Official
USC Undergraduate Student Government
Meeting Minutes
TCC 350
Tuesday November 3, 2015
Executive Officers
Jordan Fowler, Vice President
David Moreno, Chief of Staff
Rachel Thundat, Senior Director of Communications
Executive Cabinet
Eric Miller, Academic Affairs AD
Riyana Chakraborty, Community Affairs AD
Christian Carrion, Diversity Affairs AD
Logan Dallas, Elections and Recruitment Co-Director
Melanie Franceschini, Elections & Recruitment AD
Keith Keer, Elections & Recruitment AD
Donielle Bunyard, Executive Assistant
Katherine Wilcox, External Relations Director
Matthew Stern, Leadership Funding AD
Paul Samaha, Marketing AD
Morgan Monahan, Social Media AD
Allegra Miller, Social Media AD
Maariyah Patel, University Affairs Director
Austin Dunn, University Affairs Director
Austin Blair Churchill, Wellness Affairs AD
CJ Angle, Wellness Affairs AD
Amy Perez, Secretary
Holly Bard, Parliamentarian
Program Board
Luis Vidalon-Suzuki, ACA AD
Lorna Xu, APASA Director
Alice Mao, APASA AD
Aimee Xu, APASA Intern
Devin Trabant, Graphics Director
Bonita Nongluk, Graphics AD
Krystal Chavez, LSA Director
Kiara Sanchez, LSA AD
Elizabeth Guzman, LSA AD
Chelsea Zhang, Marketing Co-Director
Jenny Di, PSA Director
Elizabeth Bricker, Special Events Director
Jade Shi, Special Events AD
Rona Sheen, Special Events AD
Kathryn Kelly, Speakers Director
Beverly Pham, Videography AD
Senators
Cassandra Aguayo, Commuter
Jacob Ellenhorn, Commuter
Bulk Lao Commuter
Chris Fong, Greek
Darian Nourian, Greek
Sanjay Mahboobani, Greek
Sabrina Enriquez, Residential
Alec White, Residential
Dan Li, Residential
Eric Dubbury, Residential
Giuseppe Robalino, Residential
Guests
David Gavidia
J Andrew Clark
Mark Parashuk
David Delgado
Andres Correa
Advisors
Luis Canton
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
Call to Order
a. Meeting called to order at 7:05 PM.
Reading and Approval of the Minutes
a. Secretary Perez read the Minutes.
i. Senator Dubbury motions to approve the Minutes.
ii.
Senator Nourian seconds.
iii.
The Minutes are approved as read.
Approval of the Agenda
a. Senator Nourian moves to add the new USG Graphics ADs to New Business
i. Senator Lao seconds.
b. Voting
i. The Agenda is amended.
Open Forum
a. None.
Reports of Officers and Directors
a. Rachel Thundat, Senior Director of Communications
i. Internal & External Communication
1. Weekly one-on-ones
2. Social media marketing meetings
3. Student org meetings
a. Camp Kesem
b. NAMI
4. USG Committee meetings & assembly events
5. Elections talks
ii. Events and Projects
1. Homecoming Booth
2. Display case photos
3. Winter apparel order
4. Second round order promo order
5. PR Tracker doc
iii. Comm Structure and New Additions
1. Graphics ADs
2. E&R AD’s
3. External Affairs AD application
4. Collaboration with PB marketing
5. SDOC transition
iv. USG Video
1. Creating more video style marketing
2. In talks about other video series ideas
3. Live streaming senate meetings
v. Committees
1. Elections and recruitment
2. External
3. Graphics- PR- Marketing- Tech- Photography
b. David Moreno, Chief of Staff
i. Role as Chief of Staff
VI.
