USAC recap – Sept. 12

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

Special Presentations

• Peter Angelis, assistant vice chancellor of UCLA Housing and Hospitality services, and Administrative Vice Chancellor Michael Beck gave a presentation on proposed housing developments on campus. Angelis said that three new residence halls will be built on the hill, including near the Tom Bradley International Hall, the Lot 15 parking lot between Saxon and Hitch Residential Suites, and along the upper edge of Drake Stadium.
• He added the university is also planning on constructing apartment buildings for third and fourth-year students, replacing the UCLA Extension building and Warren Hall with apartment complexes containing two-bedroom units.
• Angelis said the university is looking into providing more affordable housing options for students in Westwood.

Officer and member reports

• USAC President Arielle Yael Mokhtarzadeh said she met with Jerry Kang, vice chancellor for equity, diversity and inclusion, to discuss the end of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program and steps the university is taking to support undocumented students. DACA, which President Donald Trump ended last week, was a program created by former President Barack Obama that deferred deportation for undocumented individuals brought to the United States as children.
• Mokhtarzadeh added she with met Josh O’Connor, assistant director of Residential Life, to discuss how USAC officers can help volunteer during the UCLA Westwood Village Block Party. The event, which is for first-year and transfer students, will take place Sept. 24 and features an outdoor vendor fair and party.
• External Vice President Chloe Pan said her office has been visiting congressional members’ district offices to lobby for financial aid legislation. She added her office is monitoring various bills in the state legislature that protect undocumented individuals, including Senate Bill 54, which would limit state and local law enforcement officials from enforcing immigration law.
• Pan said her office is hosting a closed town hall meeting next week between undocumented students and Rep. Ted Lieu, who represents California’s 33rd Congressional District, which includes Westwood. She added the town hall is an opportunity for Lieu to hear undocumented students’ concerns regarding Trump’s decision to end DACA.
• Academic Affairs Commissioner Divya Sharma said he is helping Improving Dreams, Equality, Access and Success, an undocumented student group, hold a fruit sale later this month to raise funding to pay for students’ DACA renewals. DACA recipients have until Oct. 5 to renew their status and obtain two more years of protection against deportation.
• Sharma added he is working on creating an online form where students can report any incidents with UCPD that they think breach protocol.
• Campus Events Commissioner Nedda Saidian said that floor tickets in Bruin Bash would be offered at a first-come, first-served basis. She added that students would have to enter a lottery to get a bleacher seat at the event. Bruin Bash will take place Sept. 25 in Pauley Pavilion and host about 10,000 students.
• Cultural Affairs Commissioner Malik Flournoy-Hooker said Bruin Bash is providing more floor tickets this year than it did last year.

Agenda

• The council approved an allocation of $2,435 from the Contingency Programming Fund to student groups.
• The council tabled two action items because the language of the changes was not released to the public prior to the meeting. One action item was to amend the election code so that slates can no longer raise any money for candidates, a change from being able to raise up to $200 for each, and the other was to change bylaws regarding Student Government Operational Funding.
• Sharma proposed the council use its discretionary funding to help pay DACA renewal fees for undocumented students. He added he is currently developing the proposal, and plans to bring it to the council for a formal vote in the future.