Seven USAC members discuss the evolution, promise of their platforms

There are about 2 1/2 quarters for undergraduate student government officials to complete their promises to the student body before the next election.

The Undergraduate Students Association Council is composed of 15 officers responsible for representing and serving the student body. However, only 12 of these positions are currently filled, and the council has seen a declining voter turnout over the past 10 years – something the former and current election board chair attributed to a lack of publicity.

In addition to increasing student engagement, council members will deal with challenges specific to each officer on the way towards accomplishing their goals.

Although initiatives or platforms may meet dead ends, council members sometimes transform their ideas or modify their strategies as they learn more about their respective office and council as a whole.

In the spring, candidates have several stages on which to declare their platforms, including a USAC debate, endorsement interviews with the Daily Bruin and their general online and on-campus campaign.

The Bruin interviewed seven council members to discuss their platforms, how they have evolved, where they’ve made progress so far and what obstacles they expect to face as the year progresses.

The other five council members were not able to immediately respond to a request for a comment or did not respond at all.

USAC President Robert Watson:

When shaping his platforms, Watson’s had an overarching objective in mind: longevity of impact.

“(I wanted to do something) that is beyond just my year, that really helps students succeed and enjoy their time at UCLA, beyond just a, one year, one event instant,” Watson said.

His desire to extend his impact beyond his year is something he said distinguishes him from his predecessors.

Watson ran on platforms that sought to increase student engagement; making the council, its resources and UCLA resources more accessible and promoting acceptance, particularly by advocating for gender-inclusive housing.

While Watson has made a stride towards his platforms by guaranteeing free blue books and Scantrons to students for the 2019-2020 year, ensuring the project’s continued existence remains uncertain.

“And that’s difficult because the funding that we secured this year [for the blue books and Scantron initiative] is from a grant that expires this year,” Watson said. “And that raises challenges with how in the future, do we provide a sustainable way to make this something that goes beyond just this year.”

If he is unable to accomplish his goal of longevity, Watson said he at least looks forward to celebrating the accomplishment as a one-year centennial initiative, since it is taking place during the school’s 100th-year anniversary.

In regards to his other platforms, Watson is sitting in on Residential Life administrator meetings about inclusive housing language and options.

A lack of outreach can lead to issues such as low voter turnout and unfilled ballots, which may cause the council as a whole to suffer, Watson said.

“And we’re also not really holding our council members accountable at that point,” Watson said. “If you know students aren’t even engaging in the events that we have, how can they know what we’re doing, and what we’re doing is correct?”

Internal Vice President Kimberly Bonifacio

As a previous member of the IVP’s office, responsible for connecting students and student organizations to UCLA administrations and to the USAC council, Bonifacio knew what challenges she would be facing before entering her leadership role.

Her platform included increasing the influence of the UCLA Campus Safety Alliance, a student and administrative body designed to advocate for and make recommendations regarding campus safety policy.

Bonifacio said the CSA project is one she anticipates to struggle with the most, citing potential administrative push back.

“Oftentimes, students are left in the dark when it comes to the different university policies that are being talked about,” Bonifacio said. “I think that making sure that CSA is a part of that conversation, is going to be (very) difficult and that’s why we have to be more proactive and create better relations with admin.”

Bonifacio also said she wanted to make the USAC website more accessible for students.

She said many previous IVPs struggled with creating a central funding portal for different funding applications for students and student organizations to navigate.

While Bonifacio acknowledged that time, funding and outreach were all important aspects of pushing forward initiatives, she said she thinks outreach is essential to making sure officers are putting on relevant programming for students.

External Vice President Johana Guerra Martinez

Martinez said she wanted to prioritize different communities that are often underrepresented, including her own, while still representing and advocating for all students.

“I feel like there’s always going to be certain things that students want to fight for, which is like affordability, and more resources. … That kind of work will always continue to be done, because we feel that there’s a need,” Martinez said.

Additionally, Martinez, who is an undocumented student herself, shaped her platforms in the spring to support other undocumented students. Her platforms include advocating for an institutional divestment from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, having a deportation defense initiative and supporting unions in their negotiations with the University.

Martinez said she anticipates her “Sanctuary for All” platform, which includes divestment from ICE and union support, will be the most challenging for her to accomplish because they encompass work she did before starting her post as EVP.

Furthermore, with regard to recent contracts that the UC presented to local unions, she said she thinks the next step will be holding the UC accountable to its contract and making sure it follows through.

Academic Affairs Commissioner Naomi Riley

The Academic Affairs Commission is responsible for appointing students to administrative and faculty bodies to provide student input on academic policy, including enrollment requirements and academic program changes. However, changing academic policy can take years, unlike the commissioner’s term.

“That’s the one thing that we don’t have any in USAC, is time … so I think people are always kind of in a frenzy, and that’s why it’s really hard to accomplish things,” Riley said.

