USG President Kugel Names Administration's Top Priorities

Sara Kugel, executive president of United Student Government, FCRH '11, identified transparency, academics and empowerment of club leaders as three main themes on which she intends to focus as her term begins in earnest. 

Transparency, a concept Kugel and then-running mate, now-Executive Vice President of USG Caitlin Meyer, FCRH '12, emphasized during their campaign, is a goal toward which Kugel already believes her administration is working with projects like revamping USG's Web site and opening Operations Committee meetings to the public.

"I know that word [transparency] is thrown around a lot, but I think that the initiatives we have pursued and the things we have already established define that word a little bit," Kugel said. 

Bryan Matis, executive vice president of operations, CBA '12, recently announced that Operations Committee meetings are now public in a Sept. 2 letter.

"Operations is the first committee under USG's purview to hold entirely public meetings," Matis wrote.

Kugel said that the decision to open the meetings was Matis', but that she encourages all executive board members that hold meetings to make them public. 

Budget Committee weekly meetings are open, though the voting sessions are still closed.  In a change for the coming year, there will be budget office hours in the USG office for two hours every day, during which time club leaders can seek out a Budget Committee member to seek explanations or find out about the process.

"Focusing a lot more on academics than we have in years past," Kugel said, is another goal for the coming year.  Kugel noted the creation of the Fordham College Dean's Council as an example of how the administration is already working toward that goal.

"This is the first ever Dean's Council created for Fordham College, and I give a lot of credit to Sandie [Habib, executive vice president of Fordham College, FCRH `12] for working on that right away," Kugel said. 

She also mentioned USG support for efforts on the part of Michael Latham, Ph.D., dean of Fordham College, to encourage undergraduate research as part of a new emphasis on academics in addition to student life.

The final theme Kugel outlined was empowerment of club leaders.  Club leader training, weekly sit-downs with club leaders and working with clubs on their election processes constitute some ways in which Kugel's administration plan to empower club leaders.

"There are so many club leaders on campus, and those club leaders really are the life and blood of this University," Kugel said.  "We [USG] want to make sure that we give them as many opportunities as we can." 

USG took over club leader training this year from the Office of Student Leadership and Community Development, a move Kugel said she hopes will help make it more effective.

"I think it means more, coming from student to student than administrator to student," Kugel said.