1. Oversee e-cab to track progress and foster productive working
environment
2. Resource and support for USG
3. Facilitate weekly meetings for USG and organizational
development
4. Track office hours
ii. Currently
1. Finished transition into COS
2. Serving on judicial council appointment committee
3. Meeting with committee delegate representatives
4. Promoting internal collaboration
5. Working on various admin tasks
6. Evaluate bylaws and identify areas for improvement
Presentations
a. Commuter Senators: Jacob Ellenhorn, Cassandra Aguayo, and Bulk Lao
i. Bulk Lao
1. Working on technology equity
2. Commuter lounge
3. No smoking policy
4. Funding transit access passes for USG
ii. Jacob Ellenhorn & Cassandra Aguayo
1. Commuter resource guide
2. Meeting with other assemblies to gain resources for the guide
3. Handing resources to SCampus to be available to commuters
iii. Senator Li: I was a senate aid for a commuter senator. She worked
tirelessly on the commuter lounge without much result. What are you
going to do this year to make sure we move forward with this?
iv. Senator Lao: I’m trying to get additional funding. If you noticed there
was an email about the AAA discount for all undergraduate students.
I’m thinking of trying to talk with those people to name it the
commuter lounge. Essentially it would involve gaining access to the
community and connecting with students as something we can generate
revenue off of. For example the alumni society has discounted car
insurance so we can apply the same kind of thing and do a referral.
Same thing with buying a car. Also if I can get funding for transit
passes we can pass those out so students can go and pick up these
things and have people there. The way I’m tackling it is, this resource
center is going to make not cost money so that’s the approach I’m
using.
b. Special Events: Director Elizabeth Bricker, AD Rona Sheen
i. Mission
1. Provide a unique, interesting, and impactful experience for USC
students
2. Redefine the USC college experience
ii. Goals
1. Plan fun, creative, and bold events
2. Be the go-to for students trying to decide what to do for fun
iii. Past Events
1. Zombie run
2. Mental Health Awareness Month
3. De-stress Express with ACA
iv. Upcoming Events
1. Homecoming
2. iVoice
3. Winter Formal
4. Spirit Week
5. Winter Wonderland
6. Study Nights
v. Questions from the Senate
1. Vice President Jordan Fowler yields the floor to Elizabeth
Bricker
a. Elizabeth Bricker: I know senators are supposed to come
to our meetings but we haven’t had one present.
2. Jordan Fowler: You may not have been assigned a Senator so
that could be the case. Senators, let’s try and make it to their
events as another way to support.
3. Senator Ellenhorn: I am in the office at the same time as you so
if you ever need anything please let me know.
c. Speakers Committee: Kathryn Kelly
i. Mission
1. Bring thought provoking, culturally enlightening, and
inspirational speakers to USC
ii. Goals for the Semester
1. 4-5 events per semester
2. 3-4 Bovard events
3. Collaborate with PB
iii. Fall Semester Events
1. Trending topic events
a. Police Brutality
b. CA Drought
c. Gun Control
d. Income Inequality
2. Elyn Saks
3. Slam Poetry
4. Derek Ali x Sickamore
iv. Upcoming Events
1. Documentary screening and panel with PSA
2. Collaboration with QUASA, WSA, BSA Center for Women
and Men, GSG
v. Potential event
1. Collaboration with PoliSci department for Nobel laureate
speaker
vi. Confirmed Collaborations
1. LSA
2. PSA
3. Know Tomorrow
4. Homecoming Carnival Booth
vii. Spring Semester Events
1. Vince Gilligan
2. Philip Zambardo
3. John Legend
4. EdMonth collaboration
5. Jeremy Lin with APAS
d. APASA: Director Lorna Xu and AD Alice Mao
i. Mission
1. Build APA community on campus
2. Focus on representing everyone who identifies as Asian
American including South Asians
ii. Events So Far
1. Welcome Back BBQ
2. APA Kickoff Concert
3. Tournament of Champions
4. APA Mental Health event
5. Night market
iii. Community Org Spotlights
1. Asian Americans advancing justice LA
2. Tuesday night project
3. Chinatown community for Equitable Development
iv. Upcoming events
1. Winter Formal
2. APAHF Extravaganza
3. APA Heritage Festival
4. APASA’s Got Talent
v. Questions from the Senate:
1. Senator Ellenhorn: Next week with Liberty in North Korea, an
organization where they smuggle people out of North Korea is
coming to USC and I’d be love to talk to you guys about that
event.
