Make your school work for you

Throughout the summer your Undergraduate Student Association
Council has been preparing for what will be an exciting and
monumental year. In more ways than one, USAC intends to rock this
university while ensuring that all students experience a sense of
their own power and receive the best quality college experience.
Each of our 13 offices has individual programs planned for the
coming year, and I’d like to use this opportunity to inform
you of our major collective campaigns for the year and discuss how
you can get involved.

With the upcoming election, it is critical that students
register to vote, become educated voters, and vote en masse. That
is why USAC will lead a major voter-registration and
voter-education effort this year.

It is important that our voice be loud; the development of a
strong and solid student voter base has much greater implications
than one election. Achieving a massive youth voter turnout gives
leverage when advocating student needs at both the state and
national level.

Every year when we lobby Congress on issues like increasing
financial aid and funding outreach programs, we get the same spiel.
The No. 1 motivation for Congress to vote in a given way is its
need to please voting constituencies. In a time when we face
increasing fee hikes along with cuts in student services, we need
to show our representatives that they must prioritize our education
and work with us to make access to higher education a right for all
students. You can help by registering and getting informed through
our events ““ from info-ballot workshops to Rock the Vote
concerts.

Our next campaign is called the Free UCLA project and revolves
around securing campus programming autonomy. UCLA is more than a
place where you take classes. It’s a community. With over 700
student organizations and constant student-run programs
supplementing our education, our ability to have night and outdoor
programming is key to fostering a welcoming environment for all
students. Year in and year out we see the presentation of fantastic
outdoor events like the Jazz/Reggae Festival, Spring Sing and the
Welcome Week Concert. These events are not only some of the best
shows in town but have the ability to unite thousands of students
and L.A. community members. Unfortunately, we’ve recently
experienced unreasonable demands and greater restraints from the
UCLA administration (which is under pressure mainly from the
homeowners who live alongside UCLA) in our attempts to put on these
events that have defined UCLA for years.

Though USAC respects the comfort of our neighbors, this respect
must be reciprocated by allowing students to participate in
decisions affecting student life. We seek to work out a compromise
with the administration and homeowners that accommodates our
neighbors but is fair to students and allows everyone to benefit
from UCLA programming.

Finally, the Expected Cumulative Progress requirement, the
updated minimum progress requirement, now affects first- through
fourth-years students and mandates that students in the College of
Letters and Sciences take a heavy load of courses. Beginning with a
first quarter of 13 units, requirements are increased so that
students take a minimum of 16 units per quarter by the end of their
fourth-year ““ unless prior units have been accumulated. The
administration suggests that we counter ECP with summer school, but
many of us have other jobs during this time. Students who do not
meet these requirements are put on ECP probation. USAC members have
witnessed the disproportionate affect on students who get involved
in community service and leadership activities. In addition,
nontraditional students and those who must work in a time of rising
student fees are unfairly denied the opportunity to learn at their
own pace and are placed under enormous stress to perform at
impractical standards. For those who plan on attending graduate
school, ECP brings about a catch-22 by virtually eliminating the
ability to drop classes: “Should I receive a bad grade and
risk weakening my grad school application, or should I drop and
risk being placed on ECP probation?”

Overall, university policy must fundamentally seek to improve
the quality of life for students, but ECP pushes students in the
wrong direction. The minimum progress expected of fifth-year
students, 36 units per year, is much more conducive to a holistic
learning environment and ensures that students don’t stay
forever.

We ask for your help this year as we launch a full campaign to
gather data describing the impact of ECP on our students.
Educational programming will be provided starting the third week of
fall quarter ““ our annual Academic Empowerment Week.

As you can see, there’s much to be done and we need your
help. During Welcome Week be sure to attend the carnival, concert
and Kerckhoff Open House to learn how you can get involved with the
different offices of USAC, our campaigns and our internship.

And have fun. We promise you that getting involved will only
help make this campus smaller and enrich your overall Bruin
experience.

Remember always that this is your school and it must work for
you.

Palma/Saracho is the 2004-05 USAC president.