She said she plans to continue conversations about about the use of standardized testing in the holistic admission process and increasing the use of technology in classes, such as BruinCast, as part of her goals to increase accessibility and retention.

Riley said she thinks she’ll struggle the most with her office’s goal of the removal of the standardized test scores, such as the SAT, from the admission process, because this initiative is contingent on continuing conversations beyond each candidate’s term to change academic policy.

The Academic Affairs Commission has seen some stagnant initiatives in the past, such as a For the People Scholarship Foundation, a project which was spearheaded by last year’s commissioner to help marginalized students fund their education, but was stymied because of funding issues.

“When the money is there, the platforms can go on forever,” Riley said,

The commission had all of the scholarship’s components beside the funding, Riley said.

While she doesn’t have a concern about outreach, she said she thinks she struggles most with time and funding.

For example, when looking to extend library laptop rental times, she was told there were not enough laptops to increase the rental times. The problem required funding to solve.

However, Riley noted that her work and communication with the previous AACs has helped guide her efforts in the office. She said her predecessors have offered her contacts and resources to continue conversations about academic policy, and she said she plans to take a more research-based approach to her standardized testing platform.

Transfer Student Representative Isabel Oraha

The transfer student representative office was created in the 2014 election, making Oraha only the fifth council member to hold the seat.

However, the novelty of the office also contributed to her office’s biggest challenge.

“The issue was that the transfer rep office didn’t have any type of like foundation or infrastructure, and so every single transfer rep restarted every single year, which doesn’t make any sense for an office that is serving a specific community,” said Oraha.

However, now that the office has established a sustainable way to organize their staff and projects, Oraha said she thinks there will be an increase in overall efficiency.

With regard to her platforms, she said she continued the transfer orientation task force, which discusses transfer orientation with administrators. She also she plans to start an initiative called “Baby Bruins” to provide resources for transfer students with dependents.

She said her biggest barrier will primarily be funding, followed by outreach, and time.

“Outreach, I feel like can be solved through just like passionate work, but like money, like funding, you can have all the passionate hard work in the world and still not get funding,” Oraha said.

Funding might specifically hinder her “Baby Bruin” platform for transfer students with dependents, because it relies on funding and plans to change administrative policy for parents.

As far as how her other platforms are going, she said she is looking forward to the release of the transfer involvement pamphlet and her orientation survey aimed at providing transfers more resources and getting more student input on the orientation process.

Oraha also said while some the initiatives of some offices, such as the general representative office, typically last one year because of the evolving nature of the office, other offices, such as commissions, work on initiatives for years before seeing the fruits of their labor.

General Representative 1 Eduardo Velazquez

The General Representative is in charge of reaching out to students and student organizations in a more direct manner, and typically comes from a certain community, Velazquez said.

The lack of continuity in the general representative office often hinders a representative’s plan to make institutional changes, Velazquez said.

Rather than focusing on programming, which are events organized by an officer, like his predecessors, Velazquez said he wanted to focus on making changes to campus resources. His goals include increasing sensitivity training to the Counseling and Psychological Services center full time staff members, working with the Center for Accessible Education to provide more personalized resources. He also seeks to create a fund for student organization cultural events.

However, to counter the fact that he will only serve in the office for a year, he said he plans to invite student organizations, which often see less transition from one year to the next.

He added this platform of his changed during his time in office. He originally sought to fundraise with campus organizations, but he said he is now exploring how to receive funding from administrators.

Velazquez said he spent this summer setting up his office, but began reaching out to administrative directors.

Cultural Affairs Commissioner Kelechi Iheanacho

Iheanacho said she built her platforms while taking into account that some might not be completed in one year. However, she said as the head of the Cultural Affairs Commission, she wanted to start the groundwork and encourage her successor to continue the work.

One such multi-year platform Iheanacho plans to begin is institutionalizing racial sensitivity training, which she acknowledges will likely not happen by the end of her term. However, she is also continuing the work of her predecessors by helping student organizations receive USAC funding.

She said her office specifically faces issues with the amount of work entrusted to it. As Cultural Affairs commissioner, she is responsible for overseeing Kerckhoff Art Gallery reservations, co-presenting Bruin Bash and managing funding.

“So, I already have groundwork and things to do in my office,” Iheanacho said. “Then with platforms are like an additional (task) on top of that they’re not my only guiding force, like for some other offices.”

She also said she thinks funding might be an issue for distributing money among her own commission.

“I’m very cognizant of the fact that USAC is much more financially afforded than student (organizations) in general, but it’s like, once you start breaking down that money and you cut it into a thousand different slices, you do still have to apply for funding … as people are just trying to do more,” Iheanacho said.

While previous commissioners did not complete their platforms, Iheanacho noted some platforms transform or evolve as the year goes on.

“Like once you learn what you’re actually able to do, or what already exists, sometimes there’s just a different way is better to help,” Iheanacho said.