Jacob Chang, president of the undergraduate student government, and Anna Valerius, vice president of USG, sat down to discuss the organization’s initiatives at the midpoint of their term. Credit: Courtesy of Jacob Chang

As concerns of safety, COVID-19 and mental health continue to spread across campus, Jacob Chang, president of the undergraduate student government, said the organization is collaborating with university departments to discuss the needs of students and influence change. 

The Lantern sat down with Chang and Anna Valerius, vice president of USG, to discuss the organization’s initiatives to address transcript notations, reporting discrimination, increasing the minimum wage for dining service workers, improving mental health resources and public safety at the midpoint of their term.

“Jacob and I have been able to, for example, go to different committee meetings and be able to kind of meet with people and just hear their thoughts face to face and just make sure that people feel heard,” Valerius, a fourth-year in political science, said. 

Increasing the minimum wage for student employees

Chang said USG’s Senate Affairs Committee worked with the university’s Office of Student Affairs to increase the hourly wage of dining service workers by 50 cents. 

“That might be a small investment, right? Only 50 cents. But that will generate a half of a million more money for all the student workers in the dining services to collect collectively in a year,” Chang said. 

According to the Office of Student Life’s website, dining employees start at $10 per hour.

Valerius said she and Chang are discussing expanding the initiative to all student employees  with Ohio State’s Chief Financial Officer Michael Papadakis.

Mental Health 

Chang, a fourth-year in psychology and political science, said the Commission of Mental Health will meet Wednesday to organize the implementation of USG’s mental health recommendations — such as providing incoming students access to a therapist when they arrive at Ohio State, increasing mental health services in students’ native languages and having social workers respond to 911 calls alongside police officers to aid in de-escalating situations.

The goal of the commission is to continue to increase mental health education and evolve with new concerns, Valerius said. Some of the recommendations can be implemented as soon as the end of the semester.

Valerius said the goal is to figure out how to implement the recommendations at Ohio State in order to make sure that mental health care is embedded into “every single piece of the Ohio State experience.”

Safety

Chang said he and Valerius collaborated with the university to address the safety needs of students — such as providing safety devices, off-campus lighting and Buckeye Block Watch patrols. 

Following investment into these safety measures, University President Kristina M. Johnson reported Dec. 1 that area crime reduced by 60 percent. 

Reporting discrimination

Chang said USG also proposed a change to the discrimation reporting mandate. The initiative, pending approval from University President Kristina M. Johnson’s cabinet in January 2022, will make reporting cases of discrimination to the Office of Diversity and Inclusion mandatory. 

Chang said this policy would ensure the Buckeye community stays in check regarding cases of discrimination. 

“No one’s being punished,” Chang said. “It’s the mindset that needs to be established.” 

Under Title IX, the university requires employees to report all cases of sexual misconduct.

Valerius said to ensure the policy is being followed, USG is discussing a supplemental module to teach incoming Ohio State students about discrimination, so they know when to report it to the university. However, no decisions as to what the module will include or a date of implementation have been set. 

Changes to transcript notations

Chang said USG worked with the Office of Student Life and the Office of Academic Affairs to remove a disciplinary notation from a student’s transcript once the suspension period for the misconduct has been fulfilled. 

The policy started in November, and Chang said it works to ensure that students’ past actions aren’t held against them in the future. 

“The fundamental idea is when you service your suspension time, a notation will get removed off your transcript,” Chang said. “Then you’re able to continue to engage in career opportunities, graduate school or anything after your undergrad without worry about that impacting your potential evaluation offered by other stakeholders in the applying process.” 

However, notations will not be removed if a student was suspended due to sexual misconduct or discrimination, Chang said.