USAC recap – Jan. 25

The Undergraduate Students Association Council voted Wednesday to place the Education, Access, and Retention NOW! referendum, a measure to charge undergraduate students $5 a quarter for spaces and resources for Black students and transfer students on the USAC elections ballot, pending approval by Chancellor Gene Block and the University of California Office of the President.

 

Public Comment:

• Radha Patel, chapter chair of California Public Interest Research Group at UCLA, said the organization held a kickoff meeting last week and 128 students attended. She added that CALPIRG started its funding drive this week to ask students for a $10 per term donation and it hopes to sign up 10% of the student population this year.
• Abeeha Hussain, executive office assistant at the Office of the Transfer Student Representative, said the Transfer Student Center must be permanently funded through the EARN referendum to help transfer students have access to resources, study space and events. She added that permanent funding would allow the center to employ more staff members and continue to support its directors.
• Zuleika Bravo, a graduate student intern at the UCLA Bruin Resource Center and former UCLA transfer student representative, said the proposed EARN referendum is necessary in order to improve the experiences of Black students and transfer students at UCLA. She added the council should learn from its experience with the CUB referendum by working more directly with the communities it is representing.
• Justin Rodriguez, internal chair of MEChA de UCLA, said the Black Bruin Resource Center surplus proposal and EARN referendum are necessary steps to support the Black and transfer student communities, both of which face retention and graduation issues in 2022.
• Sachi Cooper, grant-making committee member of USAC and former USAC Facilities commissioner, said Community Service Mini Fund applications are due Friday and there will be hearings during week five. She also said USAC council members should advocate for a UCLA Metro stop by submitting public comments before the LA Metro scoping period ends Feb. 11.

 

Special Presentations:

• Samone Anderson, chairperson of the Afrikan Student Union, said the Black Bruin Resource Center has not received enough funding from UCLA and the Community Programs Office. She added that Black students continue to lack sufficient resources such as counseling, study spaces, scholarships and other forms of academic support. She added that the UCLA administration has not done enough since establishing the Black Bruin Resource Center because it currently exists as just another study space without many resources. She also said USAC members must see the value of raising funds for Black students through measures such as the EARN referendum because the UCLA administration has not provided enough money for their success.
• Herman Luis Chavez, the transfer student representative, said the Transfer Student Center does not have permanent funding and is forced to spend the majority of the funds it does receive on rent for its space in Kerckhoff Hall. He added that Student Affairs, the Student Fee Advisory Committee and UCLA Development pick an amount to give to the center each year that students cannot negotiate. They said the Transfer Student Center is an essential resource for students because it provides mentorship, events, a study space, counseling and community, but it cannot reach its full potential because the majority of the budget must be used for rent.

 

Allocations:

• The council allocated $9,399.76 of Contingency Programming funds to 12 non-USAC entities and one USAC entity.
• The council allocated $2,715.63 from the Supplemental Fund for Service to two non-Community Service Commission organizations.
• The council allocated $1,015 to four non-USAC entities and $530 to one USAC entity from the Student Wellness Commission Programming Fund.
• The council allocated $1,615 to Bruin Real Estate Association, an organization for students interested in real estate careers, for its BREA Industry Night.
• The council allocated $750 to the Pediatric AIDS Coalition for entertainment auditions for Dance Marathon 2022.
• The council allocated $2,075 to the UCLA Nikkei Student Union, a Japanese American social and cultural club, for its 36th annual Cultural Night.
• The council allocated $470.62 to the Burmese Student Association at UCLA for its club T-shirt event.
• The council allocated $276.06 to the Vietnamese Student Union for the VSU Tết general meeting.
• The council allocated $282 to Bear at UCLA, a group that provides consulting services to UCLA student organizations, for its winter 2022 retreat.
• The council allocated $250 to the Expressive Movement Initiative, a group that teaches art and dance to children with developmental disabilities, for its winter recital.
• The council allocated $1,143 to the Vietnamese Student Union for the HOPE WHS Shadow Day.
• The council allocated $500 to SKY at UCLA, a group that hosts events promoting student happiness and leadership, for the SKY Campus Happiness Workshop.
• The council allocated $750 to Foundations Choreography, a beginner-to-intermediate-level dance group, for its winter intensive.
• The council allocated $124.33 to the American Cancer Society on Campus for its Relay for Life mentorship social.
• The council allocated $133.33 to Public Health Initiative Leaders of Tomorrow, a public health pre-professional organization, for its professional headshot program.
• The council allocated $750 to the Biomedical Engineering Society for its winter retreat.
• The council allocated $280 to the USAC Finance Committee for its winter retreat.

 

Referendum:

• The council voted to put the EARN referendum on the USAC elections ballot, pending approval by the University of California Office of the President and UCLA Chancellor Gene Block. The referendum proposes a fee of $5 per undergraduate student per quarter, or $3 per summer session student, to fund the Black Bruin Resource Center and the Transfer Student Center. The referendum states that the fee will be used for operational and programmatic expenses for both centers. The Cultural Affairs Commission will oversee the usage of the funds in order to let students, rather than the UCLA administration, decide where the money goes, according to the referendum. Additionally, the referendum states that 25% of the funds collected will be returned to undergraduate financial aid. The EARN referendum is an opportunity for consistent funding of the centers when the administration has not given students that kind of support, said Angelina Quint, the Academic Affairs commissioner.

