USAC recap – Sept. 22: Allocation of funds to office staff stipends, Academic Senate appointments

The Undergraduate Students Association Council allocated funds to pay for office staff stipends. The council appointed several committee members to the Academic Senate and other groups. The council also discussed waiving requirements for vaccinations and the University health care plan for international students not entering the United States.

Public Comment:

• Directors in the Financial Supports Commission should receive office pay for their work, said Emily Yu, the co-director of the commission’s COVID-19 task force. Pay for directors would make participation in USAC more accessible to students, Yu said.
• Many USAC office workers are first-generation students and people of color and would benefit from an office stipend, said Leslie Chavez, the chief of staff at the Office of the Internal Vice President and vice chair of the Campus Safety Alliance.
• Transfer student staffers should be paid because many are students with dependents, nontraditional students and students with low incomes, said Bradley Alvarado, the finance director for the Office of the Transfer Student Representative.

Special Presentations:

• Rebecca Guo and Jannelle Dang, representatives from the Arts Restoring Community Fund, announced changes to its guidelines for the 2020-2021 academic year. ARCF is a Cultural Affairs Commission fund that helps student organizations pay for cultural programming. ARCF will accept fall quarter funding applications from student groups on a rolling basis until Nov. 7 so that organizations can adapt to remote programmings, Guo said. ARCF also expanded its funding application to cover costs for materials needed for remote programming, Dang said. The application and supplementary documents will also only be collected online, through email and Google Forms, Dang added.
• International students not entering the U.S. should not be automatically enrolled in the UC Student Health Insurance Plan or be subject to university immunization requirements because they will not be at UCLA, said International Student Representative Bakur Madini. Automatically waiving UC SHIP for all international students may be difficult because the health care plan’s financial model relies on funding generated by universal coverage, External Vice President Aidan Arasasingham said. The plan can also be used outside of California and the U.S. through the Blue Cross and Blue Shield insurance network, Arasasingham added. However, many international students live in countries where basic health care is guaranteed by the government, meaning that a private health insurance policy is unnecessary, Madini said.

Allocations:

• The council allocated $358 to Los Angeles Human Rights Initiative, a UCLA organization of medical students who provide forensic evaluation for asylum seekers and other immigrants.
• The council allocated $1,500 to SKY@UCLA, a UCLA group that offers well-being and resilience programs to students, faculty and staff.
• The council allocated $174.42 to the Vietnamese Student Union at UCLA to host its welcome week events.
• The council allocated $100 to Consult Your Community at UCLA, a consulting organization targeting nonprofit groups and start-up businesses.
• The council allocated $2,897 from ARCF to office staff stipends.
• The council allocated a total of $30,000 from its surplus funding to the Academic Affairs Commission for Books for Bruins, a project that funds scholarships for textbook costs.
• The council allocated a total of $45,315 from its surplus to USAC groups for office staff stipends.

Appointments:

• Community Service Commissioner Jonathan Wisner appointed Ryan Aniceto, a third-year mathematics and statistics student, as Special Risk Education Committee representative.
• The council appointed Wudia Kamara, a second-year economics and international development studies student, as Academic Senate General Education Governance Committee representative.
• The council appointed Igbinoghodua Isibor, a second-year psychology student, as Academic Senate Committee for Intercollegiate Athletics representative.
• The council appointed Caroline Piedra, a third-year international development studies and Spanish student, as Academic Senate Committee on Planning and Budget representative.
• The council appointed Ashley Ceballos, a second-year political science and public affairs student, as Academic Senate Academic Freedom Committee representative.
• The council appointed Patrick Ma, a second-year human biology and society student, as Academic Senate Committee on Continuing Community and Education representative.
• The council appointed Kayla Regalado, a third-year sociology student, as Academic Senate Legislative Assembly representative.
• The council appointed Cheryl Ma, a third-year economics student, as The Green Initiative Fund representative.
• The council appointed Sean Sugai, a second-year anthropology and human biology and society student, as The Green Initiative Fund representative.
• The council appointed Hannah Regan, a third-year philosophy and political science student, as Office Space Allocation Committee chair.

Reports:

• Internal Vice President Emily Luong said her office worked with other USAC offices to release a student worker resource guide to give student workers information on legal rights, benefits during COVID-19 and opportunities available at UCLA, Westwood and remotely. She added the Put Workers First Committee is working to plan a fall quarter student workers town hall.
• External Vice President Aidan Arasasingham said his office is working with Mother Organizations on a Bruins for Proposition 16 coalition. The coalition will call and text students to talk to them about affirmative action. He added that his office will launch Bruin Action, a digital program to help with online advocacy projects.
• General Representative 3 Elijah Wade said his office is working to send students surveys to gather information on how to best support various communities at UCLA.
• Facilities Commissioner Sachi Cooper said that her office met with the North Westwood Neighborhood Council to identify accessible routes in Westwood.
• Financial Supports Commissioner Noe Garcia said his office is working with businesses in Westwood to offer discounts for UCLA students.
• Transfer Representative Zuleika Bravo said her office is working with the Transfer Student Center to work on Transfer Transitions, an annual program that helps incoming transfer students adjust to UCLA. She added her office is meeting with the UCLA administration to advocate for greater inclusion of transfer students. She also said her office is planning a virtual speed dating event for transfer students to meet each other through Zoom.

USAC is the official student government representing the undergraduate student body at UCLA. Fall quarter meetings take place every Tuesday at 7 p.m. and are open to all students. Meetings take place virtually on Zoom; links for the meetings can be found on the Internal Vice President’s Facebook page. Watch a livestream of the meetings on the USAC Live! channel on YouTube.