USG Senate meeting covers upcoming budget
During the Undergraduate Student Government Senate meeting, newly appointed Treasurer Tiffany Chang announced the various budget expenses for the upcoming 2015-2016 academic year.
“In regards to income, we get our budget from a $64 stipend per student per semester, with a base number of 15,000 students,” Chang said. “We also get carry-over income from previous years.”
Chang then discussed the budget divisions for Student Affairs programming: the volunteer center, LEAD programs and Conquest.
“We’re trying to have Conquest cover more of the production part of the program because it is one of the biggest events on campus,” Chang said. “We want to take the burden off of Concerts Committee, because now they have to cover both the artist[s] and production.”
All USG branches received an increase in funding for next year. The professional academic fund received $40,000 in expenditures, philanthropy received $82,000, leadership received $77,000 and discretionary received $112,000.
Chang said some parts of the budget were allocated to ensure a better team dynamic and development.
“It’s in our bylaws that allocations are used to better establish our team and make it more cohesive so that everybody can talk about their vision and really have a face outside of the office,” Chang said.
Chang said there has also been a $2,000 increase in public relations funds.
“This increase happened because this year, our USG website got hacked eight times in a week,” Chang said. “So this is for more security.”
The Academic Culture Assembly also presented their proposals during the meeting. Hannah Nguyen, the incoming director of ACA, explained the assembly’s mission is to “encourage the merit of learning through interdisciplinary exploration and programming.”
Some of ACA’s signature events include Beyond Books, EDmonth, TEDxTrousdale and Study Nights.
Nguyen discussed ACA’s goals for this upcoming academic year, highlighting specific events that would attract a large gathering of students.
“We want to foster mental health awareness and advocacy,” Nguyen said. “We also want to maximize potential of our signature events, such as Study Nights.”
ACA’s Study Nights are a space for students to unwind during finals. Added features of Study Nights would include massages, puppies, a drawing wall, food vendors, free blue books and scantrons, care packages from the health center and counseling services. Study Nights have drawn over 3,000 students each semester.
Other goals included growing EDmonth, solidifying its platform for education justice and establishing of the ACA community building, which ACA explained would offer support, guidance, exposure, monthly one-on-one meetings, organization meeting visits and member organization mixer events.
“We just really want to expose students to the academic possibilities on campus … especially for transfer students, who might not know what major and minors they can pursue, or which student organizations they can join,” Nyguyen said.
Nguyen also said ACA’s mental health awareness week runs from Oct. 5 Oct. 11. The week contains such sample events as a slam poetry night at Ground Zero, speaker events, workshops and forums.
“One thing I really want to stress about mental awareness week is that we really want to ensure that this programming translates into action and change for students,” Nyguyen said.
Correction: A previous version of this story stated that Chang said USG represents a base number of 16,000 students. They actually represent a base number of 15,000 students. The Daily Trojan regrets the error.