The Undergraduate Student Government senate allocated about $8,400 to fund Wellness Week events and new accessibility spaces in Leavey Library in two separate bills passed Tuesday night. 

The senate unanimously approved senate bill 145-14, which gave $3,412 of legislative funding to Wellness Week, which is from April 13-17. Wellness affairs committee chair Diane Kim said the funding will pay for events throughout the week, including bringing either ponies or dogs to campus April 13, as a part of the first day of Wellness Week. Senator Kian Salek and Kim presented the bill.

According to Kim, each day of Wellness Week will have a focus, ranging from social wellness to cultural wellness. Each day will also have unique experiences for students, including free workout equipment, social events and time with emotional support animals, funded by the bill.

Senators also unanimously passed SB 145-15, which allocated  $5,000 of legislative funding to create additional lounge and rest areas in Leavey Library. The bill was authored by senator Kevin Hoang and accessibility committee chair Angelina Del Gaudio.

The approved funding will be used to create a study and lounge room on the first floor and a rest room on the second floor. According to Hoang, over 265 students, both graduate and undergraduate, were surveyed. He said over 96% of those surveyed “showed high interest” in having additional lounge spaces. 

USG previously launched two rest spaces: one in the Library for International and Public Affairs and one in the University Religious Center.

The senate also confirmed Karen Li as the executive director for the Student Assembly for Gender Empowerment. Li was previously co-director, but was re-elected as the singular executive director because of scheduling conflicts, chief programming officer Alisandra Edmonds said. 

Nathanael Rodriguez, a junior majoring in business administration, was also confirmed as the director of the funding department’s social and recreational/startup fund. Nabeel Trimzi, a junior majoring in neuroscience, was approved as the fund’s assistant director. 

During officer reports, president Mikaela Bautista said USG shared student feedback with the academic senate’s AI committee and University faculty at the artificial intelligence roundtable in December. Specifically, she said they shared feedback regarding the University’s $3.1 million institutional partnership with ChatGPT, which became available to students Jan. 13.

Bautista said USG would be sharing the feedback and information provided by interim President Beong-Soo Kim in an upcoming USG meeting. She also said USG will be doing more work “regarding feedback on this platform itself.” 

Bautista ran on a platform that promised an opt-in ChatGPT Plus account for all students. 

Bautista also mentioned a future USG collaboration with the Alumni Association, as well as planning senior events for the class of 2026. 

In her report, Edmonds discussed upcoming events such as the Transfer Student Assembly alumni panel on Jan. 28 and the Student Assembly for Accessibility collaboration with Best Buddies.

Best Buddies is a national nonprofit organization with a USC-based chapter. The chapter’s goal is fostering one-on-one friendships between USC students and individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities from the Southern California Los Angeles Regional Center, according to their website.