Senate approves Program Board’s funding request

Program Board is one step closer to realizing their goal of bringing a high-profile, instantly recognizable speaker to USC.

At Tuesday night’s Undergraduate Student Government Senate meeting, Program Board’s Speakers Committee received approval for its funding request of $7,000.

The speaker’s name still cannot be released due to contractual obligations, but Beibei Bai, director of the Speakers Committee, said she anticipates the event will attract a wide range of students and will contribute to USC’s ability to bring similar public figures to campus.

“This speaker is really high profile in his industry, and it would push the events we put on to the next level,” Bai said at the meeting. “Basically, he’s going to talk about his experiences. We have a lot of [communication], journalism and business students, and that would definitely appeal to them.”

The speaker is scheduled to come to campus in January.

Several senators were initially concerned about giving a large portion of the Senate allocations fund to this event, but many said Program Board’s successful track record with similar events alleviated their anxiety.

USG Vice President Ashlie Chan said she supports the Senate’s decision to grant Program Board’s funding request.

“[Program Board] has done this for so many years, so they know how to gauge what’s worth it and what’s not. They’re thinking about it and not just frivolously asking for money,” she said. “Seeing how much experience they have, I think it’s worth it.”