USAC recap – Feb. 28

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

Special presentations

• USAC President Danny Siegel, External Vice President Rafi Sands and Internal Vice President Sabrina Zeigler presented a USAC resolution that stated the council supports the Los Angeles 2024 Olympic Bid. The resolution also said USAC is concerned about state expenditures for the event in light of tuition hikes.
• The council suggested amending the resolution to better take student life into account. It later approved the USAC Resolution on 2024 Olympic Bid Support Approval, with changes to four clauses.

Agenda

• The council approved an allocation of $6,852 for the Contingency Programming Fund, $495 to the Facilities Commission and $1,165.77 for the Capital Contingency Fund.

• The council approved an allocation from the Art Restoring Community Fund to the Iranian Student Group.

• The council approved allocations from the Approved Academic Success Referendum Fund to the Indian Language Club, the Taiwanese American Union, the Muslim Students Association and the Chinese Students and Scholars Association.

• The council approved changes made to the election board calendar.

Officer reports

• Siegel said he met with UC President Janet Napolitano and other UC student presidents to discuss Governor Jerry Brown’s proposal to provide middle class scholarships. They also spoke about ways to prevent sexual violence and harassment on UC campuses and ways to protect undocumented students in light of recent executive orders from the Trump administration.

• Siegel said he met with Sandy Brown, the Westwood Neighborhood Council president, to discuss student engagement with local government. He added there will be a Campus Climate Committee event on implicit bias Wednesday from 6 to 8 p.m. in the Bruin Viewpoint Room.

• Zeigler said Pride Week will be week 3 of spring quarter.

• Sands said he has prepared voter worksheets for the Los Angeles city election. He added a press conference will happen Thursday about Measure S.

• Academic Affairs Commissioner Ashly Mohankumar said the Academic Committee met with the UCLA Registrar’s office to discuss making MyUCLA more accessible. The committee also met with Information Technology Services about adding more Wi-Fi access points across campus.

• Student Wellness Commissioner Christina Lee said her office has been cooperating with Greek life to increase recycling on campus, and will be installing recycling bins at Kappa Delta.

• Facilities Commissioner Sandra Rhee presented the Facilities Management and Accountability Initiative, which encourages students to voice their concerns on social media. She added the text service number will be 55588, which students can text to ask general campus questions.

• Financial Support Commissioner Ariel Rafalian said his office is working on programming for Financial Wellness Week.

• Campus Events Commissioner Jordan Dang said the film Table 19 will screen on campus before it comes to theaters.

• General Representative 1 Zoe Borden said she is working with the Career Center to focus Career Week on trends in the job market by including companies that work with artificial intelligence or virtual reality.

• General Representative 2 Ruchit Majmudar said there will be a South Campus Entrepreneurial Coalition meeting during week nine. He added about 50 students will be able to visit SpaceX headquarters in the spring.

• General Representative 3 Inan Chowdhury said Sigma C.H.A.I. will hold a meeting this Thursday about being an ally for the LGBTQ community. He added there will be a Zumba workshop March 9 in Hedrick Hall.

• Transfer Student Representative Divya Sharma said his office is creating a wall dedicated to international transfer students. He added it is also working on a MyUCLA app to promote physical and mental health to be released week three of spring.

• Associated Students UCLA Executive Director Bob Williams said UCPD is hosting a “Coffee with a Cop” event next week.