First-generation students host town hall


By
 in , ,
person speaks, holding microphone, as others listen
Students at the town hall discussed culture shock, their quest to find community and their desires for better advertisement of USC’s resources for first-generation students. This was the first such event in three years. (Brittany Shaw | Daily Trojan)

The First Generation Student Union hosted a town hall Wednesday night with its intention — according to its Feb. 8 Instagram post — to “shed light on [first generation students’] existence; providing a platform to voice what we aspire to be, what we know is right, and what we deserve from the university.” 

The event comes in the wake of the Undergraduate Student Government postponing the formation of a first generation student assembly until the fall. 

Andrew Mecatl, a junior majoring in law, history and culture and the co-president of FGSU, said the intention of this meeting was to elevate the often-overlooked voices of first-generation students.

“Although we make up 23% of the total USC population, we are a shadow population here on campus,” Mecatl said. “There are rarely any opportunities for us to voice our identity or voice what concerns we have on campus.”

The town hall opened with various first-generation USG candidates speaking on their experiences before opening up to wider audiences. A common theme throughout the event was the sense of culture shock students experienced when first arriving at USC, as well as the struggle to find a first-generation community.

Several students also said the University needs to do a better job at advertising the resources available to first-generation students. Alyssa Felix-Arreola, a senior majoring in global health and the co-president of FGSU, said there is a disconnect between the resources offered at USC by USG and those who need them.

“There’s a lot of resources that I use that USC has to offer, and a lot of them are not centralized,” she said. “It’s important that within these town halls, we actually get to learn about these resources. Then we get to say okay, we have these resources: How do we centralize them?”

Finances were another area of concern for many first-generation students. Speakers brought up anxieties regarding the lack of a housing guarantee after sophomore year and the predatory nature of many of the landlords in the area surrounding USC. 

Shriya Patel, FGSU’s director of communications and a junior majoring in aerospace engineering, said that being able to afford tuition was a massive stressor for first-generation students. 

“Even as much as people say, ‘Oh, you could take out a loan’ — that’s a process,” Patel said. “It’s also assuming that [we] have the credit background to be approved for it.”

In an interview with the Daily Trojan after the event, Mecatl said the town hall was a success.

“There were conversations of academic experiences, emotional experiences, social experiences, and we had these experiences amplified here today,” Mecalt said. “That was exactly what we wanted.”