Student-run programs require stable funding

McKesey is a third-year political science and African-American
studies student. She serves as the chairwoman of the SIOC.

By Anica McKesey

The elimination of race, ethnicity and gender from the
University of California admissions process in 1995 inspired UCLA
student organizations to develop the Student-Initiated Outreach
Committee.

Recognizing an educational and social crisis in the state of
California that is also rampant throughout this country, the
current SIOC projects provide direct services to disenfranchised
communities based on the fundamental belief that education is a
human right.

It is these student organizations that are at the forefront of
student-initiated outreach and retention programs in the country,
calling on students to take the necessary steps to reverse the
detrimental effects of educational disadvantage.

On July 26, Governor Gray Davis signed the California state
budget, which includes $44,753,000 to all University of California
outreach efforts. Included in this package was a $1 million
commitment to student-initiated efforts on all nine of the UC
campuses.

However, Davis left a $2 million cut in the overall outreach
budget (originally $46,753,000); he left it to the discretion of
the UC.

In signing the budget, Davis acknowledges the importance,
effectiveness and need for student-initiated outreach efforts, and
UCLA’s SIOC is confident that the UC will recognize
students’ efforts. After all, it is our projects that have
consistently attempted to ensure the UC student population
represents the diversity of the state of California in a
post-affirmative action era.

The SIOC provides an environment that empowers both college
students and those served in educationally disadvantaged
communities.

Through peer advising, tutoring, mentorship, interaction with
parents and a plethora of other services, the youth become
proactive about their education and make it relevant to their
diverse experiences.

UCLA students who act as advisors, tutors and mentors remain
grounded in the fact that they are representatives of the community
from which they come and can never view themselves as isolated
individuals in the university. The SIOC was created on these
beliefs.

It is important that we define “student-initiated”
outreach and the unique qualities of student-initiated efforts.
Student-initiated and student-run outreach enables UCLA students to
create outreach projects that address the particular needs of
particular communities.

As students who come directly from the communities we serve, we
have the experience and understand the needs of the communities
from which we come. Through the SIOC, our projects target diverse
communities, each working under a system created by students
effectively holding our services accountable to the community.

The SIOC is now composed of projects sponsored by the following
student advocacy groups: African Student Union, American Indian
Students Association, Asian Pacific Coalition and Pacific Islander
Student Association, MEChA de UCLA, Muslim Students Association,
Samahang Pilipino and Vietnamese Student Union.

Although, the university offers its own outreach efforts through
Early Academic Outreach Programs (EAOP), it is student-initiated
and student-run efforts at UCLA that empower students to define our
own philosophy, methodology and approaches to outreach.

At UCLA, we seek to empower the students we serve academically
while we provide support with social, economic, community and
family issues that also impact their ability to maximize their
potential.

Student-assessed fees and the UC currently fund the SIOC. The
state budget passed last month would help the SIOC projects to
further grow and develop.

The costs of running seven outreach projects with as many as
five sites within each project requires staff, volunteers,
supplies, educational materials and transportation ““ costs
that can seem overwhelming and should not be funded solely by
students.

In order to solidify the funding allocated by the state, the
SIOC plans to submit a proposal to the UCOP and UCLA administration
that details the function, goals and objectives of the committee
and its projects, in addition to a plan of action as to how the
money will be used in order to prevent any changes to our
budget.