Your USG Senate 2020-21

The 140th Class of Senators

Senatorial Platforms

Alexis Areias & Max Gomez

TAKE CARE OF OUR PLACE
  • Neighborhood Connection
    • Commit to USG representatives attending neighborhood council
      meetings.
    • Create an orientation module that concentrates on how students can
      interact with their neighborhood and how to go about life in LA.
    • Stand with USC Employees in their ongoing labor negotiations.
  • Service
    • Build a relationship between USG and community nonprofits dealing
      with the social issues facing Los Angeles.
    • Introduce a non-profit fair to let students know about different
      volunteer opportunities.
    • Strengthen service-learning opportunities on campus.
  • Sustainability
    • Urge USC to divest from any current investments in fossil fuels.
    • Implement composting programs and broaden opportunities for
      gardening projects on campus.
TAKE CARE OF EACH OTHER
  • USG Accessibility
    • Ensure USG leaders hold half of their office hours around campus,
      rather than solely in the Student Government offices.
    • Implement regular public forums, both for elected USG officials and
      potential candidates.
    • Introduce a President’s/VP’s address to the orientation schedule.
  • Student Atheletes
    • Revamp Trojan Fever incentives to attract clubs/student
      organizations as a whole, beyond just individual students.
    • Ensure student athletes can access resources like job fairs, club
      fairs, and other events even with athletic time commitments.
    • Encourage socializing between student athletes and other
      groups on campus like the Greek community.
  • Greek Life
    • Institute a Greek-USG collaboration initiative, uniting USG with
      the often misrepresented Greek community.
    • Establish a Greek on-campus community service day, where members
      of the Greek community de-affiliate from their organizations for a day
      and come on campus to collectively benefit a philanthropic cause.
  • Transfer and Spring Admits
    • Allow a two-day orientation experience for spring admits/transfers
      with the full schedule offered to fall admits.
    • Extend freshman forgiveness to transfer students.
    • Open up university-sponsored events to all admitted students,
      regardless of respective start dates.

Cathy Ding

Platform Points
  • Increase collaboration within USG between programming boards, such as the various cultural assemblies
  • Increase collaboration between USG branches and other campus organizations and student activities
  • Collaborate with the Career Center to further foster connections between USC alumni and current undergraduate students professionally
  • Implementation of a 24-hour emergency transportation service under DPS to allow access to off-campus emergency-services.
  • Increase availability for mental health services, including walk-ins, and reduce the number of outside referrals, incorporating more on-campus professional psychologists and psychiatrists.
  • Increase knowledge of and specialization of professionals in various mental health and wellness sectors, such as sleep disorders, eating disorders, depression, drug abuse, and anxiety.
  • Expansion of sexual assault and harassment resources, such as 24-hour hotlines, rape kits and rape drug testing, and therapy services.
  • Implementation of a regular stress-management program on campus, paralleling the current course USC offers but taking away the need to use course credits for that course.
  • Expansion of low-income student resources, such as partnerships with food banks, shelters, and local families

Dario Arganese

SAFETY
  • Adjust the free Lyft program during daylight savings.
  • During daylight savings, the sun sets earlier in the day (at or around 4:30 PM). Considering the free Lyft service is to ensure student safety, it should start earlier in the day to account for earlier sunsets to mitigate potential dangers of nighttime foot travel.
SECURITY
  • Extend the travel radius of the Campus Cruiser to match that of the free Lyft service over the summer academic session.
  • Security in the sense that students will have a safe way to travel in the dark whenever enrolled in summer classes.
STUDENT HEALTH & COMMUNITY
  • Provide an entire week of break for Thanksgiving rather than a long weekend.
    • Students are often unable to go home, where they may face homesickness which can degrade mental health. Not having classes the entire week could preserve the mental fortitude of the student body.
  • Create and distribute “health packs” during challenging times in semester that may include objects such as, but not limited to stress balls, vitamin-C boosts, healthy snacks, water, gum, etc.
  • Hold more philanthropy events for local schools to help improve their access to school supplies and funding.
    • Example: box top drive

Ruben Romeo

HEALTH & WELLNESS
  • Food insecurity
    • Expand student eligibility for USC’s Food Pantry
    • Establish Transfer System for unused meal swipes at dining halls
    • Make apartment meal plan non-mandatory
    • Adjust pricing for meal plans to accommodate for low-income students
  • Sexual Wellness
    • Provide menstrual products in on-campus restrooms and in freshman residential hall communal restrooms
    • Establish Free STI testing at Engemann Health Center
    • Supply more wellness vending machines on campus that contain cost-affordable products
    • Hire a full-time sexual-assault nurse at Engemann to administer rape kits and trauma care
  • Mental Health
    • Pilot a Peer-Counseling Service available to all students
    • Increase RA access to mental health resources
    • Pilot a Counselor-in-Residence Program for first-year dorms
  • RA Health and Safety Training
    • Provide CPR Training
    • Include Overdose Prevention Training and access to Narcan
DIVERSITY & INCLUSION
  • LGBTQIA+
    • Increase availability of gender neutral bathrooms on-campus
    • Increase funding and support to Lavender Lounge after relocation
  • Nomenclature
    • Advocate for a new name for VKC
  • Spring Admits
    • Increase Spring Welcome Week programming
    • Extend to a 2-day orientation with overnight stay
    • Establish mentorship program with Spring Admit Ambassadors
  • Student Representation
    • Establish a student representative on the Board of Trustees
STUDENT LIFE
  • Syllabus Bank
    • Create a universal collection of syllabi for USC courses that can be accessed by all students prior to course registration
  • USC Village
    • Advocate for the use of dining and discretionary dollars in the USC Village
  • Change move-out date
    • Move mandatory move-out date of all residence halls to the day after last finals

