USAC recap – Oct. 11

The Undergraduate Students Association Council is the official student government representing the undergraduate student body at UCLA. Council meetings usually take place every week 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.

Special presentations

• Dana Carrera, a third-year sociology student, and Parshan Khosravi, a graduate student in public policy, presented on the pay disparity between student workers and full-time employees at Bruin Café. Khosravi compared policies for student workers and other UCLA employees, showing disparities in pay and description of duties. He also presented historical analysis of past student worker unionization and the shortcomings of past unionization efforts.
• Khosravi said he hopes to include student workers under the recent UC legislation dictating a $15 minimum wage, which currently excludes student workers or to eliminate the 19.5-hour cap that students can work.

Agenda

• USAC Internal Vice President Sabrina Zeigler led the meeting on behalf of President Danny Siegel, who was not present.
• Zeigler appointed Marissa Ericson, a third-year psychology student, to the Drug-Free Schools Committee.
• Zeigler appointed Virginia Su, a fourth-year political studies student, to the Student Health Advisory Committee.
• Zeigler appointed Pratik Malshe, a third-year business economics student, as the Finance Committee Vice Chair.
• Zeigler appointed Lynda Bui, a second-year economics student, and Ryan Ender, a second-year business economics student, to the Finance Committee.
• The council approved the Academic Affairs Commission Travel Grant Fund Guidelines.
• The council approved the Student Wellness Commission Programming Fund amended guidelines.

Officer reports

• Academic Affairs Commissioner Ashly Mohankumar said she met with Graduate Student Association officials and the Academic Senate Committee about conducting a survey on teaching quality at UCLA. She said they talked about whether there will be problems with student-teacher ratios with increased enrollment and whether teaching assistants will be moved to certain departments.

• Student Wellness Commissioner Christina Lee said she spoke with the Arthur Ashe Student Health & Wellness Center about her plan to make pads and tampons available to students for free. Lee said her committee is also looking to install dispensers in the Ashe Center or a public vending machine.