USG discusses adding an athletic representative


Undergraduate Student Government President Rini Sampath and Trojan Athletics Senate President Kamali Houston presented a proposal to create a Trojan Athlete Representative under USG’s advocacy’s branch at the USG Senate meeting Tuesday evening in the Ronald Tutor Campus Center.

Houston noted the lack of representation of athletes in the Senate and USG at large, despite the large number of student athletes on campus. USC has a large sports program; 21 varsity teams in total.

“It would be great to have an athlete representative here,” Houston said. “You have commuters and greek [senators], but there’s no athlete representation. It would be great to bridge that gap between athletes and the student body, because I don’t think that gap has been bridged.”

Sampath and Houston also recommended that USG create more positions to complement other constituencies within the community.

“The other ideas we had were to create a spring admit/transfer representative, as well as a disabilities services representative,” Sampath said.

The position would require the representative to work four unpaid hours in the USG office, serve as a liaison between the Trojan Athletics Senate and USG, develop relationships with university administration and launch new advocacy initiatives for the benefit of athletes.

Houston was quick to recognize the influence of student athletes and the benefit of supportive athletes. Houston briefly mentioned the University of Missouri football team boycott in November of last year, in which the players threatened to forfeit a game to protest racism on campus.

“I also want to point out that student athletes have a lot of power on this campus. I think it would beneficial for all students,” Houston said. “If we look at Mizzou and what they did there, I think having athletes behind you guys and a part of the whole student body would be really empowering.”

Sen. Darian Nourian asked about the process in which the position is appointed.

Houston elaborated on the application process, which would be open to all student athletes, but presented to Trojan Athletics Senate to jumpstart enthusiasm within the athlete community, as well as ensuring a dedicated USG representative.

“Rini and I have talked about it; we’ve talked about an application process,” Houston said. “For my end, I’m not going to have someone come here and waste your time. And we have the Trojan Athletics executive board, who are very consistent.”

Sampath further explained the process, comparing the process to most positions currently held within USG.

“We encourage a pool of applicants from Trojan Athletics Senate just for encouragement,” Sampath said. “But it would be to any student athlete on this campus, just as the rest of our applications are open to any student at large.”

Houston and Sampath spoke further after the presentation. Houston elaborated on the discrepancy between athletes’ and non-athletes’ experience at college.

“First and foremost, there is a divide between student athletes and the normal student body,” Houston said. “We don’t usually know what’s going on within the student body and vice versa, so it’s hard to bridge that gap.”