The Undergraduate Student Government senate unanimously approved a resolution Tuesday night asking the University to create a dedicated cultural lounge for the Middle Eastern and North African student population. 

There is currently a MENA lounge inside the Center for Black Cultural and Student Affairs on the first floor of the Wilson Student Union, though students have raised concerns about insufficient space, limited independence and a lack of institutional recognition, according to a survey by USG. 

Layan Alasseel, advocacy liaison for the Middle Eastern and North African Student Assembly, who authored the resolution, wrote in the resolution that the MENA student community is the only cultural group that has its space inside another identity-based cultural center.

Senate resolution 145-22 called on the University to, during the 2026-27 academic year, commit to a clear timeline on where and how a MENA cultural lounge can be established.

When presenting the resolution, Alasseel said the University has not prioritized the creation of a dedicated MENA space, saying USC has made space when it was important to the University and pointing to the Sustainability Hub, which replaced a USC Pharmacy in the Student Union in 2022.

“It illustrates how institutional priorities reshape space allocation; when something is treated as central to the University’s mission, space has been made available,” Alasseel said. “The issue then is not the absence of space, but the absence of prioritization.” 

Senator Zehran Muqtadir asked if Alasseel had scouted any other spaces that she believed would be a good fit. Alasseel said she asked University administration if any spaces would be a good fit, but said they “deflected” the question due to budgetary constraints. 

During the meeting, senators also heard senate bill 145-23, which features a variety of amendments to USG’s constitution and bylaws. Amendments require a one-week grace period after being presented in the senate, so senators will likely vote on the bill at next week’s meeting.

Among the amendments was a requirement that each executive officer nominee must be announced by the president-elect and vice president-elect at a senate meeting at least one week before the vote to appoint each nominee. At last week’s senate meeting, multiple senators raised concerns about transparency regarding the executive cabinet confirmation process, saying they didn’t have time to review the 2026-27 nominations before voting on their approval.

Other proposed changes included a requirement that USG’s budget be presented to the senate one week before a vote to approve, as well as adding more thorough definitions of the duties of roles like speaker of the senate and community advocacy liaison.

President Mikaela Bautista presented the amendments and said these changes are part of an annual review to ensure consistency and accuracy, as well as relevance to current operations. 

During presentations, senator Muqtadir said the senate’s resolution calling on the University to reinstate the Academic Achievement Award for the class that started Fall 2025 received a response from Andrew McConnell Stott, vice provost for academic programs. Muqtadir said the response “didn’t really give any sort of indication as to whether or not they are going to consider the resolution that the senate put forward.” 

Muqtadir said he reached out to President Beong-Soo Kim and was told that the University is working on a comprehensive student success plan that it “looks forward” to sharing updates about with the campus community. 

Muqtadir also said his project, aiming to purchase hammocks for the hill next to McCarthy Quad, will not be completed this year because Leavey Library, where the hammocks were planned to be stored, did not respond to his request in time for the legislative funding deadline.

External affairs committee chair Chloe Juni said she is working on a first-generation mentorship program at 32nd Street School for prospective first-generation students in collaboration with the First Generation Student Assembly. 

Juni also said the external affairs committee will host a panel titled “The State of Los Angeles,” which will discuss issues facing Los Angeles, including homelessness, immigration, criminal justice and education. 

Panel members will include the co-director of the USC Immigration Clinic, an employee from the Los Angeles County Department of Youth Development, a professor who specializes in criminal justice and education, and a researcher at the USC Homelessness Policy Research Institute. 

The panel will take place next Tuesday from 6 to 7 p.m. at The Forum in Tutor Campus Center.

Disclaimer: Layan Alasseel serves as an Opinion staff writer at the Daily Trojan. Alasseel is not involved in News coverage of the Undergraduate Student Government.