Fordham’s United Student Government (USG) hosted its weekly meeting on Oct. 27.

The meeting was USG’s annual Halloween costume contest. Members were invited to dress up and compete for best dressed.
The meeting opened with public concerns from the gallery. None were raised. The meeting then went into delegate reports. The Residence Hall Association (RHA) was the group with a delegate present and had no update.
The budget proposal for USG’s ops day was approved. The committee was allotted $171.46 to spend on food.
Vice President of Sustainability Liz Shim, FCRH ’23, re-presented her proposal to bring back the reusable cups in Starbucks policy.

The updated proposal included statements of support from the Lucy Conlin,  FCRH ’25, chair of USG’s Dining Committee, and Deming Yuan, university dining contract liaison.

The proposal was passed. On Monday, Oct. 31, the Fordham Dining Newsletter announced that the policy is officially back in use. Customers can bring a reusable cup to the Starbucks in Dealy Hall and they will receive a $0.10 discount. USG voted on a giveaway item to donate to the Commuter Student Association’s (CSA) “Thanks-give-away.”

Thanks-give-away is an annual fundraising event where participants donate cans of food in exchange for an opportunity to win prizes. USG voted to donate $200 of DCB.

Andrew Falduto, FCRH ’23, president pro tempore presented USG’s statement on Iranian unrest. The letter shows support for the protests in Iran and condemns the regime. Falduto received approval from the Muslim Student’s Association (MSA) and described the letter as a “co-venture” between both groups.

USG is now awaiting a response from the Middle Eastern Students Association (MESA) to see if they would like to join the letter. The statement was approved pending minor changes.

Executive President Santiago Vidal, FCRH ’24, and Executive Vice President Ava Coogan, FCRH ’25, gave their update together.
Vidal announced that USG is finalizing its office hours. Coogan explained that she changed the Thursday meeting structure. She moved public concerns to be first and open floor to last. This will hopefully improve the meeting’s “flow.” Catherine McGlade, Ed.D., assistant dean for student involvement, announced that Leigh Weber is taking over as director of student formation in the Office of Student Involvement.

Jillian Choy, GSB ’24, vice president of operations announced that “ops day” is on Nov. 9.
She said that this year clubs will be notified if they are sanctioned, which has not been done in years past. Choy presented the

Diversity Action Coalition (DAC) report for Briana Al-Omoush, FCRH ’24, vice president of diversity and inclusion. DAC had conversations with athletics about diversity training for athletes.

Alex Chavez, GSB ’23, vice president of finance and budgets, announced that budget day is Dec. 4, and they received approximately $47,000 of additional funds to allocate to clubs.

The meeting then moved on to the senate reports. Senator Lucas Hjertberg, FCRH ’26, said he is working on a proposal to expand menstrual products on campus.