The Undergraduate Student Government election launched Sunday night with two campaigns on the ballot for president and vice president. Credit: Casey Cascaldo | Lantern file photo
The Undergraduate Student Government election launched Sunday night with two campaigns on the ballot for president and vice president.
Jacob Chang and Anna Valerius are running against Maddie Carson and Sri Uppalapati, and both campaigns come from USG experience.
Jacob Chang, a third-year in psychology and political science and USG senior director of operations, and Anna Valerius, a third-year in political science, are running for president and vice president. Credit: Courtesy of Jacob Chang
Jacob Chang and Anna Valerius
Chang, the current USG senior director of operations and a third-year in psychology and political science, said he and Valerius, the current USG exploration senator, legislative coordinator of student affairs and a third-year in political science, are focused on continuing the work of past administrations, such as establishing an LGBTQ+ center, while also working to make improvements for future students. They want to promote student resources and ensure USG strengthens its accountability in upholding promises it makes to the Ohio State community.
“University students here, we’re not just a number, we’re not a number on your budgeting sheet, we’re not a number on your enrollment report, we’re not a number on your campus climate survey. We’re living human beings,” Chang said.
Chang said their campaign looks to humanize Ohio State policies by creating individualized access to resources for students of all backgrounds and give student organizations the platform to speak for themselves and influence policy change.
According to Chang and Valerius’ agenda, some of their policies include initiatives to improve academic success, reform the Committee on Academic Misconduct, increase learning accessibility, expand technology resources for courses, increase awareness of resources provided by the Student Wellness Center, expand composting programs, support local businesses and increase online courses.
Specific action items for improving academic success includes standardizing the COAM hearing and evaluation process, creating an inter-university Big Ten grading policy review board, increasing the number of reading days before final exams and advocating for fair expectations and grading policies in STEM courses.
Specific action items for increasing learning accessibility includes creating a First Year Experience program for a less overwhelming orientation and move-in, creating a neurodivergent peer-mentor program and easing the documentation requirements to access disability accommodations in courses.
As an international student, Chang said their campaign also seeks to ensure international students get the resources and course accommodations they need to succeed at the university.
“When I first came to this university what I thought was, ‘How I can survive, how I can get by the day?’ and now what I think about is what I can create or change,” Chang said.
Maddie Carson, third-year in industrial systems engineering, and Sri Uppalapati, third-year in engineering physics, are running for president and vice president of the Undergraduate Student Government. Credit: Courtesy of Maddie Carson
Maddie Carson and Sri Uppalapati
Carson, the current USG chair of the undergraduate caucus and a third-year in industrial systems engineering, said she and Uppalapati, the current USG director of academic affairs and a third-year in engineering physics, focused their campaign on student wellness and experience at Ohio State.
Carson said the nine dimensions of wellness — intellectual, financial, physical, emotional, environmental, creative, career, social and spiritual — contribute to the student experience at Ohio State. Their goal, she said, is to have the nine dimensions be part of all the policies they look to change in order to ensure students reach their full potential at the university.
“Focusing on well-being is more important than ever with the pandemic going on,” Carson said. “A lot of students are in isolation and not being able to interact the way they used to, not being able to pursue the college experience that they accepted going into this.”
Uppalapati said their priorities are mental and physical well-being, equity and academics, community engagement and ensuring that students have access to the resources to fulfill those needs.
Uppalapati said along with the nine dimensions, each of their policies will include the values of diversity, justice, inclusion and equity.
According to Carson and Uppalapati’s agenda, they seek to add more embedded mental health counselors across campus, standardize the late withdrawal process from the university, expand and reform sexual education programs, combat menstrual product inequities, evaluate campus safety infrastructure and student resources and develop a fairer academic misconduct hearing process and address inequities in Ohio State’s admission process.
“Equity and academics is a big one for me because I think at the end of the day, we’re all coming here for some form of a degree and really making sure that no matter what your background was in high school when you come here, you can have any, all the opportunities possible to be successful,” Uppalapati said.
Carson said they are also looking to change the way USG interacts with the Ohio State community. They have spoken to 20 student organizations on campus to create an open dialogue and understand some of the student body’s opinion on certain issues.
“I think that’s just one tangible way that we’ve already been trying to really change the way USG campaigns just in general interact with the student body,” Carson said. “That’s been something that we’ve been really wanting to change and wanting to carry that with us into maybe a future administration between the two of us.”
Voting for the elections opens March 8 at noon and closes March 10 at 11:59 p.m.
