USG passes resolution in support of AB 1510


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Former sen. Matthew Crane (pictured at a previous USG meeting) pushed through a USG resolution in support of AB 1510 Tuesday. (Aamani Ponnekanti/Daily Trojan)

The Undergraduate Student Government voted unanimously in a meeting Tuesday to pass a resolution to support California Assembly Bill 1510, which would allow victims of former campus doctors George Tyndall and Dennis Kelly who have passed their statute of limitations to present their cases.

USC hired a San Francisco-based lobbying firm March 1 to oppose the legislation, which would grant lawyers a one-year window to revive cases that are time-barred by California’s statute of limitations, specifically for cases that occurred at a university health center.

For the first time this semester, USG presented and voted on a resolution in the same USG meeting. To pass the bill before the end of the semester, the Senate unanimously voted to halt parliamentary procedures to accelerate the voting process.

During the meeting, former Sen. Matthew Crane advocated for the Senate to move the resolution from “New Business” to “Old Business” in the meeting agenda, which allowed for the resolution to be voted upon the same day.

“If our own student body can’t vote in support of the sexual assault victims of our student health center, then what are we doing here as a student government?” Crane said.

Crane co-authored the resolution with Sen. Haley Garland, Sen. Angela Chuang and former Sen. Michaela Murphy. Crane said it was essential for USG to pass the resolution to hold USC accountable for past administration’ actions and push for change from current leaders.

“If we don’t say something against it, then [the administration] will get away with it,” Crane said. “We can’t do anything about what happened with the last administration. They kicked everyone out. They cleaned house. These people are still here.”

Murphy said it was critical for USG to pass this resolution to show support for victims of Tyndall and Kelly.

“It should not have taken this long for [the resolution] to pass,” Murphy said. “This [may] be the first, but it certainly will not be the last time that this senate ends up having to deal with controversial issues on this campus if the last two years at USC are any indicator.”