 

Agenda:

• Palmer Turnbull, the USA Elections Board chair, proposed a calendar for USAC elections for the 2022-2023 academic year. Turnbull said he proposed to move the elections to week seven for more campaign time and to shorten the election period from seven days to five days. However, several council members said an earlier election in week six would give newly elected candidates more time to hire their staff. Additionally, several members of the council said there should be weekend voting days so the election period should remain seven days.
• Sylvia Hopkins, a member of Bruin Guardian Scholars and the co-director of General Representative 1 Hailey Valles’ Foster Youth Advocacy platform presented a surplus proposal requesting $40,000 for expansion of emergency services for foster youth at UCLA. She said only 4% of foster youth receive bachelor’s degrees and many of them have experienced even more hardships than usual because of COVID-19, such as higher rates of homelessness. She said students in Bruin Guardian Scholars are able to request emergency funds through a Google form that is reviewed by professional staff so the money can be distributed as needed. An estimate of 75 students will apply for the emergency fund in winter quarter, so each individual would be able to receive $533.33, Hopkins said.
• Carl King, general representative 3, presented a surplus proposal requesting $48,000 for the Student Union Event Fund. The fund is used for student events on campus in order to pay set up staff, house staff and technical staff, King said. SUEF is usually funded through student purchases of on-campus goods, but the pandemic has drastically decreased its budget because students were not on campus for a long period of time, he added.
• Quint, the Academic Affairs commissioner, presented a surplus proposal requesting $230,000 for the Black Bruin Resource Center. She said the money would be used to double the square footage of the center and improve mental health resources and other programs. UCLA Counseling and Psychological Services lacks diverse therapists to address the needs of Black students, Quint said. She added that more money for the resource center will allow for mental health support after racially motivated crimes at UCLA. Quint also said funds would help increase events for celebrated holidays, networking, organization meetings and an open house to make Black students feel better supported.
• Quint also presented a surplus proposal requesting $33,600 for Books for Bruins in order to help students overcome financial barriers when buying expensive textbooks. Books for Bruins is projected to use $16,600 in winter quarter and $17,000 in spring quarter, and the proposed amount is a combination of the two quarters, she said.
• Jenny Wang, the USAC Finance Committee chair, presented a surplus proposal of $12,000 to replace outdated computers in Kerckhoff Hall. She said six computers will be taken away because they no longer work and are estimated to cost $2,000 each to replace.
• Tayloneei Jackson, Student Wellness commissioner, presented a surplus proposal of $20,000 for Basic Needs Care Packages. She said BruiNecessities and the Student Wellness Commission are reconstructing the Basic Needs subsidy into a faster and easier process for students by buying products in bulk and creating a committee that oversees the creation and distribution of care packages.

 

Appointment:

• The council appointed Katrina Herrera, a third-year biology student, and Anise Tyehimba, a second-year psychology student, to the Student Activities Center Board of Governors.

 

Reports:

• President Breeze Velazquez said she is planning a strike to advocate for maintaining online learning options Monday, the first day of the return to in-person classes, and hopes to create email templates for participating students to send to their professors. She said she thinks UCLA is doing less than other University of California campuses – such as UC Santa Barbara and UC San Diego – to create hybrid learning models. She added that the UCLA administration decided to make classes in person again despite warnings from an epidemiologist that it is a risky choice for the health of students.
• Internal Vice President Cassandra Gatica said her office is creating a listserv with over 1,400 student organizations on campus to streamline communication about club opportunities and events. She said her office is also hoping to create a USAC-wide newsletter to share updates and announcements between offices. Gatica also said the Off Campus Housing Fair will be held Feb. 4.
• External Vice President Sarah Wang said there is a Students of Color conference Saturday, where Tiffany Loftin, the national director of the Youth & College Division of the NAACP, will give a keynote address. She also said her Federal Relations team is working on an op-ed about Title IX and working with the Campus Assault Resources & Education internship program for advocacy around sexual violence and sexual health.
• General Representative 2 Passa Pungchai said in a written statement that her office distributed N95 masks to around 170 students in collaboration with the Financial Supports commission. She also said KUDU CEO Warren Essey and co-founder Alexander Kusenko, a professor of physics and astronomy, were interested in compensating faculty members for using their program that provides open-source iClickers and textbooks. The initiative would cost $100 per undergraduate student for four years, she said.

• Quint said she attended the learning management system meeting to talk about the transition to in-person classes and share the concerns of students with disabilities about COVID-19 safety. She added they discussed adding captions to all lecture recordings to increase accessibility. She also said the undergraduate council in the Academic Senate had informed professors that they have authority over how their courses are taught for the rest of the quarter, which she said was contradicted by the Jan. 21 announcement that mandated a return to in-person classes. Quint also said it was unanimously voted in a meeting with the undergraduate council to overturn a priority enrollment decision that had decreased the amount of priority enrollment units allowed for Center for Accessible Education students.

• Facilities Commissioner Jane Ni said in a written statement that her office met with the chief and deputy chief of Sustainability this week and students should review and comment on their Master Sustainability Plan. She also said students with disabilities in need of remote accommodations should talk to their disability specialists, and those without registered disabilities who need accommodation should contact Dean of Students Jasmine Rush. Ni said the Environmental Justice Now project will be focusing on Associated Students UCLA licensing by incorporating sustainability into its code of conduct.
• Financial Supports Commissioner Emily Yu said in a written statement that her office met with general representative 2 and the Out of State Student Association to talk about helping out-of-state students with travel fees they’ve dealt with as a result of a partially remote winter quarter. She also said Financial Supports’ Academic Materials Rental Program for lab coats, goggles and iClickers will start during week five, and students can fill out a Google form to access those materials.
• Chavez, the transfer student representative, said in a written statement that he met with Block on Jan. 21 to talk about funding for the Transfer Student Center, hybrid learning options, transfer student housing, orientation and course requirements for transfer students.