USAC recap – Nov. 18

The Undergraduate Students Association Council is the official student government representing the undergraduate student body at UCLA. Council meetings take place every week on Tuesdays at 7 p.m. in Kerckhoff Hall 417 and are open to all students. Watch a live stream of the meeting on the USAC Live! Youtube Channel. Public Comments

• Public comment included 30 speakers, given two minutes each, who were pro-divestment. There were no public comments that came from students against the resolution.

Agenda

• The council voted to amend the agenda so that officer reports happened at the end of the meeting.
• Members of the council voted on the divestment resolution, which is a movement to divest from companies that some say contribute to and profit from human rights violations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
• Council unanimously approved contingency fund allocations of more than $1,800.

Special presentations

• Two 15-minute special presentations were given. The first was on behalf of Students for Justice in Palestine, a group in favor of divestment that showed a video featuring two Muslim students who shared their experiences in the West Bank, followed by a slideshow on the effects of Israeli occupation in the Palestinian territories.
• The second presentation was given by four representatives of Bruins for Israel who explained there were alternative solutions other than divestment that could be more efficient. “Even in the Middle East where there are rockets being fired … leaders can sit in a room together. Why can’t we do that here?” said Bruins for Israel President Eytan Davidovits.

Officer reports

• USAC President Avinoam Baral said he met with Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Janina Montero about Tuesday’s USAC meeting and the divestment resolution. He added that he is working on building his office as newly sworn-in USAC president. The applications to fill the vacancy in the Internal Vice President’s office will be distributed online through social media this week. Open interviews for the position will be held over the weekend and the council will vote to approve Baral’s nomination to fill the empty seat. As acting internal vice president, Baral announced a student vendor fair that will take place on Monday.
• Academic Affairs Commissioner Allyson Bach said she met with the Registrar’s Office last week to discuss a four-year class planner through MyUCLA. She said her office will be distributing a survey to examine what students would like to see in the planner. She said she is working with the Registrar’s Office to implement a preferred name option on MyUCLA so that students will feel safer in the classroom and be able to use their preferred name on class rosters. Bach said she is sponsoring a resolution to improve the diversity requirement in the College of Letters and Science that the council will vote on next Tuesday. She said that her office is hosting a federal research expo Wednesday in Kerckhoff Grand Salon.

The meeting was adjourned at 12:05 a.m. Compiled by Jillian Frankel, Bruin contributor.