Last Friday, the Undergraduate Student Government (USG) met to discuss ways to improve the student experience at IUPUI. These meetings are held every Friday from 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. in Business/SPEA Building (BS) 2000, and it is open to all IUPUI students.
The meeting started with a brainstorming session. Some of the ideas presented include more study spaces, improvements to the Jagline app, more parking and more things to do on campus during the weekends.
Senate members were presented with committees they could join. Senate committees include the oversight committee and the election committee. Other open executive committees included the communications committee; diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) committee and initiative committee. As it is still early in the school year, they are still accepting applications.
Additionally, the Pharmacy Vending Machine Resolution (Resolution 22-1) was presented by Treasurer Ishita Sameer Bhedi, a senior majoring in biomedical engineering. This legislation proposed introducing pharmacy vending machines (Ph VM) on the IUPUI campus. These would be equipped with over-the-counter medicines, contraceptives and personal hygiene products available to the campus community. This resolution was passed by the Senate to be presented to campus officials.
Working groups also met during this meeting. These groups were divided into student life, campus safety, sustainability, and health and wellness. Their aim was to come up with ways to improve the campus and support students. After a 15 minute brainstorming session, each group was asked to present what they were working on to the Senate.
Health and Wellness discussed food insecurity on campus. They suggested that implementing a cooking class for students might help address this issue. To start, they are considering testing it with Residential Assistants and then expanding to students with a limited capacity.
Student Life also focused on food insecurity. They discussed expanding Paw’s Pantry hours as well as working on advertising to improve volunteer numbers, people who can utilize the program and increase food donation variety.
Campus Safety discussed increasing security in the hallways of the dorms. They wanted to get cameras installed, although previous initiatives to do the same have faced opposition due to the legal technicalities of installing cameras in residential spaces. They suggested issuing a climate survey regarding this issue as well as discussing it with Indianapolis Police Department and Campus Security.
Finally, Sustainability worked out details regarding legislation they are planning to present to address plastic waste. This legislation would address banning single use bags on campus. They also suggested a tote bag design competition for student organizations that would be semesterly or yearly, as well as distributing reusable water bottles to students.
At the end of the meeting they had an open forum allowing students to promote their organizations and discuss issues that had not already been addressed.
Students interested with suggestions or who are interested in getting involved in USG can submit a contact form on their website or email usg@iupui.edu.
Abigail Godsen (she/her) is a freshman majoring in Communication Studies with a minor in Computer Sciences and Classics. She is a campus reporter for The Campus Citizen.
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