USC's student senate welcomed a new student body treasurer and passed six pieces of legislation at its weekly meeting on Wednesday.
Reese Lycan, the former chief-of-staff to Student Body President Patton Byars, was officially sworn in as USC's new student body treasurer for the 116th student senate.
Byars said after conducting interviews and reviewing the Treasurer's Branch, he saw the role needed someone who could lead a team, ensure they followed the codes and work well with the student body. He felt Lycan was the right person for the job.
"I trust her. I know she's going to do a great job — and while it's certainly a big loss for my team, and we'll live — but I think that she's more needed in this role. She's very collaborative and easy to work with," Byars said. "She has a ton of experience as a Truman Scholar, our first Truman Scholar on our campus since 2019, so she's smart as a whip as well."
According to an article on USC's webpage, Lycan is the 11th Truman Scholar at USC — and one of 60 recipients in 2024. The scholarship is competitive and awarded to juniors who plan to have careers in public service.
Chairman of the Judiciary Committee Camden Kaye said that his committee found her unanimously favorable.
"(Lycan) has almost singularly one of the most impressive set of qualifications I've ever seen inside of student government," Kaye said. "(She has a) commitment to transparency for the position, a clear vision for enhancing our financial processes and a depth of understanding of both our rules and codes that is unmatched."
Speaker of the Student Senate Maura Hamilton said Lycan was very involved in government relations when she was Byars' chief of staff and got a wide expansion of the different roles roles of student government.
"She's a quick learner. She showed during her interviews, the ones that I sat in, that she was super committed to learning the codes and doing it by the book," Hamilton said. "She really wanted to make sure that everything was working smoothly — according to plan in that branch, which I'm really excited to see take place."
Student senate also passed six pieces of legislation during the session.
One piece of legislation, introduced by Senators Grant Dworzanowski and Nicolas Gauvin, was a bill to increase awareness of the demand feature of the TransLOC application.
TrancLoc is a company that offers transportation services to organizations, including the University of South Carolina.
"Senator Gauvin and I have been speaking with speaking with students on campus- and we've realized that a lot of students are unaware of the on demand ride request feature on the TransLOC applications," Dworzanowski said. "This feature is important for keeping students safe at night time, during the hours of 6 p.m. to 2 a.m, as well as allowing students to take full advantage of their tuition."
Dworzanowski said the legislation recommends that the university add a roughly five-minute addition on to new student orientation where the orientation leaders would take their small groups through the steps of booking a ride on TransLOC, so when students walk on campus for the first time, they'll already how to use the application.
The legislation passed by unanimous consent.
Another piece of legislation, introduced by Senator Jeffrey Lyons, was a recommendation urging the university to immediately repair the exterior siding of the Bull Street One garage.
"I was walking to my car on Sunday morning- and something looked off," Lyons said. "I called the emergency facilities hotline and they immediately went out and investigated it."
According to the recommendation, if more of the siding becomes detached, it could pose a risk of bodily injury to pedestrians and cause significant damage to students' vehicles and university property. The current condition of the garage presents a safety hazard that needs immediate attention.
Lyons said the Bull Street Garage, along with some other campus garages, have tan metal siding attached to concrete support beams. On one side of the Bull Street Garage, this metal exterior has become detached, with bolts and joints breaking away from the concrete supports.
"I think it's just a huge liability for the school — and also we want to protect student safety and also student property," Lyons said. "This legislation will just encourage the university to act promptly, to quickly address this problem, because we don't want them to put it off for a few more weeks because property could be severely damaged."
The legislation passed by unanimous consent.
Another piece of legislation, introduced by Senator Marian Winters, was a recommendation to provide additional classroom space in Close-Hipp to the Student Disability Resource Center.
"The Student Disability Resource Center is having a tough time meeting the demand for alternative testing and is running out of testing space for students during midterms this semester," Winters said. "They actually had to request additional classroom space from different offices on campus to meet the demands. This is just recommending that the office gets additional classroom space in Close-Hipp."
The legislation was adopted unanimously.
The next piece of legislation, also introduced by Lyons, was a recommendation to encourage the university to make sure all students in on-campus residences have access to battery recycling receptacles.
Lyons said the recommendation encourages the university to put battery recycling bins in every residence halls and some of the residence halls already have them. He said the bin is a thin cylinder that people can put various kinds of batteries into.
"Not all residence halls have battery recycling containers, and when batteries are thrown in the trash, they end up in landfills, leaking toxic chemicals into water systems, which harms both animals and humans," Lyons said. "We spoke with the Director of Residence Life, who confirmed the university is already working to provide these containers in every residence hall. This recommendation simply supports those efforts to help students recycle properly."
The legislation was adopted by a voice vote.
Another piece of legislation, introduced by the Inclusion and Equity Committee, was a recommendation to modify the Faculty Research Database to make it easier for students to find faculty researchers who are accepting students for the current academic term.
At the previous meeting, Chairwoman of the Inclusion and Equity Committee Laukhika Kasetty said the goal of the legislation is to improve student involvement in research on campus. To achieve this, the committee focused on enhancing the Faculty Research Database, which helps students find faculty members based on research interests and department.
However, according to Kasetty, the database lacks a way to identify faculty who are actively seeking students. She said the recommendation proposes that the Undergraduate Research Office update the database to include information on faculty currently accepting students and add a search filter to make it easier for students to find these opportunities. Similar systems are already in place at other universities, such as the University of North Carolina and the University of Texas.
The legislation was adopted by a voice vote.
An additional piece of legislation was a recommendation to allow the Finance Committee to allocate funds to various student organizations.
According to Chairman of the Finance Committee William Wenzel, the Finance Committee reviewed $20,784.99 and allocated $17,798.94.
According to the recommendation, the Finance Committee allocated funding to various student organizations as follows: Carolina Model United Nations received $10,570.52, American Society of Mechanical Engineers was allocated $331.42, Student Basic Needs Coalition received $395.37, Indian Cultural Organization was granted $460.00, Exercise is Medicine received $220.00, Chabad Jewish Student Organization was allocated $1,500.00, International Soccer Club received $1,336.63, Carolina Competitive Dance Club was granted $135.00, and Gamecock Barbell Club was allocated $2,850.00.
The legislation passed by unanimous consent.
Student senate will hold one more session before Thanksgiving break next Wednesday, Nov. 20 at 5:30 p.m. in the Russell House Theater. All students are welcome to attend these meetings.