USAC recap – June 21

The Undergraduate Students Association Council discussed rehousing the Campus Retention Committee and Student Initiated Outreach Center projects from under the Community Programs Office.

Public Comment:

• Justin Rodriguez, a fourth-year economics student, said he supports the council’s discussion about rehousing the CRC and SIOC projects from under the CPO. He added the CPO has a history of mistreating students and emphasized the importance of the committees being entirely student run.

• Malakai Espinosa, a second-year human biology and society student, also spoke in support of the CRC and SIOC gaining control of their own funds. He added both committees need to withhold those funds from the CPO to make their needs heard.

• Jeffry Umana, a second-year political science student, also asked the council to discuss withholding funds from the CPO and rehousing the CRC and SIOC projects. He also said student-run projects can succeed outside of the CPO, citing projects from the Mother Organizations coalition that are run independently.

Allocations:

• The council allocated $100 to the Spikeball Club at UCLA for its UCLA Roundnet Research.

• The council allocated $100 to Net Impact UCLA, a student-run social impact consulting organization, for its Healthcare Impact Spotlight.

Special Presentations:

• Hannah Regan, chair of the Office Space Allocation Committee and fourth-year philosophy and political science student, presented the plan for allocating spaces to student organizations in Kerckhoff Hall for the upcoming year. Regan said the committee is working on facilitating the return to campus in the fall and revising the office space allocation application for the 2022-2023 school year. OSAC will also host mandatory office hours for student groups with office spaces in the fall, Regan said.

Appointments:

• Academic Affairs Commissioner Angelina Quint appointed Eric Ngo, a second-year Asian American studies and human biology and society student, to the CRC. Ngo, who is also the incoming Vietnamese Student Union external vice president, said he knows the importance of retention projects because of his experiences with the Southeast Asian Campus Learning Education and Retention project. Ngo added he looks forward to bringing his perspective to retention projects.

Reports:

• President Breeze Velazquez said her office met with the Mother Organizations coalition and Samone Anderson, the Afrikan Student Union chairperson, to discuss rehousing CRC and SIOC projects. Velazquez added she is considering running a referendum to the student advocate board and met with UC San Diego and UC Berkeley to inform the referendum. The office also started planning the True Bruin Welcome video and orientation activities, she added.

• Internal Vice President Cassandra Gatica said she is meeting with executives in her office to onboard the new directors in the IVP office over the summer. Her office is also interviewing people for council appointments to be approved at upcoming meetings.

• External Vice President Sarah Wang said her office is working on inclusivity and advocacy training for its staff and on developing presentations for other offices. Her office is also organizing a campaign to combat the cohort-based tuition increase. She added that Congress introduced the Pell Grant Preservation and Expansion Act to double the Pell grant and that the office’s advocacy campaign will continue. Wang also said her office is also planning on increasing civic engagement for the California 5th District Election 2022 to replace Councilmember Paul Koretz who oversees the UCLA district.

• General Representative 1 Hailey Valles said in a written statement that her office recruited 13 directors and two chiefs of staff for the upcoming year. She said her office is beginning programming and planning for the upcoming year.

• Transfer Representative Herman Luis Chavez said in a written statement that his office interviewed an applicant for the executive board and engaged in training for the upcoming year.

Agenda:

• Patricia Solomon presented on the Mother Organizations’ funding and the council held a discussion to finalize the budget proposal. The budget plan, which was cut to address a $17,489 deficit, will be voted on at the next council meeting.

• Naomi Riley, a recent alumnus and UC Council of Presidents co-chair, presented the UCOP Presidential Safety Plan as well as the plan for Reimagining Campus Safety Through a Values-Driven Lens – which was introduced at the UC Campus Safety Symposium in March as a vision for redefining campus safety and the role of police on campus. Riley emphasized how the UCOP Presidential Safety Plan plan did not address the council of president’s demands and student views on limiting police presence on campus. She added that the council believes the University of California can create a campus that is safe without police and encouraged council members to take a stance on the UCOP plan.

• USAC discussed the rehousing of CRC and SIOC projects from CPO and administrative representatives Patricia Solomon and Josh O’Connor said they would do further research on the process to lead a discussion at a later meeting.

The Undergraduate Students Association Council is the official student government representing the undergraduate student body at UCLA. Council meetings take place biweekly on Monday at 7 p.m. during summer and are open to all students. Summer 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.