Kevin Gutierrez

PLATFORM POINTS
  • Collaborate and design a student wellness center with the intent of transforming USC’s mental health climate.
  • Create and strengthen the number of study spaces open to the USC community, especially around midterms and finals. 
  • Increase student involvement with our surrounding community.
  • Increase opportunities for student organizations to showcase their work.
  • Support a structured system of communication between administration and the USC community when significant events occur.  
  • Implement subsidized transportation between USC and LAX around holidays and breaks. 
  • Create more green spaces on campus and support the protection of existing spaces.
  • Work to replace existing greenery on campus with more environmentally friendly native-to-LA species.
  • Create a physical space on campus for first-generation students and continue to support existing spaces for underrepresented student populations. 
  • Implement effective solutions to address food insecurity within the USC community.
  • Improve policies surrounding non-Christian religious leaves of absence.

Jack Rasmussen

MENTAL HEALTH AND STUDENT WELL-BEING
  • Inspire conversation of controversial topics between administration and student body by hosting panels and utilizing Journal360 as a brainstorming tool.
  • Continue to develop health facilities, faculty, and outreach including free COVID-19 testing to maximize student well-being.
  • Push for partnerships with organizations like Active Minds at USC or Inanim.com to ensure that all students feel heard and to create a psychologically safe space for all.
  • Widen efforts to prevent sexual misconduct and assault and improve health by carrying out workshops, creating new well-being programs, and implementing free drug testing kits on Greek Row.
  • Develop relationships with South LA Animal Shelter and mobile applications such as Calm to provide stress-relieving opportunities for students
  • Actively seek and advise the purchase of healthier food options in USC housing

 

STUDENT LIFE
  • Affirm USG’s commitment to restrict any and all forms of discrimination by hosting inclusive public forums, curating ethical social media accounts, and restructuring USG’s organizational values
  • Build a strong partnership between Greek Life and Administration to ensure involved and spirited student opinions are reflected and Greek Life presence remains active
  • Push for EMTs/medical professionals to be on active duty at Fraternity registers & on the Row
  • Creating longer orientation events for First-Generation freshman and transfer students
DINING HALL
  • Extend hours and terminate closing periods between breakfast, lunch, and dinner to aid students involved in several extracurriculars and busy class schedules
  • Increase all international options including Kosher, Halal, Mediterranean, and Asian food
  • Introduce Biodegradable take-out containers for student convenience and to reduce food waste in an environmentally friendly manner
ENGEMANN HEALTH CENTER
  • Push for the reinstatement of doctor’s notes for appointments to prevent unexcused absences in classes
  • Expand available mental health professionals such as psychologists, counselors, clinicians, therapists, and clinical social workers at Engemann to better provide for healthy mental wellbeing
  • Increase transparency, efficiency, and marketing between Engemann Health Center, USC Administration, and the student body

Julian Lin

STUDENT & CAREER EXPLORATION
  • Work closely with the Career Center to generate more opportunities for students to gain valuable Co-Op experience in their pursuit of career exploration
  • Strategize with advising teams across all majors to ensure a way for students to cohesively participate in Co-Op and internship ventures without affecting their course plans and/or graduation dates
  • Collaborate with the Career Center to promote more paid internship opportunities for students of all grade levels
  • Tackle various obstacles that arise regarding unpaid internships, working to create an easier and more financially palpable method in obtaining USC school credit for unpaid internships during the summer semester
  • Partner with USC transportation services to collaborate with lyft in efforts to provide free transportation services for students to commute to and from their unpaid internships within a regulated radius surrounding campus
HOUSING
  • Work on finalizing and improving the vetting process to ensure quality living for students off campus
  • Improving the reliability of printers and increasing the accessibility and amount of printers throughout campus
  • Revise USC’s overall housing policy to ensure that all undergraduate students are guaranteed housing for four years
  • Promote accessibility of basic needs like equal access to food for all students living off campus without a meal plan
ACCESSIBILITY TO RESOURCES
  • Coordinate with on-campus libraries to extend hours for studying
  • Continue to expand and promote zero-waste initiative
  • Increase transparency between classes and students during registration by giving students the option to access and view past syllabi for the class
  • Work on extending the hours for the gym, dining halls, and restaurants within campus
  • Installing more bike racks around campus as a means of minimizing DPS bicycle confiscation
  • Coordinate with Greek life leadership to increase philanthropic and communal outreach efforts
MENTAL HEALTH AND STUDENT WELL-BEING
  • Promote cohesion and conversation between administration and student body by hosting panels.
  • Continue to expand health facilities, faculty, and outreach and ensuring accountability towards student well-being.
  • Collaborate with organizations like Local USC Moms and Dads on call to ensure that all students feel welcomed and to create a safe and warm space for all
  • Expand efforts to prevent sexual misconduct and assault by implementing workshops and creating new programs
  • Coordinate with local animal shelters to provide stress-relieving opportunities for students
  • Actively coordinate with USC housing to provide increased variety of healthier food options

