New USG administration inaugurated for upcoming year


Undergraduate Student Government President Austin Dunn, Vice President Morgan Monahan and the USG Senate were inaugurated for the 2017-2018 school year at the USG meeting on Tuesday.

The 2016-2017 Senate delivered its final remarks and summarized its achievements before the new USG president, vice president and senators were sworn into office.

This was followed by an inauguration speech from Dunn, who reflected on his term as vice president, his service alongside former USG President Edwin Saucedo and his plans moving forward as USG president.

“Throughout the duration of Edwin’s and my term, we’ve made great strides in fostering dialogue with constituencies that USG had not directly worked with in the past, such as spring admits, commuter students, students with disabilities [and] transfer students, but that is only the beginning,” Dunn said. “Moving forward, Morgan and I have plans to turn these discussions and dialogue into action and policy change. We want to build on the narratives of all students, and therefore we will continue to work with students from these communities to ensure adequate resources and representations for all students here at USC.”

Dunn said the three major goals of his presidency will be to remove students’ financial barriers, increase campus safety through bystander intervention and active shooter training and increase the accessibility of USG.

Following Dunn’s inauguration speech, the 2017-2018 USG Senate held its first meeting, where Dunn presented the USG directors for the upcoming term and detailed the application and hiring process for these directors.

After receiving 136 applications for 59 positions, Dunn blacked out all applicants’ personal information and photos to prevent bias in the screening process. These applications were then sent to the USG Executive Board, who voted on which candidates deserved an interview.

“This process has been totally revamped and done to the best of our ability due to continuous nepotism claims,” Dunn said.