USAC recap – Jan. 19

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. The meeting Jan. 19 took place in Covel Commons. Watch a live stream of the meetings on the USAC Live! YouTube channel.

Special Presentations

• USAC President Heather Rosen and Finance Committee Chair Stephanie Wong explained to the council the concept of surplus funds. Surplus is unspent funding from the previous fiscal year that is available for use the current fiscal year, Rosen said. The net allocable surplus for this year is $36,156 which is the lowest in the last five fiscal years, Rosen added. Wong said that net allocable surplus is the portion of the total surplus that can be allocated to council initiatives or funding bodies.
• Rosen also mentioned that many fees USAC receives are not tied to inflation. If the membership fee was tied to inflation, the membership fee would raise a extra $1 million, from the current $850,000 to an inflation-adjusted estimate of $1.8 million, Rosen added.

Agenda

• The council unanimously approved an allocation request of $200 from the Discretionary Fund to purchase a memorial plaque for Berky Nelson.
• The council unanimously approved an allocation of $3,850 from the Contingency Programming Fund.

Officer Reports

• President Heather Rosen said she attended an event commemorating Berky Nelson, who recently passed away, on Jan. 19.
• Internal Vice President Heather Hourdequin said that Los Angeles Deputy City Attorney Veronica de la Cruz-Robles will send someone to survey the lighting infrastructure in Westwood within the next several months.
• External Vice President Zach Helder said staff in his office are undergoing advocacy training. He also said that student advocacy efforts has helped increase the support for H.R. 1713, the Student Loan Repayment Assistance Act of 2015. Helder added he recently talked to Congressman Eric Swalwell (D-CA) to discuss the important of H.R. 1713.
• Academic Affairs Commissioner Trent Kajikawa said the first Academic Senate Executive Board meeting of 2016 will be on Jan. 21. Kajikawa also said that he will be talking to the Life Sciences Core Education department to discuss about efforts to streamline the peer learning program.
• Community Service Commissioner Zack Dameron said that the Non-Profit Networking Night is on Jan. 20.

Compiled by Kartik Kolachina, Bruin contributor.