USG looks at midyear progress

After several months in office, Undergraduate Student Government leaders say they’ve improved communications but still have projects they’d like to finish.

Some of these projects include the items that were on President Chris Cheng and Vice President Nehi Ogbevoen’s platform, such as changes at the Lyon Center.

Senior Director of Communications Liz Trower said that the biggest accomplishment is the increase of communication between USG and various groups on campus.

“Chris and Nehi have been working tirelessly to forge strong bonds with admin, faculty and stuff in order to maximize USG’s improvement of student life,” Trower said. “In my three years in USG, I can truly say that their zeal and passion to connect students and administrators is unparalleled.”

Cheng and Ogbevoen emphasized that these relationships were not as strong in the past.

“One of our biggest causes was to rebuild a lot of the bridges that had dissolved or weakened over time between various departments on campus,” Cheng said. “We created bonds with organizations that previous administrations haven’t.”

By doing this, administrators will be better informed about student concerns as well as have the opportunity to support USG projects.

“We’ve truly maximized our opportunities to build relationships across campus,” Ogbevoen said.

Chief of Staff Maya Babla also agreed that everything has been going smoothly.

“Everyone is doing their job and everything is going really well,” Babla said. “We’re working on maximizing efficiency and making sure that every single concern has a tangible outcome.”

Another initiative that has been implemented is the increased Wi-Fi across campus. USG has been working with Information Technology Services to update the campus’ wireless, and ITS has set up a website where students can check the process of the increasing wireless capability on campus.

Expanding the Greater LA program was also part of Cheng and Ogbevoen’s platform. The original two trips have been increased to seven, with transportation to popular sites around Los Angeles such as the Universal CityWalk, the Grove and various beaches.

Cheng said that international students have been especially receptive to this program and that he hopes that other students will take advantage of it as well.

Despite the various projects that have been accomplished, Trower said that plans for others have changed.

“We’ve tried a number of different projects in different areas and we’ve advocated for a lot of student interests and projects,” Trower said. “A large portion has been successful and some haven’t been successful, but those aren’t necessarily failures. We’ve either changed paths or decided that a project probably won’t come to anything and moved on to other projects.”

In the final months of the semester, Cheng and Ogbevoen said they look forward to seeing the completion of continuing projects as well as the success of various events.

Babla noted that there has been more committee interest this year than in recent years. With many of the members involved in more than one committee and contributing above and beyond their job descriptions.

Some projects and events that will be completed in the next couple of months include another bike forum, an event involving TOMS Shoes and local artists, and a health week, where students will have an opportunity to see what the university has to offer in terms of health resources.