University of Southern California

The University of Southern California (also known as USC, 'SC, Southern California, and Southern Cal), California's oldest private research university, is located in the urban center of Los Angeles, California.

Student Government

USC annually elects members to a Student Senate, which is incorporated with the USC Student Affairs department. The Senate President and Vice-President are currently Jessica Lall and Chase Tajima, elected in the spring of 2005.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Modeled after the United States government, the Student Sentate consists of executive, legislative, and judicial branches, along with a Program Board. The executive Branch consists of students appointed by the elected leadership and is charged with coordinating publications, events, and efforts to solve problems voiced by the student body. The legislative branch, the only branch fully elected by the students, represents the voice of the student body to university officials and legislates changes to some limited aspects of university policy. The Judicial Branch ensures that all operations within Student Senate are within the bounds of the organization's governing documentation.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The programming branch, referred to as "Program Board," aims to provide USC students with education and information through a multitude of social, political, and entertaining events. Assemblies and committees, in conjunction with elected and appointed Senate representatives, attempt to program these events in line with the desires of the paying student body. All Student Senate activities are funded by the student activity fee, which the Senate itself has some control over setting.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Criticism

Critics contend that many Program Board events encourage or permit social demarcation, which is contrary to the requirements of the Programming Branch to unify students through generally shared interest in events. The existence of a Women's Student Assembly without a counterpart for males, Black Graduation, Gay and Lesbian Graduation, "la Vida Es Un Carnaval -- a celebration for Chicano, Hispano, and Latino students", et al. are often criticised in this manner. The Program Board also sometimes uses student funding for the direct benefit of those outside of the paying body, which is supposed to be the province of the executive branch's Philanthropy Funding Board. Interestingly, the history of Program Board itself is steeped with controversy as it has tried, unsuccessfully, to break from its governing body. Counterintuitively, this would remove student funding and oversight from the organization; these reasons, among others, stifle bifurcation attempts.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~