This week, students will cast their vote for the 2021-22 USG president and vice president and senators. In our special voters’ guide, the Daily Trojan interviewed each ticket and spoke with current USG members about transparency and the impact of the summer’s racial reckoning.

As voting opens for the Undergraduate Student Government elections, podcast editor Eduardo Ocampo spoke to the three USG presidential tickets to talk about their platforms and what makes their agenda stand out above the rest.

MEET THE PRESIDENTIAL TICKETS

Reporting by Maria Eberhart, Michael Melinger and Sophia Ungaro.

ALEXIS AREIAS / LUCY WARREN

For Alexis Areias and Lucy Warren, rebuilding trust in Undergraduate Student Government is essential.

“If we’ve seen anything in the last year, it’s just how much [trust] has dwindled,” said Areias, a junior majoring in political science. “And how little students can feel confident in this organization and that they’re being properly represented.” Areias and Warren, who currently serve as senator and chief diversity officer for USG respectively, aim to collaborate with groups outside of USG to tackle financial barriers and accessibility issues.

“We really believe that making this culture shift come to fruition within the organization happens by centering all of our work off of the student advocacy that’s already being done on this campus, and recognizing what their demands are, and just how we can best support and amplify them,” said Warren, a junior majoring in economics.

The Alexis & Lucy ticket worked together last semester on a free menstrual product initiative and the pass/no pass resolution. If elected, the ticket plans to create a cultural space for disabled students on campus and improve the visibility of Disability Services and Programs. They also want to ban all single-use plastic items and expand existing composting efforts.

ALEXANDRA GILL / DEL WOOD

Both first-year transfer students, Alexandra Gill and Del Wood have never served in USC Undergraduate Student Government before, but aim to use their platform to help “students feel safe on campus.”

Gill, who described dealing with campus police on her previous college campus, does not want to abolish the Department of Public Safety but rather provide officers tools including trauma-informed training to better serve students through problems. Their campaign also announced a plan to allow students to carry pepper spray and tasers on campus to “protect themselves.” Their platform does not stipulate whether the candidates have taken into account the various legal restrictions for the use of such weapons in California.

“USC is kind of a bubble, and we want to integrate it into the outside community,” said Wood, a sophomore majoring in international relations with an emphasis on global business. “We don’t want to be this segregated bubble and that will help with a lot of our crime issues.”

Gill, a junior majoring in business administration, and Wood also highlighted plans to bring back campus spots such as Ground Zero and provide a proper “Trojan experience” to this year’s freshman and transfers once students return to campus.

“The two other slates we’re running against, obviously, have both served in USG before, but I don’t actively see them telling us what they’ve accomplished,” Gill said. “We want to enact action, rather than just promising it.”

SHREYA CHAUDHARY / ANTONIO OKEKE

Shreya Chaudhary and Antonio Okeke want you to expect more.

“We’re not going to continue the USG of exclusivity,” said Okeke, a transfer student majoring in public policy and on the pre-law track originally from South Sudan. “Especially with what happened last year and what has been happening for decades, we’re trying to change that image.”

A key factor for the Shreya & Antonio ticket is instituting a tuition freeze. Chaudhary, a junior majoring in business administration who is the chief communications officer of Undergraduate Student Government, is confident she can work with the administration to improve affordability.For Chaudhary, this issue is personal. Her mother was diagnosed with cancer while she was in high school; she took on heavy financial burdens to attend USC.

“No student should have to make that sacrifice,” Chaudhary said. “We want to establish a student advisory committee [where students] from various socioeconomic backgrounds inform [the] decisions the administration makes.”

Okeke understands the past of brushing diversity and inclusion under the rug and wants USG to be a safe space for all students.

“It’s revealing that it’s your student government,” Okeke said. “At the end of the day, we are both in student government because we’re trying to do one thing: make USG a better place for everybody.”

MEET THE CANDIDATES FOR SENATE

In the running for a seat in the USG Senate are five slates and four individual candidates. Platform issues address student mental health and financial support amid the coronavirus pandemic, first-year and transfer student experience and the Department of Public Safety’s relationship with the USC community.

