USG leaders laud progress in past term

The organization credited better University relations for completing initiatives.

(Alexa Esqueda / Daily Trojan)

As the Undergraduate Student Government election cycle begins, the past year of student leadership brought about changes that directly impacted the USC student community. USG president and vice president Mikaela Bautista and Emma Fallon claimed to fulfill a term that expanded resources for students; a promise that delivered in forms spanning artificial intelligence to basic food needs.

According to a document produced by Bautista and Fallon about the progress of their campaign promises, among nine completed projects, USG expanded late-night study spaces across campus buildings, and spoke with President Beong-Soo Kim about students’ thoughts during the rollout of ChatGPT Edu to the USC community.

Bautista and Fallon ran on a campaign that prioritized “listening to all students” to “prioritize every students’ needs.” They outlined projects including expanding academic advising and programming for international and out-of-state students.

They ran on a three-phase platform to outline starting, continuing and concluding conversations on several projects, acknowledging that some of their goals would take time to complete. 

Bautista said improved relations between USG leaders and the University administration was a key part of advancing her and Fallon’s goals. 

“We’re beyond grateful for the relationships that we’ve cultivated with administration this year, our relationship with campus activities within the USG office, our relationship with leadership at Student Life and our relationship with [Kim],” Bautista said.

Thanks to University leadership, Bautista and Fallon’s goal of expanding ChatGPT access for students was made possible. 

The pair campaigned on opt-in ChatGPT Plus, and in November, the school announced a partnership with OpenAI to provide ChatGPT Edu to faculty, staff and students, which began in January. 

“[AI] was something that Emma and I were keen on getting in front of — listening to student feedback about AI, really understanding how students are using it, and how they feel about a platform,” Bautista said. 

According to an email statement from Fallon to the Daily Trojan, USG allocated additional funds to the Office of Student Basic Needs for the Trojan Food Pantry during the federal freeze of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits in November, as there was “increased demand.” 

According to the pair’s campaign-promise tracking document, USG also established a period pantry in the Office of Basic Needs and created a map of campus that shows where menstrual products are available for students. 

Fallon said the Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education was one of the most pressing challenges USG faced this year. 

In October, the Trump administration sent the compact  to nine universities, including USC, asking the schools to align their academic programs with the administration’s demands, such as limiting international student admissions and refraining from commenting on political issues, in exchange for priority access to federal funding.  

In response to the compact’s release, Fallon and Bautista released a survey to get student feedback and help USG and the administrators know how the community was feeling. The pair met with Kim to discuss the compact’s possible impact on the student body. 

“In less than three days, we were able to collect over 300 responses that included a wide range of opinions and delivered all of these to President Kim so that he could make an informed decision about the compact,” Bautista said. 

The University ultimately rejected the compact after reviewing its demands. Bautista said it was important to advocate for students while working with administrators as the key to handling difficult situations. 

USC has been facing a funding and labor strain during Fallon and Bautista’s term. Jeremiah Boisrond, speaker of the senate, said the University’s over $200 million deficit for 2025 was a challenge USG faced last year. 

“Because of the University deficit, it was a bit harder to have conversations with administrators on project implementation, being that the University does want to cut costs to try to get us out of this deficit,” Boisrond said. 

USC laid off over 900 faculty and staff members across the University as a way to reduce its spending. 

Social media has helped USG leaders to connect with students and share insights, Boisrond said. He credited increased transparency across USG as a key factor for its success in connecting senators directly with students. 

“We have our Instagram and we do takeovers with senators every Tuesday, so our students could see what our senators are doing, being transparent as possible, making sure that each senator is supported in their roles,” Boisrond said. 

USG saw an increase in candidates for the senatorial race, with 21 candidates running, up from 13 at the start of the election period the year prior. 

With their terms nearing the end, Fallon and Bautista said they were pleased by the progress USG made under their leadership. 

Fallon and Bautista’s term will end with continued projects to be completed in the future and nine finished projects focusing on student needs and listening to student feedback. 

“It’s really been awesome seeing those projects that we didn’t expect to complete be completed, and then also being able to address every single platform point in our conversations with [administration] so that they have been started and will continue for the future,” Bautista said.