The Clemson Undergraduate Student Government discussed recent sustainability initiatives on campus and proposed a new bill to place a student on the Clemson University Board of Trustees at its weekly session on Monday.
Clemson University partnered with Garret Thrasher, the CUSG pro tempore, to officially replace styrofoam cups with paper cups from the on-campus Chick-fil-A, with an exception for milkshakes.
With foam cup usage reaching peaks leading into 2024 around the world, CUSG worked to increase sustainability on Clemson’s campus by eliminating styrofoam cups.
“We have a variety of goals towards increasing sustainability every year by decreasing the use of single-use plastics whilst maintaining a robust dining experience for Clemson students, faculty and staff,” Kathy Hobgood, the vice president of auxiliary enterprises, told The Tiger in an interview.
Other CUSG-related projects include recent legislative efforts from Student Senator Bryce Getsinger alongside co-author Student Senator Maya Khaskhely and others to establish a student voice on the Clemson Board of Trustees.
In order to encourage Clemson to adopt a student board member, Student Senator Getsinger plans to “introduce a Student Representative to the Board of Trustees as an ex-officio and nonvoting member,” according to Senate Bill 64-SR-02.
The Senate bill additionally argues that including a non-voting student representative would provide “vital” insight to the board of trustees regarding the student experience at Clemson University.
Proponents of the bill within the Student Senate officially discussed the proposal on the Senate floor Monday night, which included rounds of questioning from supporting and opposing parties of the bill.
Adopting this bill encourages Clemson leaders to consider electing a student representative to such a role that would “further elevate students’ voices,” Getsinger said in an interview with The Tiger.
Along with new legislation updates, CUSG is looking to host multiple events during the Live Well Week period from Feb. 26-March 1.
Geoff Gilson • Feb 28, 2024 at 7:14 am
First, congratulations to Senators Bryce Getsinger and Maya Khaskhely for their initiative. And thank you. I will be writing to them separately. What I want to say here, without taking anything away from their work, is that they join a long line of student senators who have advocated for student representation on BoT. I proposed and had passed by acclamation just such a Bill in the CUSG Senate in 2019. It was then further affirmed by GSG in 2022. The point is this. Those Bills were followed up. Both General Counsel and the-then Chair of BoT (McKissick) have ALREADY agreed to have ex-officio student representation on BoT. They said all that was needed was room on a BoT agenda to make it official. What they then did was wait out CUSG and GSG until its leaders left college. Do NOT let this happen again. Take all of the legislation – yours and that of the past couple of years – into negotiation, and make them HONOR the promise already made. Please.