What is BGSU USG?

According to USG’s website, the organization “hears the concerns encountered by the undergraduate student body about campus life and works hard to find beneficial solutions to these problems by engaging with and connecting all areas of the university.” 

History

USG began around 1922 as a “governing body with one representative for each class,” according to BGSU Archives. In 1932, it became a University Student’s Association until the early 1980s, when it became USG. 

USG “aims to serve as a bridge between undergraduate students and various governing bodies of the university including administration, faculty and graduate students” to advocate for the needs of their peers, according to their mission statement.  

Passed legislation from 2023-2024

Throughout the 2023-2024 academic year, USG passed two pieces of legislation; the least amount of legislation passed since the 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 academic years, when no legislation was passed. 

USG’s Senate Bill 01 (S.B. 1), a formal recommendation for the removal of higher education from Ohio House Bill 183, was passed Nov. 7, 2023. USG’s bill calls some of the requirements under Ohio HB 183, “impossible” to implement without respecting privacy.

Ohio HB 183 still encompasses institutions of higher education. 

USG’s Senate Resolution 01 (S.R. 1) is a formal representation of their support for the proposed revisions to a policy on certain degree programs. This resolution calls on the university to change their policies to better align with nine out 14 four-year public universities that adopted similar changes. S.R. 1 calls for the removal of the penalty for delay incompletion of WRIT 1120, reducing the baccalaureate degree program requirements from 122 credit hours to 120 credit hours. 

Meeting minutes/agendas

Article III, Section 4, Subsection D and E, states the Legislative Secretary shall keep the minutes of all General Assembly and Executive Board Meetings, maintain a file of each and provide the minutes to the speaker the following day. 

From Aug. 29, 2022 to the entirety of the fall 2023, all minutes or agendas have been available on USG’s page of the BGSU website. However, no minutes or agendas are available for the student body to access easily for the spring semester of 2024. 

Although the minutes of the meetings are not required from the bylaw to be published, Article III, Section 2, Subsection E, states the Speaker of the Senate “shall determine the course of the agenda for every General Assembly meeting and post the agenda in a manner they feel best fits and that is open to the undergraduate student population 24 hours prior to the general assembly meeting.” 

USG President Emily Gerome stated the decision of publishing meeting minutes can change from administration to administration, committing to the publication of all minutes. 

“We can have the minutes from this academic year uploaded to our website by the end of the week,” Gerome said over email. 

Financial reports 

According to Article V, Section B, Subsection C, scholarships paid to members of the USG from their budget include; the Vice-President receives $3,500, the Speaker of the Senate receives $3,500, the Chief Administrator of the Procedures and Appeals Branch receives $1,500 and the Academic Affairs Chair, Internal Affairs Chair and Student Affairs Chair receive $300 each. 

The total scholarship amount awarded to USG members, aside from the President who receives a University-sponsored scholarship, equals $9,400. 

In USG’s General Assembly meeting agenda from Sept. 11, 2023, the budget proposal included $21,488 to be allocated for scholarship money. In an email response, Gerome stated these monies are for the President’s scholarship. 

Furthermore, in the same meeting agenda, USG proposed new furniture, refrigerator and microwave for the office and said they “want to use this money for reasonable things that will be useful for years to come.”

In the following meeting agenda on Sept. 18, 2023, the Senate approved of the previous budget proposal. This prompted USG’s Treasurer to submit for a $5,000 allocation from USG’s rollover fund to be used on USG office updates. 

Gerome stated through email they used $4,987.75 to purchase furniture such as tables to better accommodate the space, chairs to replace current broken ones and a shelving unit to store supplies and decorations they have accumulated. 

“These are sustainable purchases that will be used for years to come and will benefit the future of the organization,” Gerome stated over email.