USAC recap — Jan. 27

Vietnamese student leaders voiced their support for a resolution to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the death of former Vietnamese Student Union president Thien Minh Ly, who was killed by white supremacists. The council gave nearly $200,000 in surplus funds to Book for Bruins, Rent Relief Awards, Bruin Trailblazers Scholarship and the COVID-19 pandemic relief. The council also approved the Undergraduate Students Association Council elections calendar.

Public Comment:

• Jason Vu, the president of the Vietnamese Student Union and a fourth-year Asian American studies and global studies student, said he supports the resolution of the 25th anniversary of the death of former VSU President Minh Ly, and the condemnation of racial hate crimes. Vu said the death of Minh Ly is crucial to learn from.

• Miranda Kim, the Student Wellness Commission assistant commissioner and a fourth-year economics and psychology student, said she is part of the Wellness and Work Expectations Task Force that focuses on improving work conditions for student workers and faculty, as part of the UCLA COVID-19 Response and Recovery Task Force. Kim asked USAC for its input about issues related to student workers.

• Prabhdeep Rai, a fourth-year history student and chair for California Public Interest Research Group at UCLA, said the CALPIRG UC chapters voted for the 100% clean energy by 2030 in California campaign as its top priority. Rai also said the group is campaigning to obtain 9,000 petitions for their 100% renewable energy campaign. Rai asked USAC members to share the petition to their contacts.

• Cassandra Gatica, the USAC assistant internal vice president, said she supports the rent relief awards because students need economic assistance for their housing as many students struggle with the pandemic.

Allocation:

• The council allocated $400 to Bruins Down Under, a club that gives a community for students from Australia and New Zealand.

• The council allocated $100 to the Asian Pacific Coalition for a recipe exchange meeting.

• The council allocated $54.98 to UConsulting for its winter workshop.

• The council allocated $12.45 to the Taiwanese American Student Association for supplies.

• The council allocated $100 to the American Cancer Society On Campus for its fund the mission programming event.

• The council allocated $30,775 from surplus budget funds to Book for Bruins, a scholarship to fund student textbooks and school supplies.

• The council allocated $34,250 from the USAC surplus budget to the Rent Relief Awards, which would support students in need of rental assistance during COVID-19.

• The council allocated $7,400 from the USAC surplus budget to the Bruin TrailBlazer Scholarship, a scholarship for students involved in advocacy.

• The council allocated $120,600 from the USAC surplus budget to distribute to students as pandemic relief.

• The council allocated $800 from the Supplemental Fund for Service to two non-community service commission organizations.

Agenda:

• The council unanimously approved changes to the Finance Committee Contingency Guidelines to restrict funding for traveling and any programming events that require in-person participation.

• Sachi Cooper, the facilities commissioner and The Green Initiative Fund chair, said that TGIF distributed $7,314.15 in funding to E3: Ecology, Economy, Equity, Design Create Solar, Bruin Home Solutions and Southeast Asian Students for Organizing. The TGIF committee is still reviewing outstanding applications, Cooper said. She added that the new TGIF student support fund is now available.

• The council unanimously approved changes to the Transfer Student Representative bylaws. The bylaws indicated that the TSR will appoint students to the TSR’s assigned committees such as the Transfer Leadership Coalition. The new bylaws also moved the Transfer Pride Week Planning Committee under the control of the Transfer Student Center. The changes eliminated appointments to the Parking Advocacy Task Force, which no longer exists. Under the new bylaws, the TSR will also join the five-member Appointments Review Committee.

• The Council unanimously approved the elections code to give the elections board the authority to to certify a candidate’s eligibility.

• USAC voted 11-1-0 to approve the 2021 elections calendar.

• Sedina Velic, a fourth-year communication and political science student, presented the Rent Relief Surplus Awards on behalf of the Internal Vice President’s office to allocate $35,000 from the budget surplus to support students experiencing rent challenges during the pandemic.

• Sophia Acosta, Academic Affairs Commission assistant commissioner and fourth-year public affairs student, presented the Books for Bruin Surplus Proposal, which asked the council to allocate $30,775 to fund scholarships for textbooks and school supplies.

• Doria Deen, the Student Media director and a UCLA Communications Board representative, said the UCLA Communications Board supports the BruinLife publication’s decision to not award 2020 UCLA graduate Sharon Yuen its Senior of the Year award after Yuen declined to schedule an in person photoshoot. Cultural Affairs Commissioner Promise Ogunleye said the requirement of an in-person photoshoot for the award threatens student health. The council decided to table the discussion because its student appointments to the Communications Board was not present to voice its opinions.

