Four more students join USG race
The Undergraduate Student Government announced two more presidential tickets for the 2019-20 academic year on its website Tuesday. Though an uncontested presidential ticket was announced last week, two write-in presidential and vice presidential candidates released statements.
USG funding directors Trenton Stone and Mahin Tahsin are running for president and vice president, respectively. Their candidacies were announced via press release Monday; John Lynch and Ryan Goldsher announced theirs through a post on Lynch’s personal Facebook account Tuesday.
Both tickets filed their campaigns after the official registration deadline. According to the press release, the Trenton-Mahin campaign said its candidates will be included on the ballot despite filing election paperwork after the official deadline.
“The two candidates decided to run in the elections to provide another option to the previously uncontested ticket,” Stone and Tahsin wrote in their statement. “Through their experiences within and outside of USG, Trenton and Tahsin believe that they can offer a fresh perspective to student leadership and to the larger USC community.”
Stone, a sophomore majoring in philosophy, said he decided to run after finding out that there was only one candidate for presidency.
“We felt very passionate that [the student body] deserved to have another choice and have a right to have a competitive choice,” Stone said.
Stone and Tahsin’s platform focuses on establishing greater administrative accountability, expanding student health resources and improving accessibility, as well as addressing the campus climate and boosting sustainability efforts.
“After we heard that there was only one [ticket] … a lot of what we discussed was that we wanted to present students with an active choice that ultimately represents them … on campus,” Tahsin said.
Stone said the campaign will highlight the need for providing resources to expand on the Office for Wellness and Health Promotion’s efforts, as well as encouraging comprehensive research of more initiatives and programs to improve student well-being.
The other presidential ticket includes Lynch, a junior majoring in screenwriting, and Goldsher, a junior majoring in political science.
Lynch, who became known on campus for his involvement with the USC Memes for Spoiled Pre-Teens Facebook group, has three platform points: to increase in mental health resources, to create more recycling opportunities on campus and to establish more transparency between the student body and USC administration.
“I’m so anxious to make a change,” Lynch said. “I just wanted to step in and correct the direction of the Trojan Family … because I don’t like some of the things I see.”
In a statement on Facebook on Tuesday, Lynch and Goldsher said they planned to improve USC by “defeating terrorism,” closing USC Village and giving free haircuts to all students.
“And we saw that like [USC] spends a lot of money and resources on making the campus like beautiful but like our own students aren’t that beautiful,” Lynch said. “So one idea we had is like we want to offer free haircuts to students and if they don’t like their hair cut, for example, we can give them like a fedora, or like something like Jason Mraz would wear.”
Lynch said his campaign includes expanding gamedays to have multiple tailgates throughout the week.
“[Goldsher and I] hate the big crack down on game days, so like we want to have multiple game days a week like Monday through Friday there should definitely be some sort of tailgate going on every day in case people don’t have class,” Lynch said. “Everybody loves tailgates. They really foster a sense of community. I think tailgates are great.”
Students can vote in the USG election beginning Feb. 5.