Appy now to be in USG spring 2017

The+Undergraduate+Student+Government+office+is+located+on+the+third+floor+of+the+Union.+

The Undergraduate Student Government office is located on the third floor of the Union.

By Grant Morgan, Editor-in-Chief

Till tomorrow, students can apply to be part of UA’s Undergraduate Student Government (USG) for the spring 2017 semester.

There are two associate justice positions opening up in the judicial branch; and two senator positions opening up in the legislative branch, one for senator-at-large and one to represent the College of Applied Science and Technology.

As associate justice, which pays a stipend of $500 per semester, one’s main responsibilities would include coordinating the elections for USG officers, adjudicating parking appeals, and hearing grievances against the USG constitution.

Constitutional grievances can be filed when someone thinks one of USG’s action goes against its constitution. These, however, hardly occur, as “our organization is very transparent when planning projects or events, and anything that may go against our governing documents typically doesn’t get to the point where anything unconstitutional occurs,” said Felicia Rosin, USG’s current chief justice.

As for parking, USG works with UA’s parking and transportation services to review parking appeals. What this means is that, if someone thinks they have been unjustly ticketed by the UAPD or parking ticketers, they can appeal to USG to have the ticket dismissed.

If the ticket is obviously a mistake, Rosin says, parking services will dismiss it before it’s sent to USG. If it does make it to USG, the judicial branch will review the appeal and hear evidence from both parking services and the person who made the appeal. Rosin says USG goes through about 50 parking appeals per month.

Justices must complete four office hours per week, go to weekly meetings, and do 10 community service hours each semester.

Senators, on the other hand, work in the legislative branch, drafting legislation, writing recommendations to the UA administration, and petitioning on behalf of the students.

Instead of going through an election process, like interested applicants would have to do in the spring, applicants for spring semester only have to be approved by the current senate.

Isaac Lampner, USG’s senate chair, says the biggest legislation written so far this year has been about sustainable food disposal and safe needle disposal.

“Ongoing legislation pertains to issues varying from scholarships to textbook costs to how Akron maintains and supports diversity,” Lampner said.

Along with attending weekly senate meetings, committee meetings, and other USG training programs, senators must do a minimum of four office hours per week. During these hours, senators work on research projects, drafting legislation, speaking with students and talking to administrators.

Every senator is also assigned to a committee at the beginning of their term, where most of their most important works occurs, according to Lampner.

Applications can be found on uakron.edu/usg or outside the USG office on the third floor of the Student Union. Applications must be turned into the office by 5 p.m. tomorrow.