Officer Reports:

• President Naomi Riley said she met with the Public Health Compliance Working Group to address students’ accountability of practicing public health guidelines. Riley added that she met with the COVID-19 Response and Recovery Taskforce about safety concerns around filming on campus. She also said she met with Vice Chancellor Monroe Gorden to discuss COVID-19 accountability and plans for the 2021 commencement ceremony. USAC offices are discussing how to lessen the economic burden of possible increases in the premium of University of California Student Health Insurance Plan for students, Riley said.

• Internal Vice President Emily Luong said her office is collaborating with other USAC offices to hold a COVID-19 vaccine panel Feb. 11 at 6:30 p.m. She added that her office is updating the student worker resource guide and is planning an Undocumented Students Know Your Rights series. Luong also said her office and the UCLA Labor Center presented to faculty on the Hill about how to support student workers.

• External Vice President Aidan Arasasingham said he spoke about vaccine distribution and affordability policies at the UC Board of Regents meeting. The EVP office collaborated with the UCLA Career Center and UCLA Government and Community Relations department to host an info session for government-related careers, he said. His office will also hold a panel discussion with UC Student Regents Jamaal Muwwakkil, graduate student at UC Santa Barbara, and Student Regent Alexis Zaragoza, third-year geography student at UC Berkeley, to offer insights on the Board of Regents, Arasasingham said. He added that the EVP office will send a dozen UCLA students to the Student of Color Conference in January to speak about issues that affect marginalized communities. Arasasingham also said his office and the Office of the President are collaborating on the UC Campus Safety Symposium, which would hold discussions about experiences with campus policing and social justice.

• General Representative 2 Justin Rodriguez said in a written report that his office will audit and update the student workers resource guide. He also said his office will release a survey about student opinions and preferences when purchasing apparel.

• General Representative 3 Elijah Wade said in a written report that his office met with the Black Student-Athlete Alliance to discuss how his office can continue to support the Black athlete community on campus. Wade also said he is focusing on campaigning for deconstructing misconceptions about the athletic community.

• Carlita Bryant, fourth-year sociology student and co-director of Sanctuary Campus, delivered a report on behalf of Academic Affairs Commissioner Breeze Velazquez. Bryant said the Center for the Advancement of Teaching is working to revise student evaluation forms to focus on student learning outcomes and growth by adding more comment responses and fewer multiple-choice or ranked questions. The Academic Senate Undergraduate Council is drafting a letter to send to departments currently not allowing pass/no pass accommodations to adopt the grading policy or explain to their students why they choose otherwise, she added. Velazquez discussed with the Senate Executive Board about increasing the number of student representatives to the Academic Senate, Bryant said. She added that Velazquez and other Academic Senate Undergraduate Council representatives want to adopt A Seat at the Table, a program that would give students opportunities to speak about their concerns at the Academic Senate.

• Facilities Commissioner Sachi Cooper said in a written report that her office sat in the Center for Accessible Education Specialist interviews and provided their thoughts of the interviewees. She added that her office finished drafting a letter to support the renaming of Janss Steps. FAC also released an open letter to support a safe parking pilot program to address student homelessness, Cooper said. She also said that her office and UCLA Transportation are analyzing data on the density of passengers on the BruinBus.

• Student Wellness Commissioner Christina Read said the Bruin Consent Coalition is hosting Consent and I Love My Body Week during week 4 and a Health for Heritage Week during week 8. SWC BruiNecssities discussed with the UCLA Facilities Management about the SWC initiative to provide free menstrual products on campus, Read added. She also said UCLA Facilities Management suggested using cardboard containers to hold the menstrual products instead of clear plastic boxes.

• Transfer Student Representative Zuleika Bravo said in a written report that her office sent a letter to UCLA Student Affairs to expedite the hiring process of the new transfer student center director. Bravo said she attended the Bruin Transfer Pride Week’s virtual Bruin Walk event. She added that the Transfer Leadership Coalition is hosting a Transfer Town Hall meeting, which occurred on Jan 27. at 5 p.m.

• Administrative Representative Josh O’Connor encouraged students in the Westwood area to get tested for COVID-19 and continue to practice social distancing.

• Administrative Representative Debra Geller introduced the council to the new alumni representative George Chacon.

Resolutions:

• The council unanimously approved a resolution to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the death of former Vietnamese Student Union President Thien Minh Ly. The resolution recognized the need to condemn hate crimes against marginalized communities. The resolution also asks for USAC to commemorate the VSU for its work in empowering communities of color.

The Undergraduate Students Association Council is the official student government representing the undergraduate student body at UCLA. Council meetings take place every other Tuesday at 7 p.m. during fall quarter and are open to all students. Fall quarter meetings will 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.