With the first week of the semester completed, Baruch College’s Undergraduate Student Government President Dakshatha Daggala and Executive Vice President Joshua Castillo revealed to The Ticker their goals for the current academic year.
When POP! — which stands for “Power of the People!” — was running for the 2019-2020 USG, they emphasized one of their goals was to focus on student body engagement and to have the senate members be more civically involved in CUNY politics at a state level.
The Ticker asked Daggala and Castillo if their goals have changed since then to which Daggala said it has not.
“Definitely not. This is what I wanted to do and this is what I am doing. I think they are subject to change but not change in the sense that I’m not gonna pursue them, but my priorities within the goals might change depending on what the students want,” Daggala said.
“If a student comes up to me and is like ‘I would like you to focus of immigration issues,’ then that what the students want and that’s what I’m gonna focus on that,” she continued.
For now, Daggala said she is focusing on increasing legislative awareness through voter registration drives.
Additionally, she wants to make sure that students are utilizing the resources available to them at Baruch by being able to cater to both students who want to get involved in club life and those who just want to go to class and leave.
In terms of having the senate members be more civically involved in CUNY at a state level, Daggala explained that because they were busy planning Convocation Day during the summer for the largest incoming freshman class, they did not have the time to focus on getting their senate members involved in legislative affairs.
“We still plan on having our senate be engaged in local politics and we will start with letters to our legislatives in September,” Daggala said.
Castillo added that they are currently meeting with the Director of Government and Community Relations, Eric Lugo, about the best way to move forward with civic engagement on campus and figuring out the best system for getting the senator’s letters written and sent out.
The letters to senators are written as part of Baruch’s lobbying efforts to advocate for the need to allocate an urgent $25 million for the Lawrence and Eris Field Building at 17 Lexington Avenue.
Each year, USG selects student delegates to attend the annual New York State Association of Black and Puerto Rican Legislators Conference to lobby and advocate for CUNY related issues — one of which includes allocating enough for the renovation of 17 Lex.
Daggala also expressed that she would like to go to Albany in a “non-Albany trip.”
“I feel like the more we go, the more they get to see our faces, the more they get to hear our opinions. Also, the Albany trip is a little bit formal and fun for them as it’s a weekend for senators to enjoy but we’re there to get out get what we need done,” Daggala said.
“If we go in a more legislative setting, like their offices, and setting up meetings with them, it would be more effective.”
As for their other goals, Castillo explained that he wants “student to know that they have a central resource that they can go to for anything that they need as a first-year student, as a transfer student, as a graduating student.”
Currently Castillo is working on Homecoming, which will be held in September.
In addition to student giveaways and “of course voter registration polls,” he emphasized.
