The UConn Undergraduate Student Government (USG) presidential elections are set to be held this week, with voting beginning at 12 p.m. on Tuesday, Mar. 5 and running until 12 p.m. on Thursday, Mar. 7. The presidential election will be available through the general Vote@UConn ballot, which will include other elections and referendums such as the election for student trustee as well as referendum on tier-III funding requests. There are four student tickets running for student body president and vice president this year, including: Bryan Bussolari & Olivia DeLuca, Jada Lexie & Heaven Buckham, Lorien Touponse & Arunima Chaturvedi, and Mariam Vargas & Anna Charles. According to the Spring 2024 Election Packet provided by USG, the president shall ensure “the overall effectiveness of USG and progress towards goals.” These four tickets provided comment to the Daily Campus regarding how they plan to change the organization, how they plan to advocate for students in the wake of budget cuts and their vision for the future.
Bryan Bussolari & Olivia DeLuca
Q: Many students have expressed dissatisfaction with USG, what will your administration do to address community concerns with the organization?
We agree! We are both dissatisfied with the lack of action from USG. Oftentimes, USG candidates promise enormous goals of advocacy and shifts to campus culture that unfortunately, USG often doesn’t have the power to do. Students hold very important power and influence through USG, and it is an organization that can push for real change. We believe that dissatisfaction is cured with results. The Transfer Student Welcome Program, Fireside Chats, Employment Transparency, the Academic Bill of Rights, etc. are all changes USG is capable of making, and are beneficial changes that every student will notice in their daily lives.
Q: There is likely to be much contention with university administration over potential budget cuts affecting students in the following years, how will your administration fight for students and funding?
We should begin by stating that at the end of the day, it is administration’s responsibility to secure additional funding for our university. The burden of fighting for millions of dollars should not be placed on undergraduate students who already have enough on their plates as it is. Our administration will communicate the anxieties and concerns of undergraduate students to both administration and the university senate, and we will continue to work with the External Affairs committee to bring students who are willing to protest and speak at the capital when students have a responsibility to be there.
Q: Finally, are there any new programs or initiatives that you plan to spearhead or begin if elected?
The Transfer Student Welcome Program, Fireside Chats, Employment Transparency, the Academic Bill of Rights, Financial literacy in UNIV classes, Open and accessible syllabus repository, Expanding T2 Funding staff, Increasing the trash cans and bottle fillers on campus, menstrual products in all bathrooms, and communal scooters on campus are all projects that we are excited to hit the ground running on starting day 1. All of these projects are small but important changes that every student will see in your daily life. We look forward to including others when leading these projects, and ultimately making campus a better place for everyone.
Jada Lexie & Heaven Buckham
Q: Many students have expressed dissatisfaction with USG, what will your administration do to address community concerns with the organization?
As part of my administration, we are committed to actively listening to the voices of our students and addressing their concerns effectively. It is imperative that the issues plaguing our campus receive the attention they deserve. To facilitate this, we will be implementing monthly forums titled “What pisses you off?” providing students with a platform to express their grievances and ensuring that these matters are taken seriously by the administration.
Q: There is likely to be much contention with university administration over potential budget cuts affecting students in the following years, how will your administration fight for students and funding?
In crafting our strategic plan, the foremost consideration is the welfare of our students. While specifics are yet to be finalized, I can assure you that no measure will be implemented that compromises the well-being of our student body. It is imperative that we advocate for our collective interests and ensure that the higher administration acknowledges our significance to the university. Budgetary constraints must not be allowed to undermine our unity. Rest assured, I am committed to fostering cohesion within our community and resolving budgetary concerns in a manner that prioritizes our students’ needs. I’m running my campaign on united us again.. why would I want to destroy that?
Q: Finally, are there any new programs or initiatives that you plan to spearhead or begin if elected?
A key focus of my administration will be supporting students on academic probation, recognizing the challenges they face in transitioning from high school to college. We aim to bolster the resources available on campus, ensuring that students receive the assistance they require to thrive academically. Our goal is to cultivate a nurturing environment within the Undergraduate Student Government (USG), where students feel valued and supported. Central to this initiative is the restoration of unity within our community, where students can trust that their representatives are dedicated to effecting positive change.
Lorien Touponse & Arunima Chaturvedi
Q: Many students have expressed dissatisfaction with USG, what will your administration do to address community concerns with the organization?
This was actually a question that was asked at the debate, and I think it’s a good one! This dissatisfaction is something I have been aware of since I started USG a couple years ago – I’ve been working this year to try and bring the USG brand into my initiatives, but people don’t know or care about what USG does unless they are engaging with our funding system for their clubs. We’re planning to tackle this divide in two ways. First, through our RSO reachout program. We’re hoping our senators can proactively reach out to a set of RSOs under their “caseload.” Reach out and say – how are you doing? Do you need anything from USG? What issues or concerns do you have? How can we help you? A senator’s job is already to do outreach with students and this helps them meaningfully focus their communication with constituents without adding workload to their plate. Second, we want to do more outreach through social media and emails. We’ve been talking about doing a newsletter that will explain what USG has been doing and highlight clubs on campus that are doing really cool things. We want to post more after our events so that people know how it went and that their money was used on good things. This will hold USG accountable to putting on good events and might also attract more participation. It also provides the student body with the ability to give us feedback without having to seek us out. This is a way for us to communicate with our very busy student body instead of expecting them to come to us.
Q: There is likely to be much contention with university administration over potential budget cuts affecting students in the following years, how will your administration fight for students and funding?