2. Senator Lao: So that naturalization workshop has passed or are
you having more?
3. Lorna Xu: We went out in September but they regularly have it
so you can always go out.
4. Senator Enriquez: Great presentation. One of your events is
Breaking the Model Minority Myth. Would you mind
explaining what that is?
5. Lorna Xu: It’s the idea that Asian Americans are healthy,
wealthy, and wise. That we are all high income and highly
educated. This overlooks a lot of people under this umbrella.
VII.
VIII.
There’s a lot of low income people from South East Asia with
very different circumstances and people who came after 1965.
This myth makes it so many people who are Asian American
don’t get the resources they need because they’re so over
looked by what we see as East Asian success. The myth also
affects mental health, for example when people think we are all
high achieving in every aspect. We’re not all as high achieving
or monolithic as we may seem or as we are perceived.
6. Senator Mahboobani: Do you have any plans as to how you are
going to reach out to South Asians?
7. Lorna Xu: So in APASS they have the DESI project and they
focus on programming and I work with them a lot. We are
planning on having an event with them. SCAA is also under us
and they are the umbrella for South Asian orgs. So I’ve been
reaching out to see if they are interested in joining us.
e. External Affairs: Director Kathryn Kelly
i. Mission
1. Unite student body with student government and administration
ii. Goals Achieved
1. Expanding Existing Initiatives
a. Voices of USC diversity Forum
b. Voices of USC mental health forum
2. Increase Campus Presence
a. Delegate orientation packet
b. Delegate retreat
c. Council of presidents Facebook group
3. Encourage USG Collaboration
a. Idea submission form
b. USG geotag
iii. Goals moving forward
1. Expanding existing initiatives
a. Trending topics campus shooting forum
b. Continue voices of USC forums
2. Increase campus presence
a. USC Hacks instagram
b. Build relations with office of campus activities
3. Encourage USG collaboration
a. USG Calendar
Unfinished Business
a. None.
New Business
a. New Elections and Recruitment Assistant Directors
i. Keith Keer
ii. Melanie Franceschini
b. Addition of USG Graphics AD
i. Rachel Kim
c. Bike Resolution: Co Directors of University Affairs Austin Dunn and
Maariyah Patel
i. 20,000 bike riders at USC
ii. 40-60% student body have reported being hit by bikes
iii. DPS interest in supporting bike initiatives
iv. USC dedicate funding and add a Bike Coordinator position
v. Background information
1. Bike master plan in 2012 immediately shut down
vi. Pursuing a different route
1. Have a person to be able to report to for these issues
vii. Issues to tackle
1. Parking, racks, infrastructure, pumps, etc.…
2. Idea of all bikes to be parked in the first floor parking structure
viii. Questions from the Senate
1. Senator Mahboobani: Would you want to get someone new into
the position or use someone within the school?
2. Maariyah: We decided it’s not in our jurisdiction to place this
responsibility on a new or existing faculty member so we’re
letting them make that decision
3. Austin Dunn: Transportation and DPS expressed interest in the
position so we will leave it to them.
