USAC recap – April 21

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 417 and are open to all students. Watch a live stream of the meeting on the USAC Live! YouTube channel.

Agenda

• The transfer student representative office gave a special presentation to propose increases to the operational hours of the Bruin Bus to extend service to 9 p.m. The plan called on USAC to fund the project because UCLA Transportation Services, which currently funds the Bruin Bus, would not fund the project. The estimated cost for adding two additional hours to the Bruin Bus service would be about $1.56 per student, or a total of $45,000, each year. In its presentation, the transfer representative office also proposed for UCLA to be included in the Inter-UC Transit System, a project founded by UC Berkeley, which aims to link UC campuses by providing bus services. The office is currently meeting with administrators to determine the costs of the transit system.
• Council unanimously passed a resolution calling for USAC to combat inequalities in education.
• Council unanimously passed a resolution to recognize and honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The resolution calls on the administration to create a memorial for King at the bottom of Janss Steps where he gave a speech to the UCLA community on April 27, 1965.
• A proposal to change the guidelines for recording council meetings was tabled until next week.

Officer Reports

• USAC President Avinoam Baral said he spoke to California State Senator Ben Allen on Friday to lobby for changes in the UC system. On Tuesday, Baral attended the forum addressing public safety concerns associated with marijuana legalization, which was led in part by Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom. Baral said he will meet assemblymember Jimmy Gomez, who represents northeastern Los Angeles next Friday.
• Internal Vice President Heather Hourdequin said a West Side Initiative meeting will be held on May 18 at the UCLA Police Department building in Westwood. The West Side Initiative meetings are quarterly meetings that aim to improve communication between local landlords who own property near UCLA community housing.
• External Vice President Conrad Contreras said a student lobby conference was held on the weekend and on Monday students lobbied California senators to increase funding for the UC. At a University of California Student Association board meeting, the UCs voted on pulling out of the United States Student Association. Contreras said it would be more effective to be involved in just a state lobby. Contreras said there will be a photo campaign to fight proposed cuts to Pell Grants. He added the EVP Office, the Academic Affairs Commission and Samahang Pilipino Advancing Community Empowerment organized events for Fight for Education week, which aims to highlight the lack of opportunities for students from low-income families to attain higher education.
• General Representative 1 Manjot Singh said that his office will hold a mental health awareness festival, called Bruins’ Day Off, on Thursday. In addition, Singh said his office will be co-hosting a workshop on bias reporting at the diversity forum on Thursday.
• Academic Affairs Commissioner Allyson Bach said her office will hold activities for Fight for Education week.
• Marvin Chen, a proxy for Student Wellness Commissioner Savannah Badalich, said SWC is putting on a wide variety of events during Bruin Health week. Events range from yoga to sex positivity workshops.
• Transfer Student Representative Negeen Sadeghi-Movahed said her office finished creating a transfer academic guide, which will be ready for incoming transfer students fall quarter. Sadeghi-Movahed expressed her concerns with a heckler at Sunday’s endorsement hearing and questioned Election Board’s response to the heckler.

Compiled by Nicholas Yu, Bruin contributor.