The Undergraduate Student Government senate met via Zoom Tuesday night, during which seven senators and USG officers provided updates on current projects. 

In a statement sent to the Daily Trojan, speaker of the senate Jeremiah Boisrond said the meeting was moved to Zoom after receiving an email from Trojan Event Services Feb. 2 that stated, “Due to a high-priority university event taking place in the building that evening, we are unfortunately no longer able to host external meetings or reservations.” 

Boisrond said they were given two options by TES — to move the meeting online or relocate it on campus — so they decided to move the senate meeting to Zoom to ensure accessibility for students. 

During his officer report, Boisrond said that another housing rights workshop for students will be taking place on April 15, in partnership with the Gould School of Law’s Housing Law and Policy Clinic. A housing workshop was previously held on Feb. 18, in which “quite a few students showed up,” according to Boisrond. 

Boisrond also said that conversations with USC Hospitality regarding the implementation of food vending machines are “ongoing.” 

“We’re looking to finalize location [of the vending machines], with the potential of tapping into rollover funding,” Boisrond said. 

Chief diversity officer Yasmeen ElFarra said that another order of menstrual products for the period pantry products had arrived, with another order on the way. She said there are a total of 3,546 pads, 63 hygiene kits and 104 heating patches in the order that had arrived. The funding comes from an additional $2,000 that senators allocated to the period pantry’s budget Feb. 18.

During presentations, senator Karim Debian said that his Transfer Student Association Mentorship Program has been postponed due to a “misinterpretation of time available.” 

“We decided that it is better to have a step-by-step approach, instead of just trying to implement it at the time of,” Debian said. “At least now we have a little bit of background, and can hopefully get it going next semester.” 

Debian also said he is currently working on decreasing the number of required training modules that students must complete to register for classes. Debian said he is in conversation with Chief Campus Health Officer Dr. Sarah Van Orman, and is creating a Google Form to collect student feedback. 

In his update, senator Justin Shih said he is working with the Association of Energy Engineers on their project to bring more solar-powered charging stations and picnic tables to USC. Shih also said he is currently working with Leavey Library to install both a digital map and a physical console map in the library itself. 

Senator Kevin Hoang said he is working to create an initiative to provide career opportunities for students in the arts by making a database in which student DJs, bands and performers can submit information about themselves that will be shared across Recognized Student Organizations. According to Hoang, a database has already been created and is ready to be announced campus-wide. 

Hoang also said he is working with USC’s Financial Aid office to create a Google Form for student input and feedback. Hoang said he is meeting with the office once a month to “improve communication and transparency between students and Financial Aid.” 

“There is a lot of relationship-building we as a student government can do with the Financial Aid department, especially since it impacts so many of our students,” Hoang said. “Every single year, students have issues and concerns about their financial aid package.”

Academic affairs committee chair Darena Nguyen said in her report that the committee is working on a “Fuel for Finals” table on May 1 — a continuation of last semester’s project. This table would offer free blue books, wellness items and counseling resources to support students’ mental health and academic readiness. 

Nguyen also said the committee is working on the Undergraduate Advisory Group, which will partner with USC’s Center for Excellence in Teaching to host open forums to gather student feedback to inform teaching programming. The CET empowers the USC teaching community to maximize student learning and address contemporary teaching challenges.