USAC recap — May 20

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 undergraduate student council voted unanimously for the Finance Committee to investigate the leaked LET’S ACT! documents, which allege that members of the slate used student fees to fund their election campaign. The committee’s findings will be forwarded to the Judicial Board.
• The council voted unanimously to approve an allocation of $6,020 from the Contingency Programming Fund.
• The council voted unanimously to approve the appointment of the councilmembers to the various standing committees, including the budget and appointment review committees.
• A representative from the California Public Interest Research Group at UCLA gave a presentation to councilmembers on the goals and accomplishments of the group, and informed them that 3,653 students pledged to CALPIRG this year, raising $128,886.
• Members of the Sikh Student Association gave a presentation on the values and teachings of Sikhism, and informed councilmembers that May 27 was Sikh Awareness Day.
• The editor in chief of the Facing Project gave a presentation on the work the project does in shedding light on student narratives, informing the council of the events happening this week as part of Facing Project Week.

Officer Reports

• President Heather Rosen said she met with outgoing Graduate Student Association President Michael Hirshman and incoming President Milan Chatterjee to find ways for USAC and GSA to coordinate more closely. She also said she attended a meeting of the California Coalition for Public Higher Education on Wednesday, and had the opportunity to talk with University of California President Janet Napolitano regarding middle-income students’ financial issues. Rosen said she also met with former USAC President Avinoam Baral, Hirshman and Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Janet Montero to discuss how housing fees are spent.
• Internal Vice President Heather Hourdequin met with UCPD to discuss safety issues in Westwood and UCLA, including transients in the residential dorms and peeping in the North Village. Hourdequin also met with Los Angeles City Attorney Veronica de la Cruz-Robles to discuss increasing street lighting in the North Village.
• External Vice President Zach Helder said he went to Sacremento last week to meet with staffers in Gov. Jerry Brown’s office and state legislators. He said while he supports the current two-year freeze on tuition for in-state students, his office will continue to lobby and achieve the same for out-of-state students as well. He added he and Rosen met with California Secretary of State Alex Padilla to discuss how to increase voter turnout among students.
• Academic Affairs Commissioner Trent Kajikawa said he met with administrators in the UCLA Office of Instructional Development to discuss undergraduate student-initiated education, peer learning labs and ways to increase student participation in professor evaluations.
• Student Wellness Commissioner Marvin Chen said he met with members of the UCLA Healthy Campus Initiative to discuss ways to collaborate with an administrator from the Arthur Ashe Student Health and Wellness Center to create a theme for the next academic year.

Compiled by Rupan Bharanidaran, Bruin contributor.