USAC meeting draws low rate of turnout

By Sophia Chakos-Leiby
Daily Bruin Contributor

The Undergraduate Students Association Council general student
body meeting ““ organized to inform students and gain input
about rising housing and parking rates ““ turned into an
informal discussion when only 20 people, including USAC and On
Campus Housing Commission members, showed up at Covel Commons on
Wednesday.

USAC President Karren Lane said attendance was probably low
because there were a lot of other student events in the dorm
area.

Members did not pass any resolutions or make plans for action.
The two groups ““ also joined by student representatives from
the Associated Students of UCLA ““ just “exchanged
information and plans for change,” Lane said.

OCHC member Adam Harmetz criticized the administration for using
floor lounges as residence space for the backlog of students
waiting for housing elsewhere ““ such as De Neve, where lounge
students will move this week.

Harmetz argued that empty lounges are necessary since they
provide study space and “are a place where the PA and RA can
build a community.”

OCHC has researched information over the past eight weeks and
will submit a report to the administration on dealing with crowded
student living environments.

USAC also focused on the use of study lounges as residence
space, affordability of housing and changing the classification of
housing from auxiliary, meaning self-supported, to university
supported.

The IVP office is gathering student petitions on the difficulty
of paying for housing on and near campus to submit to the
administration to change the classification of housing.

They are talking with Student Regent Tracy Davis regarding this
issue.

Student Alumni Association president Joe Manko criticized the
administration about raising parking rates, saying they don’t
realize how such increases will discourage student involvement on
campus.

“On the academic side, it will deter people from coming to
campus for lecture series or programs put on at night. Years
back, people were free to (park) on the weekends to utilize
resources at the library or shop at the store. All this
created community,” Manko said.

Starting in July, daily permits increase from $6 to
$7. Monthly yellow permits will rise from $48 to $52; blue
permits from $60 to $64; and X permits from $84 to $91.

Lane said she will re-schedule the general body meeting for the
first or second week of spring quarter.

The attendance Wednesday was a dramatic decrease from the first
USAC general body meeting held in November, when about 150 students
came, Lane said.

Lane said she expects more students to come to the meeting next
quarter and added that input is imperative to changing the
administration’s housing and parking policies.

“These meetings are a good way they can come together as a
collective,” she said.

Austin will help put out USAC’s newsletter, USAC Insight,
and start an e-mail system where students can anonymously post
questions, concerns and feedback that Austin said she will report
weekly to council.

“I could never represent 23,000 undergraduates, so I want
to create processes where they represent themselves,” Austin
said.