With only a week left in the fall semester, Baruch College’s Undergraduate Student Government President Dakshatha Daggala gave her thoughts on the semester in an interview with The Ticker. 

USG held a number of events this semester, including but not limited to voter registration drives, art contests and a discussion panel on sustainability and the environment. 

All of these events were efforts to reach their goal of increasing engagement with the student body on campus.

Daggala described the Fall 2019 semester as a success. 

“We were floored by the student interaction this semester,” she said. “We have had the incredible opportunity to interact with the most dedicated and hard-working students who are eager to make a change at their college and their community.” 

“Whether it’s helping out with events or working to rally up students for a voter registration drive, they have been an integral part of our journey this semester,” she continued.

However, Daggala mentioned that there are things she would love to focus on for next semester. 

“One small change would be finding our focus as a table in order to concentrate our efforts. As being part of an enthusiastic team, you get a lot of creative ideas flowing throughout the semester,” Daggala explained. 

“We are all incredibly proud of the work we have done so far, whether it be behind the scenes or not. We have learned from this semester and will use our experience to be even better moving forward,” Daggala went on to say.

In a previous interview with The Ticker, Daggala and her Executive Vice President Joshua Castillo said their goal for this semester was to encourage student involvement and motivate civic engagement in CUNY politics at a state level. 

When asked if they felt that they conquered that goal, Daggala said they accomplished their goal and more. 

“We have absolutely done that and we plan on ramping up efforts in the spring. Our voter registration drive was an incredible success thanks to our VP of Legislative Affairs, Kim Kazdal,” Daggala said.

“We reached out to students from all walks of life and got them to register before the 2019 deadline,” the president said.

According to a post made on USG’s official social media, the first registration drive on National Voter Registration Day alone registered a total of 118 Baruch students.  

Besides the success that came with the voter registration time, Daggala said USG has done much more than that.

“We have held town halls and surveys to get students engaged on a Baruch level. We have also been testifying at meetings with New York State senators to talk
about FundCUNY movement happening across all the campuses,” she said. 

“In addition, we will be attending the Board of Trustees meeting next Monday in Lehman College to protest the upcoming tuition hike and health and wellness fee for 2021,” Daggala added. 

“We are also planning a rally and a trip to Albany to continue our efforts to fight for CUNY. We have been vigilant in using our roles to make sure that future generations of Baruch and CUNY students will have the funding they need to function and thrive,” she continued. 

“Spring semester will bring about the Federal Census events. We are working to help raise awareness of the Census and its importance as it will affect our
politics and student aid for 10 years.”

Daggala added that USG plans to continue these efforts for the spring, especially as it is a presidential election year. 

For Spring 2020, Daggala said that USG will work on providing the student body with resources and opportunities that will improve their time at Baruch. 

“We will work on being present in our communities as well as continuing our efforts to get CUNY funded. As mentioned before, we are excited to bring about more professional and legislative based events for students to experience,” Daggala stated. 

“We will also be focusing on mental health events in collaboration with the counseling center.”

Daggala summarized this semester for USG as a happy one. 

“We’re incredibly happy,” she said. “We have done many of the events we planned to and have had many amazing students join the organization and we look forward to giving out 110% in the spring as well.”