Lennon Wesley III

PLATFORM POINTS
  • Obtaining greater resources for students, including student access to resources such as a wider scope of treatment and coverage options under Engemann Health Center/University insurance, more University cost of attendance transparency, greater access to college-life support/ “adulting” resources, etc.
  • Student representation in University decisions. This includes but is not limited to representation of Greek Life with ever-changing University Greek Life policies, student representation on the Executive Boards for each academic school, and greater student influence on Board of Trustee decisions.
  • Increased diversity of student representation. This by way of increased programs and resources for minority student assemblies, greater display of minority cultures, and extended minority student inclusion in the admission processes.
  • Student academic needs. Specifically, I will focus on more defined policies with academic grading systems, policies that reconcile between students’ personal lives and their strenuous academic requirements, and a more open dialogue with students about professor qualifications and performance.
  • University transparency and cohesion. By including students in the decision-making process, and increasing cohesion between academic schools, students can be provided with a greater academic experience and understanding of policies and procedures.

Mayra Rodriguez

TRANSFERRING USCARD TO APPLE WALLET
  • Increases accessibility & convenience
  • Aids low income students by avoiding financial charges for lost IDs
  • Eases flow of orientation events
DINING HALL
  • Extend hours to aid students involved in late-night extracurriculars and studies
  • Increase Kosher & Halal options
  • Biodegradable take-out containers to reduce food waste in an environmentally friendly manner
SPRING ADMITS & TRANSFER STUDENTS
  • Expand orientation events for Spring Admits & Transfers to two days, establishing a more welcoming and inviting campus
  • Rehaul of information sharing with Spring Admits & Transfers
    • Aiding in communicating valuable information and resources, such as on-campus housing living opportunities and class transferability
    • Ensure students receive ResEd emails
    • Establish Spring Admit & Transfer student newsletter
  • Ensure no students live in lounges
ACADEMIC IMPROVEMENTS
  • Syllabus Bank for increased comfortability with class selection
  • Detailed class descriptions on USC Course Catalogue/Web Registration, specifically for GESM classes
ENGEMANN HEALTH CENTER
  • Reinstate issuing of doctor’s notes for student visits to prevent unexcused absences in classes
  • Increasing mental health professionals at Engemann to better provide for healthy mental wellbeing
  • Increase transparency between Engemann Health Center, USC Administration, and the student body
STUDENT LIFE
  • Continue to emphasize USG’s commitment to end and prevent any and all forms of discrimination
  • Ensure commitment to respect religious observances in light of class attendance policies
  • Strengthen relationship between Greek Life and Administration to ensure student opinions are reflected and Greek Life presence remains strong
  • EMTs/medical professionals on-duty at Fraternity registers & on the Row
  • Adding orientation event for First-Generation freshman

Joshua Wigler & Shreya Chanda

STUDENT HEALTH
  • Expanded emergency services to avoid hospital visits
  • Free birth control and contraceptives
  • More therapists and more accessible mental health facilities
  • Sexual assault services and prevention, free rape kits.
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
  • Support the community surrounding USC
ACADEMIC REFORMS
  • Required course descriptions on web registration
  • Transparent Syllabi for every class PRIOR TO Registration
  • Consultations between different teachers of the same course to maintain grade consistency
  • Empower voices of professors, they should more say in the administration
SUSTAINABILITY
  • Ensure that everything on campus is actually recycled
  • Support USC initiatives in the science field in sustainability
STUDENT LIFE
  • Dining dollars at other places including pharmacy
  • Provide shuttles to the airport
  • More Kosher and Halal, options in the dining halls and in on campus restaurants. Dining halls more accessible to religious backgrounds
  • extended dining hall hours
  • Better systems to manage dining hall lines
  • Cheaper parking permits
SOCIAL CONCIOUSNESS ON CAMPUS
  • VKC building name change
  • Counter hate speech on campus
  • Faculty and staff go through diversity training

 

 

 

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USC Undergraduate Student Government

TCC 224, 3607 Trousdale Pkwy Los Angeles, California 90089

(213) 740-5620

usg@usc.edu

 

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