The Johnson & Johnson single-dose COVID-19 vaccine will be available for use at USC’s Student Health Center, Student Body President Alex Harrell said at Wednesday’s student senate meeting.
Harrell said vaccine distribution will go from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. every Tuesday and Thursday for “as long as we have it.”
Senator Noah Glasgow, a first-year criminal justice student, sponsored a recommendation to add the Sexual Assault and Violence Intervention and Prevention (SAVIP) office’s number to the back of Carolina Cards.
“Unfortunately, sexual assault is something that happens on college campuses often, and you're always carrying your CarolinaCard with you,” Hailey Garland, co-sponsor of the recommendation and second-year environmental studies student, said.
The number is meant to be a first resource in the event a student is harassed or assaulted, Garland said.
The student senate budget was proposed as well. The total budget, just under $55,000, is over $10,000 thousand dollars greater than last year’s budget.
Treasurer Kate Turner said this increase is due to a greater amount of planned programming, including a Stigma Free Week 5K and a Civic Engagement Week.
Glasgow, along with first-year political science and philosophy student Jada Hudson, put forward a bill to remove the filing fee for both senatorial and executive candidates.
The fee to apply to run is $5 for senatorial races and $50 for executive races, which include student body president, student body vice president, treasurer and speaker of the student senate.
USC is the only school in the SEC that imposes these fees, Glasgow said. The bill would make Student Government a more inclusive place, according to Hudson.
“There could be someone who's struggling financially, who has great ideas, who would make a great fit for president or vice president, and if they don't have $50 in their bank account, they can't run,” Hudson said.
Harrell, along with several student senators, voiced concerns regarding the bill’s potential effects on elections.
“Why do real political candidates file, pay money to file? It creates that integrity of elections that 'Hey, we're not going to have 20 kids run under phony names and make a mockery of our election,'” Harrell said.
Harrell said the filing fee is typically used to fund inauguration.