Keeping In Touch With USG

Friday, Jan. 30, 1998

Keeping In Touch With USG

USG reaches out to help students voice their concerns

USG sucks, right? That's why Undergraduate Student Government members are so busy lobbying for lower student tuition, addressing off-campus housing concerns, promoting safety on campus and representing student concerns to the University administration!

USG represents the undergraduate student body at the University Park campus. USG can be reached by calling 863-1USG, via E-mail at usg@psu.edu, through its web site at www.clubs.psu.edu/usg or by stopping by 203 HUB.

It also explains why we provide discount buses home for the holidays, produce informative apartment guides, address significant social issues through the Multicultural Student Forum, sponsor a money-saving Association of Residence Hall Students/USG Book Co-op program (soon to be on-line) and provide trained legal assistance.

Did you know that USG was responsible for opening the HUB for 24-hour studying? Did you know that USG was responsible for bringing Seventeen magazine to campus last semester? Did you know that we are currently lobbying for a fall break?

We represent you in dozens of committees, boards and forums. We have aggressively promoted student rights at the State College Borough Council.

Put simply, we carry your voice to the people responsible for making the decisions that affect you. We're all students, but you elected us to represent you. We hope that by presenting to you what we do, we will learn how we can do it better.

We apologize for not publicizing our activities effectively. We know we can't expect you to march up to 203 HUB (our office) or to surf our World Wide Web site (www.clubs.psu.edu/usg) and declare a sudden urge to learn everything about USG.

Which brings us to why we will be publishing a column in The Daily Collegian this semester. This is one of the several ways that we are reorganizing ourselves to be more proactive -- to "get in your face," as our critics have justifiably suggested, and to convey important information and ideas to the undergraduate student community.

In addition to this column, we are offering a biweekly student newsletter via E-mail. The USG newsletter (send the text "SUBSCRIBE L-USGSNL yourname" in the body of your E-mail to listserv@lists.psu.edu) allows you to keep tabs on the important issues, learn about the programs and services we provide, obtain information on how the current issues affect you and suggest possible ways to voice your opinion.

For example, after letting you know which area to go to vote during our voter registration drive, the newsletter can be used to better inform you about the borough council candidates, questions on the ballot and how your vote makes a tremendous difference for students living off campus.

We can then follow up with updates on the borough council meetings and on legislation affecting students. Furthermore, as USG Academic Assembly devises monthly awards for exceptional professors, your input would provide much assistance.

As USG is lobbying for a fall break this semester, such communication would better enable us to collect student signatures and input.

We'd like to develop the Collegian column and the USG newsletter as a feedback channel to you -- so that you know what's going on within YOUR student government and are better able to communicate with us.

What you voice to USG will go directly to the dozens of administrative committees that student leaders serve on.

Whether you participate through the Academic Assembly Open Student Forum (6 p.m. Feb. 15 in 307 HUB), USG Senate's Open Student Forum (7 p.m. Tuesdays in 307 HUB) or through one of the several academic or political committees, your involvement will help the University.

We can all work smarter if we work together to improve the academic and social climate at Penn State. With your participation, we can make this University an even better place to be. Let us know what you're thinking!