USG project sponsors suits


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Photo of senators talking in a beige-walled room.
Senator Nivea Krishnan is working with Student Basic Needs on a proposal to establish a meal swipe donation program that would work on a weekly basis. (Marissa Ding | Daily Trojan)

The Undergraduate Student Government senate debated on senator Hunter Hinson’s Suit Up funding proposal Tuesday. The vote passed unanimously. 

The program, intended to assist low-income students, obtains professional attire for occasions such as scholarship, internship and club interviews. USG will distribute $7,500 in funding to the USC Career Center, which will purchase JCPenney gift cards to distribute to students. 

When running for a senate position last year, Hinson campaigned on the plan of providing business attire for low income students who need it for interviews and other occasions. Although similar programs existed in years prior, Hinson said Suit Up will give students more flexibility in obtaining professional attire. 

“In the past, it’s been an in-person only event where they send USC students to JCPenney on buses,” Hinson said. “Now, we’re having a hybrid approach where you can go in-person or you can shop online.”

Hinson said the motivating factor for the program’s establishment was the financial barrier that limits some students’ ability to purchase professional attire. 

“A lot of clubs on campus, internships and scholarship interviews require business attire to be worn,” Hinson said. “Obviously, business attire is something that’s incredibly expensive.”

Speaker of the senate Tommy Nguyen said he’s glad the proposal passed and USG will work with the Career Center to promote the initiative. 

“As we’re transitioning in-person, [professional attire] is, unfortunately, gonna be a big expectation for a lot of these interviews and networking events,” Nguyen said. “That’s a huge accessibility issue …. USG will be sharing lots of graphics, QR codes and information. It’s gonna be out there.”

During the meeting, senator Nivea Krishnan spoke about establishing a meal swipe donation system. While such a program existed at USC before the coronavirus pandemic, it has yet to come back since the return to in-person campus life. 

According to Krishnan, the defunct Swipe Out Hunger USC program set up tables outside dining halls near semesters’ ends and had students with leftover meal swipes donate to students in need. Krishnan said the program adjusted weekly to accommodate freshman meal swipes resetting each Sunday. 

“I’m trying to get [University administration] to do it at the end of every week so that we can accumulate those meal swipes and distribute them more frequently to students,” Krishnan said. “[University administration was] completely on board with that.”

Krishnan said the program would operate similarly to the old system, but this time, USG plans to work with an existing student organization that worked on meal donation last semester and which hopes to work quickly on the project. After meeting with representatives from USC Dining and Student Basic Needs Tuesday morning, Krishnan said she’ll be drafting a proposal for Thursday.

At the end of the meeting, representatives from two student organizations spoke: the Middle Eastern and North Africa Student Association and the Military Associated Student Assembly hoping to become student assemblies. Speaker Nguyen spoke optimistically of their potential establishment and said the assemblies are “very important” and “led by two very amazing people.”