d. College Affordability Resolution: Luis Vidalon Suzuki, Alec White, Rini
Sampath, Jay Andrews
i. College Affordability Survey Results
1. 1903 responses
2. Support for tuition freeze
a. 84% say yes it will help alleviate financial burden for
students
3. Do you know someone who has transferred due to high tuition?
a. 73% yes
4. Do you know why tuition was increased by $2,000?
a. 98% said no
5. Do you now where tuition dollars go?
a. 93% said no
6. Do you take out private loans to pay for USC?
a. 20% say yes
ii. $650 million spent on UV
iii. $270 million fundraising for coliseum renovation
1. lack of student voice and prioritization of funds
iv. USC Revenues FY14
1. 31% USC revenue is from student tuition and fees
v. USC Budget expenses FY14
1. Breakdown of expenses that doesn’t show where tuition goes
2. Vague breakdown
vi. $920 million to be raised for currently slated projects
1. USC lack of focus on student needs and more on luxury
facilities
2. Student voices to be included in these conversations and have a
transparent model
3. Encourage USC to reprioritize
vii. University Student Fee Advisory Committee
1. Panel with students, faculty, and admin to review USC budgets
and spending increases
2. Recommendation given by panel based on financial information
3. Dissolved in 2013
viii. Be it resolved
1. USC implements a tuition freeze until a strategic plan for
college affordability is published
2. USC creates an interactive website that outlines a tuition
spending report
3. USG recognizes GSG’s resolution for the Reinstatement and
Subsequent Modification of the University Student Fee
Advisory Committee
4. This committee would be comprised of 2 faculty (appointed by
the Faculty Senate) and 5 undergraduate students and 5 graduate
students (appointed by the USG and GSG Student Body
Presidents)
ix. Questions from the Senate
1. Senator Dubbury: Have you thought about adding Dean
McWhorter, and I know there is and interim, but have you
talked about seeing which finances he’s willing to show you?
2. Jay Andrews: What’s going on in Campus Activities is they’re
just getting access to accounts from administration about roles
that no longer exist. It’s really complicated and I would doubt
they have full access because they’re still begging for
information.
3. Senator Fong: For the University Student Fee Advisory
Committee, you made it clear it was just for suggestions. I
noticed the new wording expresses you would consent to all
adjustments. So I just want make it clear, will the members need
to give consent?
4. Jay Andrews: It’s worded this way because it’s just a
recommendation so by the time it’s on the table we are actually
negotiating these things. Right now we have authority over
programming money but not over how it’s distributed. We are
looking for why they need certain things and for more
transparency and this is a step in that direction.
5. Senator Fong: to clarify, does a member in this committee have
the power to say where tuition dollars go?
6. Jay Andrews: So it would be a simple majority. The language
sounds like it’s the last straw but because it’s a
recommendation, this is what we’re arguing for and saying we
want.
7. Senator Ellenhorn: You’re going with a more extreme request
so when they go to the table and come back they’ll settle it.
8. Jay Andrews My hope is they don’t settle and give us authority.
The student services fee runs this whole building. When you
think about it you’re paying the fee twice because then when
you have an event here you’re paying for the space again. A lot
of events also get shut down because they don’t have the
staffing.
9. Senator Robalino: As someone that is finance oriented, I have to
say the amount of research and detail you provided is very
impressive and I want to commend all of you. I’m really
impressed with the reports and shocked on how much the
school isn’t explaining. You also pointed out the fact that
you’ve taken a midterm on some of these financial reports and
one of your professors doesn’t even understand the language.
This can help us build a more efficient and leaner school. My
only question is would you consider adding that the Senate
confirm the appointed people?
10. Jay Andrews: If you feel more comfortable adding that in, we
can do that but it’s how it works anyway.
11. Senator Dubbury: I agree, fantastic job. In regards to a tuition
freeze, is there a possibility of looking at wording to tell admin,
not only do we want freeze, but to give more time to go through
finances, to account for inflation. Can you ask for it to be a
freeze to the number of years until it catches up to inflation
since right now the inflation rate was 3% in four years and
tuition has increased by 11%?
12. Jay Andrews: From my personal research, that’s going to be so
aggressive they won’t even want to look at. What we have now
is enough to make it to the table and then we can ask about that.
