Published: November 13, 2008

“Part of my goal as president is to create a team. I would like to bring more clubs together and give students the opportunity to lend their talent and time to serve the student body,” said president of United Student Government (USG), Dave de la Fuente, Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC) ’10.  De la Fuente said that the effectiveness of USG can increase through more student involvement and that the student body can be better served through collaboration between USG and student clubs and organizations.

“In previous years, the goal [of USG] has been to get more people to run for executive board positions. This year it is important to increase general membership.” Currently USG has three senators per class and five executive board members, including the president, the vice president, the secretary, the treasurer and the director of technology.

“I’m really trying to follow the model of other Jesuit schools,” de la Fuente said, “[In other Jesuit schools,] the student membership is much larger.”

According to Fordham’s Web site, “All FCLC students are members of USG.” However, de la Fuente referred to membership as direct involvement with USG, including attending USG meetings.

“If we’re ever lacking in time in taking on a project, we need more people to work with us [in order to accomplish our goals],” he said.

“Student government has as much potential as the students will allow it to have,” de la Fuente told students at a USG meeting on Oct. 30. The meeting included discussion of various initiatives taken by USG and other clubs, as well as future events at Fordham, and was attended by approximately 18 students. Among the topics discussed in this meeting was a USG program called “Fordham Friendly,” a proposal to negotiate with local businesses in order to establish student discounts.

According to de la Fuente, part of the goal of “Fordham Friendly” is to inform students about local businesses offering discounts to students. De la Fuente said that businesses could benefit from working with Fordham because the student body is a readily available source of customers.

“With this program the businesses can advertise in The Observer. We can also offer to use their merchandise and products at Fordham events. This is an ongoing project because businesses change and new ones open,” de la Fuente said.

Another project de la Fuente said he would like more students to be involved in is an initiative taken by Students for Solidarity to gather and prepare food to give to the homeless.

“Given that the weather is getting really cold right now, I think that it’s a really good gesture to make,” he said.

Among the events USG is planning to hold this year are a Christmas tree lighting, a club networking dinner and a winter ball, which will be co-sponsored by Campus Activities Board (CAB). Another event that de la Fuente mentioned was “The Undies!,” an annual undergraduate student award ceremony in which “[recipients] get boxers that say ‘Undies’,” he said.  Among the categories for which students receive awards are “Best Student Security Worker,” “Best Student Library Worker” and “Best Freshman.”

“There will be a town hall meeting for each class in mid-November,” said de la Fuente. He encouraged students to attend these meetings and said that the student government works best with their involvement. “It is always important for students to know that they can come [to these meetings] with ideas or concerns,” de la Fuente said.