USAC recap – Jan. 7

This post was updated Jan. 14 at 2:14 p.m.

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 the Bruin Viewpoint Room and are open to all students. Watch a livestream of the meetings on the USAC Live! channel on YouTube.

Public Comment:

• UCPD Lt. Kevin Kilgore discouraged students from attending the Roebling block party this quarter, citing concerns regarding previous property damage reports and injuries.

• Sithara Menon, chair of the UCLA chapter of the California Public Interest Research Group, said that CALPIRG is currently working with the University of California system to create a policy addressing single-use plastics. CALPIRG is also continuing its campaigns to make textbooks more affordable, encourage voter registration and fight student hunger on campus.

Agenda:

• The council allocated a total of $433.60 from contingency funds to USAC and non-USAC groups.

• The council allocated a total of $1,610 from the Student Wellness Commission to non-USAC groups.

• The council allocated a total of $6,571.77 from the Supplemental Fund for Service to Community Service Commission and non-CSC groups.

Surplus Proposals:

The USAC surplus is composed of student fees that remains unused or unallocated by the council from the previous year. This year, the council decided that only USAC offices, entities or organizations would be able to submit proposals for the funds. These are the USAC proposals.

• Internal Vice President Kimberly Bonifacio requested $15,000 for the Student Advocacy Partnership and $2,000 for True Bruins R.A.I.S.E.

• President Robert Watson requested $4,000 to pay his office staff.

• Transfer Student Representative Isabel Carmen Oraha requested $15,000 to fund the Transfer Student Center.

• Academic Affairs Commissioner Naomi Riley requested $10,000 for Books for Bruins, which helps students pay for textbooks.

• Finance Committee Chair Nadiya Komzyuk requested $56,726.87 for the Contingency Programming Fund, which funds activities and events for undergraduate students.

• Budget Review Director Kristy Vang requested $30,000 for the Board of Directors Programming Fund.

• General Representative 2 Orion Smedley requested $4,000 to pay his office staff and $8,000 for transportation representation to pay for shuttles to LAX during spring and winter breaks.

• Cultural Affairs Commissioner Kelechi Iheanacho requested $45,000 for CommUnity to fund student organizations and their projects.

• Facilities Commissioner Lily Shaw requested $30,000 to renovate the Center for Accessible Education Disability Student Union’s front room.

• Community Service Mini Fund Chair Angela Li requested $74,000 for the Community Service Mini Fund to fund any direct community service initiatives by student groups.

• Financial Supports Commissioner Millen Srivastava requested a total of $10,550 to pay her staff, lower the cost of the BruinCard replacement fee and fund a Reproductive Justice Health Center.

• International Student Representative Shahamah Tariq requested $3,950 to pay her staff.

Reports:

• Watson said that the Gender Recognition Act Task Force has successfully made gender-inclusive housing an opt-in process on the housing application form.

• Bonifacio said her office will be hosting an “Off Campus Living Fair” on Jan. 21 from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. in Ackerman Grand Ballroom. Twenty apartment companies will advertise to students looking to move off campus in the future. She added that the True Bruins R.A.I.S.E. nomination form is open and will close on Jan. 17.

• Smedley said his office is working on increasing budget transparency to students by parsing through data and producing visuals that will be accessible to the public.

• General Representative 3 Brandon Broukhim said his office has been working on proposing several election code changes that will be finalized Sunday.

• Riley said her office released its quarterly report on its website. She also said Books for Bruins will be closed the night of Jan. 14 because of the large amount of applicants.

• Community Service Commissioner Jonathan Wisner said his office received double the amount of applications for the IMPACT Conference this year. Declarations were sent out this weekend.