USAC passes special rule to increase input from Congressional Advisory Board

A new special rule of order in the undergraduate student government bylaws will give student organizations more power in the undergraduate student government, student leaders said.

The Undergraduate Students Association Council unanimously passed a special rule in December to give members of the Congressional Advisory Board an official opportunity to present their agendas at USAC meetings. The USAC Office of the President created CAB in August to allow student organizations representing historically marginalized communities to give USAC feedback. The board’s official member organizations include the Disabled Student Union and the Asian Pacific Coalition, among others.

Before the special rule was passed, CAB could only participate in USAC meetings during the public comment session or through the USAC Seat at the Table initiative, said Alexander Berry, the operations director of CAB.

Representatives from CAB will now be allotted time at council meetings to directly present agendas of member student organizations.

Berry, a third-year history student, said operating through public comments did not allow the board to effectively promote student involvement.

“(Public comment is) a relic of an era where student organizations and advocacy groups didn’t play nearly as large a role in student politics,” Berry said.

Berry said he hopes the new special rule will allow CAB and USAC to effectively represent the undergraduate community.

Kyle Radwanski Ortega, a co-founder of the DSU, said the DSU will benefit from the rule change because it will be able to send its own members to present important items in its agenda. For example, it is important for the organization to spread awareness about how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted disabled learners, said Ortega, a fourth-year history student.

“Allowing us to participate in the meetings was sort of the first major barrier that we had to surmount,” Ortega said.

Angela Li, the director of the Asian Pacific Coalition, said the new special rule will help coalition members bring attention to their concerns and implement changes by voicing them to USAC more directly.

APC is working to highlight the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Asian American communities and the rise of anti-Asian sentiments, said Li, a fourth-year Asian American studies and political science student. She added that she hopes to present these concerns to the council.

[Related link: Asian American students report acts of racism during COVID-19 pandemic]

“It’s really important that we have more transparency and more opportunities to share the work that we’re doing,” Li said.

The special rule changes would give student organizations broader access to both USAC meetings and the logistics of policy making, said USAC President Naomi Riley.

The special rule will expire when the 2021-2022 USAC takes office. Riley, a fourth-year political science student, said she hopes to preserve the rule after her term ends.

“I’m hopeful that the new USAC president will also … welcome CAB with open arms,” Riley said. “If they don’t, I will still find ways to pass it down.”

Riley added she is looking into ways to either rewrite USAC bylaws to exempt CAB’s dissolution after the current council or pass a constitutional amendment to permanently establish CAB as part of USAC.

“(Members of CAB are) not just random students, but student leaders who have a say in the decisions and the conversations that we’re having … about what we’re going to be asking for from administration,” Riley said. “They, too, have the expertise to sit at the table in that conversation.”