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USG discusses Wintersession, year-end reflections

The Undergraduate Student Government had its last meeting under the Yee administration on Sunday, Jan. 20

USG president Rachel Yee ’19 held her last meeting with the USG Senate on Sunday, Jan. 20. Photo courtesy of Brad Spicher.

In its last meeting under the current administration, the Undergraduate Student Government discussed Wintersession and end-of-term reflections during its weekly meeting on Jan. 20.

In her end-of-the-year report, USG president Rachel Yee ’19 reflected on the end of her term. She displayed a table that listed her campaign promises and whether or not she accomplished them, saying that many students are frustrated that USG senators “do not fulfill their campaign promises.”

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According to Yee, she succeeded in fulfilling many of her promises. For instance, she felt she had helped destigmatize mental health on campus. 

Some of Yee’s unfulfilled tasks, however, include reforming first-year advising plans, redesigning Tiger Cards, and building community.

“I personally did not focus enough on building USG community,” she said. “The best projects we have ever done came from collaboration.”

She also said she values the leadership skills USG gave her, noting it helped her “think on her feet.”

Yee went on to cover the different USG task forces and their accomplishments in the past year. A Mental Health Resources Team, Financial Reform Team, and Women’s Leadership Team were among the Project Teams that worked under Yee’s administration.

“I’m really proud of the breadth of what we’ve covered this year,” Yee said. 

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Yee also founded the USG newsletter, monthly highlights, and Instagram account “yung_usg” to be valuable in helping students stay informed.

Yee also praised the high number of applications for open USG positions and stressed the importance of making USG accessible to the University community.

She asked the Senate to contemplate how to incentivize more students to come to the USG meetings so that they can better understand what USG does.

“If you show up to our meetings, you will know what USG is doing,” Yee said.

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Yee also gave USG senators advice for the future.

“It is better to focus on a couple things and do them well rather than focus on everything at once,” Yee said. “It is very important to apologize and modify your behavior when you make a mistake.”

The meeting also included a light-hearted game of 2018 USG Scandals Bingo, including spaces titled “Tea Spilling Sessions” and “Prince Refuses to Endorse a Candidate.”

Additionally, Isabella Faccone ’21 and Matthew Bomparola ’21 presented on Wintersession activities. Although the pair is close to finalizing the list of Wintersession activities, they still need to complete the TigerApps page so that students can sign up. 

In order to stay on schedule, students must sign up for Wintersession activities over the upcoming weekend.

USG also explored alternatives to TigerApps, such as Google Forms, should they not be able to get sign-ups functioning before then.

The USG Senate meeting was held in Lewis Library 138 at 7 p.m.