Click to find out more.

DAILY TROJAN SPRING 2021 EDITORIAL BOARD

The role of Undergraduate Student Government president and vice president is no small task, demanding an authentic desire and willing-ness to serve the USC student body with transparency, accountability and the utmost respect for the community they represent.

Following the tumultuous onslaught of controversy in USG brought to light this past year — which led to the early resignation of former President Truman Fritz and Vice President Rose Ritch — it is all the more critical that USG’s upcoming leadership is equipped with equitable policies that lead the University forward and have character and ethical agendas that are demonstrative of the values held within our student body. For these reasons, the Daily Trojan has decided to endorse presidential candidate Shreya Chaudhary and vice presidential candidate Antonio Okeke.

In regards to diversity, equity and inclusion, the Shreya & Antonio ticket had much to contribute, seeking to expand upon already existing propositions of diversity and inclusion, while also offering new ideas. They aim to shorten the length of the USG application to make it more accessible to students, emphasizing the importance of diversity initiatives in both staff and student pools and the necessity for establishing mandatory diversity trainings for the campus.

When asked about Black and Palestinian students, Shreya & Antonio spoke directly about expanding physical spaces on campus for these communities. They voiced their desire to incorporate a Manasseh student group within USG. Additionally, they spoke about their support for the Black House proposition from 2015.

The Alexis Areias and Lucy Warren ticket also supported the implementation of the Black House, similarly emphasizing their overall desire to build upon existing channels for diversity, equity and inclusion.

Overall, the Shreya & Antonio and Alexis & Lucy tickets presented a striking contrast between their DEI initiatives and those of candidates Alexandra Gill and Dell Wood. When asked about addressing such issues on campus, Gill and Wood mentioned their desire to support Greek life organizations and their ongoing DEI efforts, stating they would also like to help them with socioeconomic diversity by “giving them some money to ease the barrier to entry financially.”

Regarding security and the Department of Public Safety, the platforms hold starkly contrasting agendas. The Alexandra & Dell ticket posits DPS as a “very misunderstood organization” and opposes defunding it because “that is not practical while living in South Central L.A.” Instead, they propose that students should be allowed to shadow DPS to establish transparency and uphold accountability within the organization. The Alexandra & Dell ticket also proposes that students should be able to possess non-lethal weapons such as tasers on campus.

The Daily Trojan acknowledges the discrimination experienced by Black and Indigenous students and students of color and community members that necessitates an anti-racist approach to public safety. Because we believe that the Alexandra & Dell platform supports policies that could potentially threaten the USC and South Central community, where Black and Latinx students and other community members experience racial profiling and violence at the hands of DPS, we instead support the public safety agendas of the Shreya & Antonio and Alexis & Lucy tickets, which call for providing DPS with the training to become better allies to the community and radical change within the organization, respectively.

The inevitability of the unpredictable is why trust in the judgment and character of whoever is elected is of the utmost importance. In this regard, the Chaudhary and Okeke duo offer what feels like true sincerity and humility.

DAILY TROJAN SPRING 2021 EDITORIAL BOARD

There is a clear need at USC to improve resources for international students and help them adapt to student life in the United States — especially during the coronavirus pandemic. All three tickets are adamant about bolstering funding for the Office of International Services and expanding the office, but the Shreya & Antonio ticket is the only one with a solid, tangible action plan that can serve international students from day one.

Their platform includes a roadmap to make USC easier to navigate for the University’s large number of international students. Integral to their plan is developing an international student peer mentorship program which will help acclimate international students to USC. Additionally, the candidates’ plan to partner with the University’s Office of International Services in order to grow this program and provide official training for mentors.

Shreya & Antonio are also passionate about helping students avoid a situation in which they would have to choose between their mental health and their education. While all three tickets recognized the need to improve and expand on mental health resources at USC, Shreya & Antonio set themselves apart from the other candidates through concrete steps.

