USG President Austin Dunn gives State of USG speech
Undergraduate Student Government President Austin Dunn addressed the USG Senate in his State of USG speech Tuesday. He spoke about the progress made by USG this year across all branches and how the organization has worked toward enhancing transparency, student wellness and diversity.
USG President Austin Dunn addressed the Senate Tuesday, mentioning issues such as diversity within USG and the balance between student autonomy and admistrative authority. Yuwei Xi | Daily Trojan
He noted the fall break resolution and dining hall take-out resolution passed by the senate as instances of USG working to improve health and wellness on campus. He also said that the Thirty-Second Thursday segments posted on USG’s Facebook page to inform students are an example of USG reaching out to the community.
The senate also passed a bylaw amendment proposed by Senator Katie Bolton and Co-Director of Service Student Assembly Alec Vandenberg which adds a new director of external affairs position to the advocacy branch of USG by a vote of 10-1. The position would promote political awareness and involvement among undergraduate students. A similar bylaw amendment was rejected by the senate six weeks ago due to concerns over partisan leanings potentially influencing the position.
The version that the senate passed Tuesday explicitly dealt with the issue of partisan bias.
“The external affairs director shall strive to remove barriers to student political participation, absent any influence of personal political views,” the resolution stated.
Senate aide Neal Sivadas, Parliamentarian Julianna Hrovat and Senators Joey Hall and Isabella Smith proposed a resolution to form a committee to examine how the transitional experiences of spring admits can be enhanced. Hall explained that the resolution is meant to comprehensively address broad issues for spring-admitted students at USC.
“This is a resolution regarding my consolidation of projects I have been working on for the spring-admit experience for the entire year,” Hall said. “It addresses things like housing, welcome week, orientation and advisement for all spring-admitted students.”
Hall read the resolution, which explains the composition and broad intentions of the task force, aloud.
“The Undergraduate Student Government of the University of Southern California does hereby resolve that a committee be formed consisting of both administration and spring-admitted students currently attending USC,” Hall read from the resolution, “… to create equal opportunity among all first-year students, regardless of admission date, specifically tailored to orientation, welcome week, housing, registration, and advisement.”
Hrovat cited various surveys conducted by USG which indicate that spring-admitted students, by in large, are unsatisfied not only with programs such as Welcome Week, but also with their broader experiences in making friends and integrating into the community.
“97.1 percent of (spring-admitted) students attended an orientation session and only 27.5 (percent) of those students responded ‘agree’ or ‘strongly agree’ to the statement, ‘I had enough time to familiarize myself with USC during orientation,’” Hrovat said.