Before campaigning begins for the 2019-2020 Baruch College Undergraduate Student Government elections, the current members of USG held a general interest meeting to inform students who want to run about how to get involved.

The GIM was hosted by Vice President of Student Affairs Aaron D’Souza and Representative Sens. Lewis Diep and Ryan Zhang on Feb. 26.

D’Souza emphasized the relevance of USG to Baruch, saying the organization strives to represent the student body as a whole and is the only way for students to connect with administration directly.

“Some of the main things we do is we throw events, we co-sponsor with clubs, we try to promote club life, we handle all the clubs’ finances and budgets, basically we support any student led initiatives or any we create our own initiatives for any holes or gaps we see on campus,” said D’Souza.

USG members highlighted the events they help plan, such as “Lip Sync Battle,” “Bearcats on Ice,” “Bernies” and “Bash,” to name
a few.

Attending a commuter school, students often complain they don’t have much of the college life experience — USG attempts to fill that gap, explained D’Souza.

Dakshatha Daggala, chair of clubs and organizations, then discussed each of the positions and what they entail, addressing what the written constitution states the minimum duties are and how they interpret each of them, as “the constitution is very vague; it’s how we interpret it.”

“Each of these table members are required to go to a weekly senate meeting, so any issues that we have to discuss, any appeals, just any kind of administrative work that we have to do it gets accomplished there,” she continued.

Daggala explained that for her position “the minimum is to give clubs money, deposit their dollars and foster relationships between clubs and USG.” In addition, she interpreted that the constitution requires her to hold an awards show at the end of the year for
all clubs.

USG also said that students running cannot be on the executive board of another club if they plan to be on the senate, because they must remain unbiased as a voting member of the table when acquiring any kind of funds for club initiatives.

USG President Radhika Kalani explained the difference between being part of the senate and being part of the board itself.

“The difference in the senate and the board is that the board is not required to be at the weekly Tuesday senate meetings,” Kalani said.

“Also you can be on the board of another club — so there is definitely less requirements to be a board position, so you feel like you’re really busy and you don’t know how to handle USG, especially with all of the added requirements, board positions are the first step in being officially involved with USG.”