The University of Connecticut’s Undergraduate Student Government (USG) passed its final budget last Wednesday, totaling over $2.1 million, while committee heads reported their progress on upcoming projects for the year.
The budget was presented under two different titles, a programmatic budget and an operating budget. Both budgets break down the same pool of funds but differ in how line items are presented, according to Comptroller Billy Lipinski.
“Those counts of money are the same. [These] are two budgets that take the same quantity of money and break it up into different ways,” Lipinski said.
The programmatic budget breaks up funds based on specific programs and initiatives rather than by expense code, according to Lipinski. One event may have multiple different expense codes in its budget, but the programmatic budget groups all those expenses under one line item, which makes viewing and understanding the budget significantly easier, according to Lipinski.
The senate also heard from committee leaders updating the governing body on progress that has been made towards a myriad of projects.
Director of External Affairs Olivia Eshoo opened reports, recounting the success of the committee’s professional clothing closet, which ran from Sept. 29 to Oct. 1.
“We served 165 students during our three-day pop-up,” Eshoo said.
The closet will be returning from Oct. 13 to Oct. 16 and again from Nov. 3 to Nov. 6, according to Eshoo.
Eshoo also reported how her committee would be focused on tabling in the lead up to early voting for the municipality of Mansfield, providing students with opportunities to register to vote and educate themselves on what the upcoming election entails.
“We will be working on tabling to register students to vote as well as educating them on what this election is and what they are registering to vote for,” Eshoo said.
Director of Student Services Jibreel Akbar informed the senate of a multitude of projects the committee has undertaken, including a series of cooking classes designed to combat food insecurity on campus, as well as coordinating with the Student Health and Wellness Center (SHaW) on campus to distribute Narcan for free amongst students to combat overdoses due to opioids. Akbar also spoke of coordinating with SHaW to stock free menstrual product dispensers in bathrooms across campus.
Chief Justice Ella Bennett announced an initiative between the Office of the President and Student Services to provide students access to free legal services should they require them, in addition to announcing work on a bylaw to standardize onboarding for USG employees.
“I’ve been working alongside Andy, Haritha and Jibreel on some legal services projects, trying to get students at UConn free legal services, so that’s super exciting,” Bennett said, referring to Andy Zhang and Haritha Subramanian, president and vice president of USG.
Chief Diversity Officer (CDO) Phoenix Harper announced work on an immigration panel to be held on campus, discussing the current state of immigration policy and rights in America.
“We’re planning on getting some really big public figures, government officials and politicians to come in and kind of talk about the current state of immigration rights [and] give some insight to students on how they can advocate for immigration rights,” Harper said. “It’s going to be an educational opportunity but also a networking opportunity as well.”
Zhang announced that his office would be working on an initiative to collaborate with student governments across the state to form a united body advocating for students statewide.
“Connecticut has a variety of colleges, state colleges, private colleges. So, what we are trying to do is work with the other colleges to form a Connecticut student association, to basically get all the student governments to work together to advocate for all of us,” Zhang said.
Other projects announced Wednesday include the return of the cultural pop-up market, along with the dental hygiene clinic, both headed by the CDO, in addition to a tabling initiative to celebrate the launch of natural hair products arriving in the Student Union corner store.
Director of Academic Affairs Caroline Kelly also announced work on expanding dining hall hours and the construction of sensory spaces on campus.
The senate voted to pass legislation that would direct the USG Speaker to refrain from scheduling senate meetings on recognized holidays, which may prove to prevent senators from attending and voting at those meetings.
Wednesday’s session coincided with Yom Kippur, the Jewish New Year. As such, some senators were not in attendance in recognition of the holiday.
Initial support for the legislation, written by Senator Joel Harris, was strong but waned as some members of the senate took concern with the bill’s vague proxy voting provision.
The legislation stipulated that in the event a senator was unable to attend a meeting, whether for religious or emergency reasons, said senator could appoint another member of the USG senate to vote in their stead.
President Zhang thought such a proxy system would take USG into uncharted waters, both structurally and ethically.
“I think we could be getting into dangerous territory,” Zhang said. “We as elected people are delegating our vote to someone that potentially, we don’t know if they have the same view. Even in the U.S. Congress, I don’t think that senators can give their vote to someone else in their place.”
The bill ultimately passed by unanimous consent with the proxy voting measure having been removed. USG Speaker Kyle Lowry suggested that such a system could be brought before the senate at a later date as its own individual legislation.