On Tuesday night, the Undergraduate Student Government senate heard presentations from wellness affairs committee chair Allie Wang, senator Ali Bhatti and senator John Breitfelder. 

In Wang’s presentation, she recapped Wellness Week, which occurred from Feb. 9 to Feb. 14. The wellness affairs committee kept the free sexually transmitted infection testing, Academic Culture Assembly and Black Student Assembly puppies, and painting events from last year. They brought in brand new events this year in collaboration with nonprofits such as the National Alliance on Mental Illness Urban Los Angeles and other programming assemblies. 

Wang said the rainy weather last week resulted in some scheduling challenges, with meeting rooms and events having to be adjusted at the last minute. 

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“Although planning took many months and involved many USG and non-USG groups, Wellness Week is still worth continuing in the future because of its ability to engage the student body and different activities promoting student health and wellbeing,” Wang said.

Breitfelder presented an update on his pickleball courts project he worked on along with Bhatti. After conversations with Recreational Sports and Campus Activities as well as student feedback, the project has been picked up by the USC administration, Breitfelder said.

Breitfelder then discussed his spring semester project, bringing discounted Waymo transportation to students. 

“We wanted to do something complimentary to Fryft so that it would be something not necessarily to get students around campus, but to get students from campus to other parts of L.A. with no specific hours,” Breitfelder said. 

Breitfelder said he and senator Patrick Nguyen will negotiate with Adam Lane, a Waymo city policy and government affairs manager, about how they could subsidize the student discount.

“According to [Director of Transportation Tony Mazza], it doesn’t look like Waymo is going to subsidize the discount, but I am going to put in a proposal where USG can potentially subsidize this discount for a really small sample size,” Breitfelder said. 

Senator Bhatti presented an update on his project to bring Raising Cane’s to campus and said USC Hospitality does not want a new chicken place because one already exists at USC Village.

Bhatti said USC Hospitality wants a burger joint, so he contacted Shake Shack, which expressed interest in coming to USC Village. 

Bhatti also provided an update on his projects to bring a coffee machine to the Leavey Library basement and instate regular testing of high-traffic hydration stations to determine more quickly when a filter needs replacement.

During announcements at the end of the meeting, chief justice Susanna Andryan announced that the 2025 Undergraduate Student Government ballot is currently open and encouraged the senate meeting attendees to vote for their future president, vice president and senators. 

In a Feb. 15 judicial opinion, Bhatti, who is running for president, alongside Chichi Makasi, a sophomore majoring in pharmacology and drug development, were barred from campaigning in-person and virtually from Feb. 15 to 18. The pair was found guilty of four of six charges of violating the election code related to sign placement and Instagram posts. 

The opinion said a warning issued to Bhatti in a Feb. 3 opinion was an “aggravating factor” in the sentencing.

Bhatti and Makasi were found guilty of placing signs in an unsanctioned area on top of other campaign materials as well as making two Instagram posts without the required Vote On logo. The ticket argued that both violations did not offer a campaign advantage, so the sanctions should be limited, according to the opinion.

The pair were found not guilty on a third count of failing to use the Vote On logo on a story due to no pictures being provided by the plaintiff. They were also found not guilty for Makasi not submitting the required campaign documents due to no deadline being given after Bhatti’s former running mate resigned.

In a statement to the Daily Trojan, Bhatti wrote that while they are complying with the sanctions, they found them to be “disproportionate” and are pursuing an appeal. 

“From our perspective, the violations cited — stacking a sign and missing a Vote On logo — did not result in a substantial enough advantage to lose 4 days of campaigning and being barred from campaigning on a voting day,” Bhatti’s statement read. “We remain committed to a fair election process and will continue engaging with voters within the allowed guidelines.”

Andryan declined to give details on the appeal and wrote that the information is “confidential and not set in stone,” in a statement to the Daily Trojan.

Disclaimer: Allie Wang served as a deputy copy editor at the Daily Trojan in Spring 2024. She is no longer affiliated with the paper.