We all understand tuition went up $2,000. You also may know
the university is in a multi million dollar lawsuit with UCSD,
and they could lose well over $80 million. You can’t get them
to admit any of this but you can try to put two and two together
13. Li: Great work. This information is so important and the student
body deserves to know all of this. How can we ensure students
have access to what you have presented?
14. Jay Andrews: You can go to all of the committees you’re
supposed to go to and tell them about these things. Thing like
the fact that we don’t have certain positions anymore and we are
still paying the fees for some of them. That’s $75,000 for one
position just sitting there.
15. Senator Enriquez: Just so everyone knows, USC lost the lawsuit
to UCSD in July and we’re paying for the damages.
16. Senator Nourian: To my understanding, there’s a number of
lawsuits we could be facing here. Could USC be altering their
financial statements?
17. Jay Andrews: I do not understand that question.
18. Senator Dubbury: I know that the marching band had a large
budget and a big chunk of that money was taken and moved
randomly to other departments without explanation. My
question is where part of that money was moved, do we have a
breakdown of student affairs money?
19. Jay Andrews: It’s a private institution so we don’t have access
to that but that’s the point of this committee is to get access.
e. Service Student Assembly Resolution: Senator Enriquez, Director of InterService Council Mark Paraschuk, Director of Community Affairs Brianna
Thorpe
i. ISC founded last semester
1. Forum for service orgs on campus to communicate and
collaborate
2. Service orgs didn’t have necessary resources to accomplish
their missions
ii. Interest in ISC
1. Food recovery network
2. Challah for hunger
3. Habitat for humanity
4. USC Mureality
5. Trojan dance marathon
6. Design for America
7. Speech empowerment
8. Moneythink
iii. Questions from the Senate
1. Senator Ellenhorn: Just to be clear, you have the 10 member
orgs ready to get in and take care of business?
2. Senator Enriquez: Yes.
3. For the people you plan on working with, are they doing it for
free or are they being paid?
4. Senator Enriquez: It’s just the students there and a
representative from each org would come and talk about what
they’re working on and how they can contribute to us.
5. Senator Mahboobani: Just to make sure, is there a source of
funding for this?
6. Senator Enriquez: Yes and part of the goal is to have better
communication between these orgs as a whole. Lack of
communication makes it harder for them to fulfill their mission
statements.
f. Elections and Recruitment Code Revisions: Director Logan Dallas
i. Clarification in wording
ii. Any person working in USG cannot work for any campaigns but they
can publicly support a candidate
1. Non delegates get personal ability to volunteer on campaigns
but cannot be on the team. Outside of the office you can
publicly support.
iii. PB assemblies can endorse in the same way a campus org would be
able to
1. Doesn’t require to endorse but gives the ability
iv. Questions from the senate:
1. Mahboobani: So IFC can’t endorse a candidate but a specific
fraternity or sorority can?
2. Logan Dallas: Yes and that’s how it has been but now PB can
endorse as well.
3. Senator Ellenhorn: It may be helpful if we separate that part of
the amendment on the vote. I would hate for that to make all the
other changes be stalled. I would like to vote that section
separately. I find it hard to understand how you can keep the
office non partisan but let people publicly endorse candidates.
4. Logan Dallas: This is a general concept but I’m open to hearing
what you have to say about this.
5. Senator Robalino: When I first came to USG one thing they told
me was USG functions like the US government. My question is,
is there any difference between our model and the US model?
For example the EPA supporting Al Gore. How is this different
or is it different, because it’s not something that is permitted in
the US government.
6. Logan Dallas: The inherent difference is the EPA is a
government agency that exists to serve a function of the
government whereas our assemblies serve a constituency. I see
where you’re coming from and it can be taken into
consideration but the assemblies represent a large part of the
student body and a lot of the time people don’t understand what
candidates have to offer. The idea is this would make a more
informed electorate. Please follow up on that with me.
7. Senator Enriquez yields the floor to Krystal Chavez LSA
Director
a. Krystal: In LSA we don’t make statements unless our
member orgs have voted and there’s a 2/3 vote saying
they’re also in favor. So if you want to put that in there
it may be helpful.
