USG representatives work under the radar

With the Undergraduate Student Government campaigning underway, some students may be wondering what USG has done in the past in order to know what to expect in the future.

“At the most basic level,” said Scott Sherwood, USG executive director, “(USG) is representation of the student government.”

Sherwood said the organization can vote on issues, can act as a student judiciary committee and can create events to enrich the lives of students.

“With different senators and their colleges, we work to support programs they have going on,” said Donna Carlton, USG faculty adviser.

She mentioned a new international organization Sneha Jose, current Senator for International Students, is working on.

Carlton went on to say many USG projects deal with surveys, which allows USG to accurately know the student body’s thoughts and feelings. Extended hours at the campus library around finals week are a result of these student surveys.

“There’s nothing huge that I can say we do,” Sherwood said, “but there’s a lot of small things.”

Carlton said USG is responsible for last semester’s Broken Lizard comedy sketch show, Thursday’s Jay Sean concert and Friday’s John Caparulo comedy show. She also said the late-night downtown PARTA bus that started three or four years ago is a result of USG. FlashFest, which has been around for more than 15 years, is another USG program.

Sherwood said the promotion of College Mobile Deals, a program that offers discounts at local stores through text messages sent to Kent State students, is another example of what USG has done.

Sherwood also said he hopes FlashFest will be the first Kent State event to utilize a new USG program called FlashPerks. This program will allow students to accumulate points by attending Kent State events. Students will be able to redeem points for prizes. He said the program is designed to encourage more student involvement at Kent State events.

Carlton said USG has been looking into the Yellow Bike Program, a bicycle-sharing program some schools, such as the University of Colorado, have picked up.

Another USG program, called either Adopt-a-Senior or Snow Patrol, has been started “with our February snows,” Carlton said.

This program, Sherwood explained, gives several organizations involved the chance for community service hours. They shovel snow for those who aren’t physically able to do it themselves.

“A lot of the things we do go unheard,” Sherwood said. “But I think it’s almost a good thing people don’t really know what we do.”

He explained that as long as they aren’t doing anything wrong, there’s no reason for anyone to know about what USG is doing.

“If you’re moving fluently, if we’re keeping things coming,” he said, “then I think that it’s just so smooth that people don’t really have to know who’s doing it or how it’s done—just that it’s being done.”

Contact student politics reporter Nick Glunt

at [email protected].