Administration spends lots of money, they don’t do it transparently or particularly well. As President and Vice President of the student body, we have an opportunity to be at those meetings where they discuss tuition and budget- we’re done leaving this behind closed doors. Inside the meeting, we want to share student voices, testimonies, and data. Outside the meetings, we want to be VERY clear about what is happening, and invite / encourage unified advocacy on fighting these things. Specifically on rising tuition, the next tuition planning board will convene as soon as the next USG president is inaugurated. We will be at every single meeting fighting for tuition freezes. This is a public University and we shouldn’t be paying insanely high tuition while our services, like SHaW and Dining, continue to be cut. Other Universities have succeeded in tuition freezes and I would love to see Connecticut’s flagship school do the same and protect student interests over the boards.
Q: Finally, are there any new programs or initiatives that you plan to spearhead or begin if elected?
Yes we do! Our platform is split into three core principles: Empower Students, Strengthen Connections, and Secure Huskies’ Futures. All of these have tangible action plans to tackle some of the big issues on campus. Here are some of the key initiatives we want to highlight
Advocacy Roots- directly working with our advocacy groups on campus to help them achieve their goals. The point of USG is to advocate for students. We can only do that if we are actively working with and for the student body.
Husky Alumni Support Network- putting students in touch with UConn alumni in their field before they graduate! This will help with internship placements as well.
Disability/Deaf Cultural Center- advocacy for the disabled and deaf community becomes so much easier when the community is actually visible and can work together to tackle accessibility issues on campus. These are real cultures on campus and community support has never been more important! We are working within USG and other communities to continue this work and push it forward.
Work with SHaW leadership to push for subsidized therapy for all students, and pushing for a centralized SHaW facility (which was on UConn’s previous five year plan that they ended up cutting.)
Simplifying the sexual assault and bias reporting structures and working with administration to make the process more transparent. We deserve to know what the administration is doing to hold people accountable for their actions and ensure that our campus is a safe and welcoming place for ALL students.
There are other things we are hoping to accomplish, check out our platform on instagram @lorien.arunima.2024!
Mariam Vargas & Anna Charles
Q: Many students have expressed dissatisfaction with USG, what will your administration do to address community concerns with the organization?
We both have been on the other side of dissatisfaction with USG. Having Anna on my team is great because she is an “outsider” to USG meaning that she brings new and fresh perspectives. We believe that it is important to repair the relationships with many different groups on campus, particularly minority groups. Both of us belonging to those communities understand the dissatisfaction with USG as we do not feel represented, which is why we are running. Because we belong to all these different communities we have relationships with students in them so we are able to ask them questions and ask for feedback. It wouldn’t be a random president or vice president going into a community and trying to repair a relationship but someone from within. One of the major dissatisfaction with USG is how much red tape there is for students in RSOs to apply for funding for their organization. We think this is a major problem as it is very easy for students to be charged this fee, yet not very easy for them to put it to us. Working with the Comptroller’s office we want to make it easier for students to get approved but also for the students who don’t know the fact that they can apply for funding from USG to know, this takes work from the USG Comms team and making sure that we spread the word. From personal experience as co-president of the Dominican Student Association I have been trying to hold an event with USG funding since October, and although it is not all of USG’s fault I can definitely see the cracks in the system from a student perspective. And finally, just taking those concerns and doing better! The way we both run RSOs is very collaborative and whatever our members want or any event they want us to hold we make sure to do it. We would work for the student body not the other way around.
Q: There is likely to be much contention with university administration over potential budget cuts affecting students in the following years, how will your administration fight for students and funding?
This is very important, thank you for this question. Although there are budget cuts, the funding is there to make sure that students have a successful experience at UConn, the funding just needs to be divided differently with students as their priority. UConn can’t keep continuing to ask students to take the burden of any budget cut by just raising tuition.The UConn administration is not very transparent about their plans, and very deflective with questions, we are not there to make friends with UConn Admin, unlike some other candidates who clearly care about connections about power. We will always be diplomatic, but it is important to put the students first, and if the president is in this position to make demands the president should speak on behalf of the students, asking hard questions and sharing the answers with the student body. Like why is the Science 1 building barely used? When it cost 220 million dollars to build, for example. Many existing buildings are not livable or up to date. We believe that UConn should stop over-enrolling students in their search of more money, because this is leading to many other issues such as housing insecurity, in which UConn does not have a single person on payroll that adequately deals with students at risk of this. We are both low income out of state students so we more than anyone understand the financial burden and the problem that it means for us and our families when UConn decides to hike tuition and other fees, so as this issue touches all of us personally we will fight tirelessly.
Q: Finally, are there any new programs or initiatives that you plan to spearhead or begin if elected?
If elected I plan on releasing a living-breathing resource document that can be updated constantly.This is something that I have been working on since October and have gathered many different resources on and off campus for many different issues and opportunities/scholarships. Regardless of being elected I plan on releasing this and continuing to work on it over the summer. (If you want I can share a mock of it). If elected we plan to advocate for a path to housing security for students who are housing insecure. As mentioned there is no office or person on payroll that directly works with this issue on campus and having many friends who have gone through and are currently going through this they have had to figure it out by themselves. We believe that creating resources on campus for these students is critical. Another program is food composting to battle food waste at the apartments at UConn. Dining Halls have a way of dealing with food waste but individual students in their apartments have no other option but to throw it out. Finally, another issue that we want to get to work ASAP is making sure that students have a successful transition from high school to college, specifically low income, minority and first-gen students. They are the most affected by the change and many times drop out or have to take a semester off due to the lack of support and resources for them on campus in order to ease this transition. I know as a student who came straight from the Dominican Republic I felt at times very lost in this very big campus and didn’t know how to navigate issues I was presented with. First semester of freshman year I didn’t know that there was a cultural center for me and that would have been very helpful for me. Making sure that students are aware of the resources they have but also that said resources are working correctly. Last year with the Academic Affairs committee I proposed set surveys for advisors which most students know to not be very helpful those first years.