Specifically, their ticket proposes re-instating doctor’s notes from Engemenn health professionals, allowing students to take time to prioritize their physical and mental health without being penalized for it academically. In addition, they aim to expand and diversify the counseling services and staff at Engemann — in alignment with their platform-wide goals to ensure diversity, equity and inclusion.

Shreya & Antonio also propose an extension of Engemann’s hours of operation during testing seasons, mentioning that mental health is not only an issue for students in the specific time block during which Engemann offers counseling services. In an interview with the Daily Trojan Editorial Board, Okeke also mentioned their hopes to work with Engemann and their financial managers, to ensure students have access to their services 24/7.

Their platform also addresses the need to expand mental health services to students who are currently living outside of California. Shreya & Antonio plan to take a look at policies that prevent USC from serving out-of-state students. Alexandra & Dell also emphasized the need for accessibility to mental health resources.

On the issue of campus and community sustainability, the Areias and Warren and Chaudhary and Okeke platforms contributed substantive action plans to create change within current University practices. In support of DivestSC, both tickets called for the selling of University investments in the fossil fuel industry, totaling to a staggering $277 million. Both tickets also endorsed the ban of single-use plastics campus-wide, and shared a commitment to creating a commuter program to reduce student carbon emissions.

In looking at current campus sustainability measures, the Chaudhary & Okeke ticket acknowledges the benefits of the University’s long term sustainability plan, but aims to create more policies that are responsive to campus pollution happening now. This includes the implementation of a carbon emissions offset program, taking into account University-sponsored travel and creating a program to invest an amount equivalent into community sustainability efforts.

In speaking of their plans to work closely with the Garden Club, Chaudhary and Okeke emphasized their commitment to mobilizing USC and its surrounding community to create more green spaces around campus, aiming to reach better practices in sustainability in the coming year and beyond.

Ultimately, unanticipated issues are bound to face whoever wins the election. The inevitability of the unpredictable is why trust in the judgment and character of whoever is elected is of the utmost importance. In this regard, the Chaudhary and Okeke duo offer what feels like true sincerity and humility, according to their virtual endorsement video with the editorial board.

They understand their role as one to serve the community they are in, which was made clear by Chaudhary’s introduction of their ticket in the Feb. 4 virtual debate. Chaudhary began by offering a month by month breakdown of her and Okeke’s action plan. By contrast, Gill introduced their ticket with an emphasis on her and her running mate’s status as “outsiders,” demanding an end to career politicians.

Moreover, throughout the course of the debate, some unbecoming personal attacks were levied, however Chaudhary and Okeke positioned themselves the least of the frivolous crossfire. Meanwhile, candidates Gill and Areias went back and forth about the extent of their personal involvement in Greek life, among other things. Chaudhary and Okeke’s behavior over the course of the undoubtedly tumultuous and sometimes-derailed debate showcases their focus and genuine commitment to issues of substance.

On a final note, over the course of the endorsement interviews conducted by the Daily Trojan with all candidates, Chaudhary and Okeke offered by far the most straightforward answers to our questions. While platitudes and rhetorical fluff are always to be expected in politics, they were notably absent from the duo’s responses. For lack of a better term, they stuck to the real stuff.

While the Daily Trojan has officially made their endorsement for the Chaudhary & Okeke ticket, it remains clear that the endorsement is not made in perpetuity. Our endorsement is reliant upon candidate interviews and an analysis of their public platforms and debates, which in no part serve to represent the actions, decisions and behaviors of candidates if they are to assume office. The Daily Trojan pledges to continue holding University leaders accountable for the problems and shortcomings they seek to tackle and the ones they may create themselves.

While we have defended our endorsement with research and assessment of what we believe to be the best fit for student leadership, we call upon the student body to conduct their own research, and to critically engage and question the candidates on their platforms as well. Undergraduate student leaders are elected to represent the interests, values and needs of students, in which they can only be held accountable through the votes and participation of students in the election process. We are grateful to student activists who have demonstrated the importance of calling out our elected leaders when they have failed to uphold the interests of our community, and encourage all students to thoughtfully take inspiration from their work as we elect USC’s next cohort of undergraduate student leaders.