USG discusses mental health at first meeting

The first Undergraduate Student Government meeting under the administration of president Rachel Yee ’19 took place on Sunday, Feb. 11, at 2 p.m. in Lewis Library 120.

The new officers of USG began by introducing themselves and presenting one goal they each have for the year. Yee explained that the general public might not know how much work USG really does and resolved to work on altering this perception in the future.

“I’m very glad that we had our first meeting and that we had almost all of our members present,” explained Yee. “I also think there were a lot of good ideas expressed.”

Shortly after introductions, USG parliamentarian Jonah Hyman ’20 gave a presentation regarding USG history and constitutional knowledge. Among other things, Hyman covered how USG was recognized by the University, who the USG voting members are, and what powers USG has as a voting body.

The first order of new business was funding for the USG Mental Health Initiative Board. The amount of funding requested was $4,302. The bulk of the funding was to finance the Neil Hilborn performance to be held at Richardson Auditorium on Feb. 13. The funding was approved unanimously.

In an email advertising the event, MHI explained that “this event will be an opportunity for all of us to work towards destigmatizing some of the mental health issues facing so many members of our student body.”

“I am project leader of the mental health project team, and I really do think we have a lot of traction, and I also think we have a lot of administrative buy-in and support,” said Yee. “I think that there’s a really positive outlook in terms of getting things actually institutionalized so they will still be here after we are done with the project for many years.”

Yee added that there’s an immediate and obvious need for both destigmatizing mental health as well as providing resources for it.