The Undergraduate Student Government senate unanimously approved two new bills Tuesday night including senate bill 144-25, a resolution supporting the addition of a sustainability graduation requirement for incoming students.

“We’ve seen the way the world is working and how it is important for all [disciplines] to have some level of understanding sustainability,” said Jon-Marc Burgess, a co-author of the bill and co-executive director of the Environmental Student Assembly. 

The proposed requirement would be integrated into other courses, rather than serving as an additional general education category, and would not require students to take an extra class, Mia Moore-Walker, a co-author of the bill, said. SB 144-25 encourages the University to enact the requirement as early as Fall 2025. According to the bill, the academic senate passed a resolution supporting a sustainability graduation requirement.

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Moore-Walker said interested professors would be provided training to integrate sustainability into their curriculum. Following the training, the professor would be able to lift the requirement to students who complete their curriculum.

Ashley Halim, a co-author of the bill and assistant director of ESA, said 82% of 240 students in a survey conducted by USG believe that a sustainability graduation requirement would enhance their education.

Moore-Walker said creating a sustainability requirement will give students an advantage in their career pursuits, noting that job applicants with green skills are 80.3% more likely to be hired, according to the 2024 Global Green Skills report.

Arizona State University and UC San Diego have adopted similar sustainability requirements.

SB 144-26, which also passed unanimously, requests that the University reinstate the National Merit Scholarship to its original amount or provide transparency on how the funds taken from the scholarship are being reallocated.

Last month, the University reduced scholarships for National Merit Finalists from half tuition — $34,952 this academic year — to $20,000 beginning with the Class of 2029. Senator Ali Bhatti said University officials told him the reduced National Merit Finalist funds would be redistributed to support students with demonstrated financial need.

The bill urges the University to publish an annual financial aid report outlining the distribution of scholarships and financial aid.

Last week, USG released a survey for students and families to provide input on the reduction of the National Merit Scholarship. According to the bill, 53.4% of 103 respondents to the survey said the reduction of the National Merit Scholarship would “significantly worsen their financial situation” if the cut had occurred when they applied.

“It’s unfortunate that USC has been ignoring our voices,” said Bhatti who co-wrote the bill. “The vast majority of people said USC is very ineffective in the way that they communicate financial aid changes.”

In the survey, nearly 84% of respondents described USC’s ability to communicate changes surrounding financial aid as either “ineffective” or “very ineffective.”

“It really is questioning the fact that USC doesn’t take into consideration what students are saying,” said senator Jeremiah Boisrond who co-wrote the bill. “It’s time for USC to be transparent, restore the National Merit Scholarship to its original amount and provide students transparency on what the funding is being used for.”

Boisrond also presented his projects, including improving the student clothing donation drive, Tommy’s Closet and taking down fence barriers on campus.

“It’s just an eyesore and an infringement on student life and the ability to just enjoy [the] campus to which [students] pay tuition for,” Boisrond said of the barriers.

The senate also unanimously re-approved five bills — senate bills 144-20 to 144-24 — that were automatically vetoed because president Brianna Sánchez did not sign them within 72 hours of their passing.

Sánchez said the transition of power in December caused the bills to not reach her desk and that the vetoes were not intentional. Sánchez was sworn in as president Dec. 3, 2024 after former president Bryan Fernández announced his resignation Nov. 21, 2024.