USG holds first meeting with the 142nd cabinet

The Undergraduate Student Government held its first official meeting with the 142nd senate Tuesday. 

At the emergency senate meeting last Thursday, USG unanimously passed a senate resolution to urge the University administration to extend the Pass/No Pass deadline. 

However, at Tuesday’s meeting, USG president Hannah Woodworth read a response from Provost and Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs Charles Zukoski.

“We have decided that, after pushback, that we will not be changing the Pass/No Pass deadline and instead to connect with your faculty and academic advisors, to discuss any concerns with your coursework,” Woodworth said, reading the response.

Senator Victor Ye, who originally presented the resolution and acted as a key catalyst for its presentation at last Thursday’s emergency senate meeting, said that, despite the University’s denial of the request for a Pass/No Pass extension, the effort put forward by the senators is a testament to the collective action possible within USG.

“With only a few days’ worth of work, we were able to circulate the news across the campus and continue efforts to organize as a grassroots campaign,” Ye said. I hope that more students find agency in working together and collaborating with [USG] on proposals or resolutions to push forward the interests of the general student body.”

At last week’s meeting, Woodworth and vice president Nivea Krishnan announced their new chief programming officer candidate, Jillian Fallon, a junior majoring in political science and public relations. On Tuesday, they explained the process of selecting Fallon as the CPO candidate, citing experience as the most important factor. 

“Programming is a huge part and the biggest part of USG,” Krishnan said. “When we’re looking at a CPO appointment, we really need to take into account what the people in programming say, and [Fallon] received a recommendation from everyone in programming, including the outgoing CPO.”

The senate unanimously approved the appointment of Fallon as the new CPO.  

“As CPO, I will create a productive workspace for committees and assemblies to work together,” Fallon said. “By building a strong foundation within programming, we will be better equipped to work with other branches of USG.”

Senator Yoav Gillath also announced that Trojans Give Back, a student-run group dedicated to eliminating the waste of meal swipes and turning unused swipes into food to donate to local food banks, will expand to include sandwich donations for leftover meal swipes in front of Seeds Marketplace beginning Friday. The group also hopes to allow students to donate dining dollars in exchange for food at the end of the semester. 

Senator Aidan Feighery also advertised the Asian Pacific American Student Assembly’s Night Market, which will be held Thursday in McCarthy Quad. 

Feighery also introduced a senate resolution calling for a stronger University response to posts made during Lunar New Year in February, where a student’s Instagram takeover to illustrate the diversity and nuance of Asian cultures resulted in backlash from community members who believed the statements made invalidated their own Chinese New Year celebration. The resolution looks to recall attention to this issue and ask for a formal apology from the University. 

“As I was running for senate, I presented to the Chinese Students & Scholars Association, and their first question was about how I would deal with the Lunar New Year incident going forward because they had not received a satisfactory response from the administration,” said Feighery in an interview with the Daily Trojan. 

This resolution will be debated and voted on at next week’s meeting.