On Wednesday, Sep. 7, Michigan Tech’s Undergraduate Student Government (USG) held its second meeting of the semester. They discussed voter engagement, financial aid, career preparation, and a proposed change to how USG resolves tied elections.
The meeting began with a presentation on voter engagement. The guest speaker was Director of Student Leadership and Involvement, Danielle Meirow. Her presentation focused on training USG members on how to answer common questions students may have about voting. Members were encouraged to help students understand voter registration, absentee voting, and how to create a plan to vote, while keeping conversations nonpartisan.
During the presentation, Michigan Tech’s voting rates were also discussed. Out of the registered Michigan Tech voters, about 42 percent of them showed up to the polls, which is far higher than the national average of 30 percent. Students were also reminded that college students can choose to either register at their permanent addresses or at their college residence.
A large portion of the meeting centered on a proposed bylaw change concerning USG elections. Under the current system, the USG President determines the method used to resolve any ties in an election. Members debated whether the change would help distribute decision-making authority or unnecessarily remove authority from the elected President. The discussion was connected to a tied representative election during the previous Spring semester. The proposed change would instead give that responsibility to the four-member E-board. If the E-board were divided 2-2, the President would cast the deciding vote. After the debate concluded, the proposed amendment failed, leaving the existing process in place.
In other business, USG created the 2026 Student Activity Fee Review Task Force, which will examine the fee and prepare information for presentation at the first Board of Trustees meeting next semester. USG also announced several upcoming student opportunities. Additionally, Sock It To Hunger begins the following week, with students able to bring donations to the USG office in exchange for homecoming socks, while supplies last. Additionally, Neely Cornelius was sworn in as a Temporary Associate Member, representing the Special Budgetary Group (SBG) Council of student organizations.
The next USG meeting will be held on Wednesday, Sep. 16 at 7 p.m. in the MUB Alumni Lounge.
