running for president and vice president was to “shake things up,” and make USG more accessible to students.
A sophomore studying international relations, Huang noted the student government’s $2.5 million budget, which is allocated to various initiatives, clubs and events on campus.
“We don’t have any prior USG experience, so we know what it’s like to be on the other end,” Huang said. “We want to change USG [into] an organization that come[s] to you. We want it to be more visible.”
USG has supposedly embarked on multiple projects meant to serve the student body in recent years. Its website features a USG project tracker, which shows students the status of specific concerns or projects. The tracker includes status updates on projects like an “ongoing” push towards a shuttle from LAX to USC, as well as a ”completed” initiative to include full nutrition and allergen information on USC dining hall apps.
USG is also tasked with registering and recognizing student organizations across campus. The Daily Trojan reported in November that a number of student organization leaders struggled to gain official recognition, with some waiting for up to three months for their applications to be processed.
Of the gap between USG’s role in the school and student awareness, Huang said going forward, he hopes students would be able to learn more about what the government does and how they can meaningfully participate in the student governing process.
“USG is an important organization to pay attention to. I think it’s the main channel between students and administration, so it’s important to get out there and vote for the candidate that you think best represents you,” Huang said.
The undergraduate student voting window will open at 10:00 a.m. on February 17 and span until 11:59 p.m. on February 22.