USAC recap – Oct. 20

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

Agenda

• The council unanimously passed a resolution urging a speedy passage of federal student loan legislation.
• The council appointed Judy Ly, a third-year economics student, onto the Community Service Mini Fund committee with a 10-0-1 vote.
• The council unanimously appointed an allocation of $1,520 from the Contingency Programming Fund.
• The Academic Affairs commissioner allocated $100 from the Academic Success Referendum Fund.
• The external vice president allocated $1,000 for student lobbying programs.

Officer reports

• President Heather Rosen said that she discussed the future in-state enrollment increase with members from the Council of Presidents, University of California Student Association President Kevin Sabo and UC Student Regent Avi Oved.
• Rosen said she had a meeting with Milan Chatterjee, the Graduate Students Association president, and they updated each other regarding their future plans.
• Rosen said the the Statement of Principles Against Intolerance was vague and said that the UC Regents have created a committee to research ways to make the statement more specific. Rosen added that the committee will come talk to UCLA students Monday.
• External Vice President Heather Hourdequin said that Campus Safety Week is this week. Hourdequin said that she will be convening with the Campus Safety Alliance to follow up on discussions of campus safety.
• Hourdequin said that she hopes to bring a representative from the American Civil Liberties Union to talk about the rights students have.
• Hourdequin said that she has a meeting set up with Art Kirkland, director of the Office of Emergency Management, to talk about BruinAlert and better understand the verification process involved before sending a BruinAlert.
• Hourdequin said that she will outline ways Friday to pressure landlords to make apartments more safe. Hourdequin said that several other councilmembers and members from the Westwood Neighborhood Council will also help out.
• External Vice President Zach Helder said that 90 students will be going to the Students of Color Conference. Helder added that they received about 350 applications.
• Helder said that he is working with nongovernmental organizations to increase voter registration on campus.
• Helder said that he reached out to Ramona Cortes Garza, the UCLA executive director of state government relations, to discuss sending a delegation of councilmembers to legislators in Washington, D.C.
• Helder said that his office reached out to Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-Vt.) campaigning staff and want to bring him to campus.
• Helder said he had a difficult meeting with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees 3299 union, the largest union in the University of California, who he said are staunchly supportive of SB 376.
• Helder said that he has reached out to Lark Park, Gov. Brown’s senior advisor, to discuss next year’s enrollment. Helder added that the UC has allocated $25 million to enroll an extra 5,000 students next year but said that that would not be enough.
• Academic Affairs Commissioner Trent Kajikawa said that he discussed hosting a sexual violence symposium with the Bruin Consent Coalition.
• Kajikawa said that he reached out to Joel Lanzaga, the GSA vice president of academic affairs, to discuss their plans for the future, including creating a mentorship program.
• Kajikawa said that there will be a town hall seventh or eight week where students can ask questions to members of the Academic Senate.
• Kajikawa said that students can receive academic counseling on the Hill and recommended students to take advantage of that.
• The Community Service Commissioner Zack Dameron said that Day of Service is on Nov. 6 and asked councilmembers and their staff to participate in the event.

Compiled by Nicholas Yu, Bruin senior staff.