Newly elected BGSU Undergraduate Student Government (USG) President Tiago Gobetti Gaboardi and Vice President Abby Burger were elected after voting closed on March 27.
Gaboardi, a junior flight technology and operations major and Burger, a junior political science major, have created a platform to let students know what they plan to do during their term in office.
“We do have a platform for next year. One of our biggest things is actually the outreach to the student body,” Gaboardi said. “One thing that USG does not have is a great connection between students and the organization and we’re trying to improve that. We’re setting up different ways of tabling and also connecting with students by getting their feedback.”
They also plan to focus on sustainability issues, create a more diverse and inclusive student body and engage in more civic activities.
“Especially in what is happening at the state level right now, I think it’s very important for us to engage. We’re advocating for students and also battling for the university,” Gaboardi said.
The running mates also plan on using USG’s legislative power once in office.
“We do want to put out bills and legislation, but we want to make sure that what we’re putting out is relevant and addressing things that are important, so we don’t want to just put out bills to put out bills because we wanna make sure that what we’re doing has an impact,” Burger said.
After running unopposed, they still wanted to campaign in order to reach out to students.
“We still have an obligation to reach out to the student body regardless of who else is running,” Burger said. “If we get put into that position, we’re representing them and they deserve to know what we stand for.”
Gaboardi has been a part of USG since his freshman year. He wants to have a focus on diversity due to his own experience at BGSU.
“I did come originally from Brazil and currently am a resident of the United States,” Gaboardi said. “Something I’ve learned with that is I fell in love with different perspectives and ways of life and I’m just widely interested in defending those people, so that’s why I got into USG.”
With this passion, he earned a position within USG that he has held for nearly two years.
“Because of the work I did for them during my first year, I got to be the Director of Inclusion and Belonging, which was my position for those last one and a half years,” Gaboardi said.
Burger also started with USG her first year and moved up into a position of higher status.
“I wanted to serve the student population any way I could. I started as a Senator at Large and then in my second semester, I was appointed to the Academic Affairs Chair,” Burger said.
On April 7, the pair was inaugurated into office to become the new USG President and Vice President. As representatives of the undergraduate student body, they want the students to reach out to them to voice their opinions and learn more about USG.
“We are pretty open to feedback, and getting to know you. If you have any questions about me and Abby or also just getting to understand what our platform is and the things that we want to work on for the next year, feel free to reach out,” Gaboardi said.
