Undergraduate Student Government is an organization made up of 25 Kent State undergraduate students who are the voice of the student body. But what exactly does USG do for Kent’s campus and community?

Tia Loop, senior fashion merchandising major and director of communications, covers all of the press and interrelationships between USG, faculty and the student body.

“We are really a platform for students to come to for any issues or idea that they have,” Loop said. “It’s our job to help the students and move forward to get the issues proposed to the university.”

USG is most known for putting on big events on campus such as Blastoff and FlashFest, but its primary job is to help students have the best experience they can, Loop said. 

The director of programming for USG is the conductor of the large programming events on Kent’s campus such as Flashfest, Blast Off, and other large university wide campus events. Kevin Otubu, junior entrepreneurship major and director of programming, said USG is one of the most-funded student organizations at Kent State.

“USG has a big influence on the university,” he said. “We are a student government for the students. If there [are] any problems, we can set up a proposal.” 

Each college on campus has a representative member that acts as the voice between the students and faculty.

“There is a chain of how things get brought to the president or concerns that deal with Kent State,” said Michelle Crisler, senior finance major and director of academic affairs.

Crisler has served with USG for the past three years, once as senator for commuter and off-campus students and the other two in her current position. Her responsibility as the director of academic affairs is to get the student input on policies that should be changed, such as the cap on the number of credit hours to graduate, Crisler said.

“I sit in on a lot of faculty meetings,” she said. “I attend biweekly educational policy committee meetings, and that is where a lot of main faculty, deans, and a couple of teachers discuss problems and solutions on how to make the students life at Kent State easier to get an education in four years.”