8. Senator Ellenhorn: To be clear, orgs under PB assemblies did
have the ability to endorse and still will. But with assemblies
being a larger representative body, the idea is that they know
how the candidate can better serve their constituency. So this
makes a more informed electorate where people are
knowledgeable about what people will do when in office.
9. Senator Li: So for example, under the amended resolution BSA
can endorse a candidate, for example?
10. Logan Dallas: Yes, this gives them that ability.
11. Senator Li: How do they go about voting in terms of member
orgs agreeing to endorse?
12. Logan Dallas: That’s one concern but I think the voting process
works in the same way a fraternity may do an e-board vote, the
assemblies have their own voting process. That’s out of our
jurisdiction and they have that ability but the endorsement
won’t happen if there is not a voted upon consensus.
13. Senator Li: So there’s no protocol for this?
14. Logan Dallas: According to this there wouldn’t be but if
assembly directors can find a common ground I would be open
to talking to them about that
15. Senator Li: Is this allowing them to campaign out of the office?
16. Logan Dallas: I know a lot of people are asked for advice and as
members we’re so well informed that it’s our job to educate
others. Giving us the ability to do so would improve the voter
experience. I think there’s already a tension in the USG office
created by elections. Prior to this we never had anything about
keeping the USG office a non partisan space. We want to give
this ability without taking away the right to endorse candidates.
17. Senator Li: So for example, I couldn’t talk about elections in the
office but I could endorse on my Facebook page?
18. Logan Dallas: Yes, you have that personal ability. I view it as
free speech.
19. David Moreno: Allowing people to speak their mind is a good
thing because we can talk about the work these people have
done and we’re also students so we should have that right. You
can mandate how people go about their endorsements. So with
LSA, the leaders wouldn’t be able to say they endorse anyone
unless they get the 2/3 vote.
20. Jordan Fowler: Each cultural assembly has different member
orgs so I have a slight fear that even though a member org can
support people, assemblies would be focused on getting
member orgs with the most people to gain support.
21. Senator Ellenhorn: What about the awkwardness of a large
assembly supporting one candidate and then the directors
supporting another?
22. Jordan Fowler: I think if those directors could endorse as
individuals and not as the org, it might eliminate that. The
reason I say that is because a cultural assembly is a member org
for other orgs essentially. So why don’t they let them do that
individually instead of letting the 2/3 flesh itself out?
23. Alec White: I’m in favor because I think it’s unfair fraternities
can endorse and PB can’t. I heard, Jacob, your point about
potential antagonism but if you run for Senate you’re allowed to
support any candidate.
24. Krystal Chavez: It doesn’t make sense if you say an individual
can endorse because LSA’s name is still on it. You’ll run into
even worse problems because it’s saying only I’m allowed to
endorse but the member orgs can’t. I think that is something we
should think about because if other people in USG can endorse,
an assembly should be able to do so as well. Program board and
e-cab should have the same rights.
IX.
X.
XI.
Announcements:
a. Senator Constituency Updates
i. None
b. Krystal Chavez: One of my member orgs is having a Battle of Troy event this
week. It’s a 7 stroll exhibition at 7:30 at Bovard. I think it would be very
beneficial for you to go out to see the other side of Greek life and what it is
that they do. They got denied on discretionary funding because it wasn’t
geared toward the average USC student and we had to get them to apply to
another fund. This is important for them because this is the first time they’ve
had this at USC because they couldn’t get funded in the past.
c. Luis Vidalon Suzuki: Do the Mental Health Survey. The ACA is partnering
with USG members to address mental health at USC. The first step is to do a
survey so please help push this out.
Discussion
Adjournment
a. Senator Fong motions to adjourn the meeting.
i. Senator Dubbury seconds.
ii.
No objections.
b. Meeting adjourned at 9:01 PM.