USAC recap – Sept. 29

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

Agenda

• External Vice President Zach Helder and Chief of Staff Nathan Skadsen, a fourth-year political science student, gave a special presentation detailing the office’s budget for the federal lobby corps and Bruin Defenders, a student lobbying funding program.
• Helder said that by withdrawing from the United States Student Association, his office will be able to increase funding for student groups that want to advocate at the state or national level. Helder said that in the past the office could only allocate around $7,000 each year to student groups for advocacy purposes. Helder said his office will have $50,000 available this year for students groups under Bruin Defenders.
• Helder said he will create step-by-step instructions on how to apply for funding to ensure that all student groups will have a fair shot of receiving funds. Helder added that students who have a compelling story relating to a pending legislation will have a greater chance of receiving those funds.
• Helder said that the federal lobby corps will compound on the advocacy of student groups under Bruin Defenders. Helder said the lobby corps had a successful inaugural visit to Washington D.C., and said that HR 1713, the Student Loan Repayment Assistant Act of 2015, is still alive because of the corps’ work in Congress.
• The council unanimously approved all summer appointments.
• The council unanimously appointed an allocation of $3,600 from the Contingency Programming Fund.

Officer reports

• President Heather Rosen said she met with Judicial Board Chief Justice Rachel Beyda and said that there might be updates to the judicial board bylaws. Rosen added that the council will be making two other judicial board member appointments later on in the quarter.
• External Vice President Zach Helder said he met with Keith Parker, assistant vice chancellor of government and community relations, to discuss about the state’s budget and SB 376. Helder added that he talked with members of the U.S. Senate about supporting the Perkins Loan program and said that the House of Representatives recently passed a one-year extension for the program.
• Student Wellness Commissioner Marvin Chen said that he is planning for Campus Safety Week which will occur on fourth week. Chen added that Mental Illness Awareness Week is next week. Chen said that his commission is trying to extend its partnership with the Pediatric AIDS Coalition, an affiliate organization of the Student Wellness Commission.
• Chen said he met with Nicole Green, director of Campus Assault Resources and Education (CARE) and prevention programs at UCLA Counseling and Psychological Services, to discuss about the over-demand for services at CAPS.
• Chen said he has plans for Active Minds to partner with CAPS in an attempt to alleviate traffic from CAPS.

Compiled by Nicholas Yu, Bruin senior staff.