All year, members of the Undergraduate Student Government Association (USGA) are involved in the community. Students see USGA members at large-scale events such as Involvement Fairs, along with their own events such as their recent Holiday Celebration last Friday.
Sophomore Jessica Harbaugh said she met USGA members at her summer Student Orientation, Advising and Registration, and they encouraged the incoming freshmen to apply for the USGA Senate. Harbaugh said that she was interested in applying because though she said she was interested in school politics, she never got a chance to be involved in high school. She decided to apply to be a senator at large a few days after meeting USGA members.
As USGA’s current vice president of operations, Harbaugh oversees a senate that for the spring 2024 semester will include 15 senators, who represent the five colleges, racial and ethnic identity groups, as well as commuter and residential students.
Recruiting 11 of the 15 senators was a big accomplishment for Harbaugh, who also held various events such as a Women in STEM Jeopardy, Day of the Dead Arts and Crafts and a Grab and Go Breakfast.
She said she was able to acquire a budget to hold more events next semester.
“The budget will allow [senators] to plan more events, be more active in the community, and have an end of year block party where they can showcase everything [that] they accomplished this year,” said Harbaugh.
Harbaugh is working with Lauren Slingluff, the director of the Marvin K. Peterson Library, to expand the library’s resource hours and make resources easier to access. She is also working with Marc Maniatis, the associate vice president of the One Stop Office, to create a feedback form for students to voice their concerns directly to One Stop.
Feedback from the student body is important to USGA, according to senior Brisa Velazquez-Perez who is the vice president of engagement. Velazquez-Perez said that at the Legislative Seminar on Dec. 1, she received feedback such as people saying they were “transparent,” and that the current executive board made being involved with the organization “less tense and more fun.”
Velazquez-Perez’s responsibilities include creating that fun environment by being the co-chair of the TORCH Committee and holding events. Some of the TORCH events held include the Scarecrow Stroll and Toy Drive Party.
Another one of Velazquez-Perez’s responsibilities is overseeing the House of Representatives. Most Recognized Student Organizations (RSOs) have a USGA representative and those representatives make up the House. She said one goal is to have more RSO-USGA representatives.
Promotion of USGA and engagement with the student community is something that Velazquez-Perez said she strives for, as it could help bring up the USGA membership numbers. Most importantly, she said she wants students to feel comfortable coming to USGA for any questions or concerns they have.
“I am a very shy person, but the minute someone comes up to me with a problem that they might be having I am not afraid to talk to who I need to talk to in order to get things situated,” said Velazquez-Perez.
Velazquez-Perez said that her biggest accomplishment was planning the fall 2023 semester’s Involvement Fair, which she considered to be the biggest and scariest event to plan at the time.
“I was nervous because it was the first event that I planned on a large scale and there were a bunch of variables that could have made the event unpleasant,” said Velazquez-Perez. “During this time, the executive board would comfort me and give me words of encouragement and that’s when I knew that I could count on them for anything.”
Another USGA member, senior Ella Galvan, said her main responsibility is to support RSOs making purchases through USGA funds along with answering financial questions. “I feel like doing this with approving purchasing especially helps RSOs to have a time frame in which their items may get here for upcoming events,” said Galvan.
Galvan said the biggest goal for next semester is to complete a successful yearly budget so the RSOs can have increased confidence in the budgeting committee’s support.
Support from USGA to the campus community is also something that senior Youssef Ossama, vice president of community, advocacy and diversity, is pushing for. Ossama’s main responsibilities include promoting diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) by overseeing the advocacy board as well as pushing forward DEI ideas through initiatives such as open forums.
Ossama said he was proud to hold successful open forums such as “Unveiling Hypocrisy: A Candid Open Forum on the Western World.” He also discussed the Week of IDEA; there were five sessions where they invited student leaders and staff to discuss ideas on different DEI themes, one of them being Gender Identity and Expression.
Next semester, Ossama said he intends to collaborate with the advocacy board. This would be a “celebration for all underrepresented communities with the advocacy board which would hopefully be a new initiative for my successors,” said Ossama.
With all these accomplishments and future goals, senior Darby Brown, the president of USGA, said she is proud of the USGA executive board.
“The USGA [e-board] received a lot of positive feedback and this moment sticks out for me because it made [me] appreciative of the [e-board] I have and proud of the work we all have been able to accomplish this past semester,” said Brown.
Brown said members of the USGA e-board are close, even to the point of being friends. While Brown was told that friends working together would not work out, she said she was proud to prove that statement wrong.
“Each person on the [e-board is someone] I can call both a friend and a colleague,” said Brown. “We also often will talk to one another by ‘switching hats’ if the topic is one of a personal matter and we are in the office or vice versa. We will talk business [but] it usually is interrupted by a joke and lots of laughter and so to be able to balance the business and fun is something I am thankful for,” said Brown.
Brown said her goal is to support the USGA e-board and make sure it is the “well-oiled machine” she considers it to be to succeed for this year and beyond.
