The Undergraduate Students Association Council called for excused absences for students impacted by immigration enforcement and the renaming of Campbell Hall at its meeting March 4.

USAC is the official student government representing the undergraduate student body at UCLA. Council meetings are open to all students and typically take place in person at the Bruin Viewpoint room and on Zoom every Tuesday at 7 p.m. Students can find the links for the meetings on the agenda posted on the USAC website or watch a livestream on the USAC Live! channel on YouTube.

Public comment:

• Leila Salam, the chair of the California Public Interest Research Group’s UCLA chapter, said the organization is trying to work on pressuring members of the UC Board of Regents to mandate free, open-source textbooks for courses, adding that the group is also lobbying our state legislatures to build up their priority legislators to be champions on its oceans campaign that will add pressure to Gov. Gavin Newsom to get him to expand marine protected areas. The regents will meet at UCLA March 18-20 at UCLA.

• Joshua Bances – who wrote a resolution on excused absences alongside Carlos Rodriguez – spoke in support of the resolution, calling for absences to be excused when there is presence of immigration authorities on campus.

• Rodriguez, a UC Student Association transfer student affairs officer, said the resolution aims to provide undocumented students with excused absences when immigration authorities are on campus.

Funding:

• The council allocated $22,080 from the Contingency Programming Fund to two USAC entities and 35 non-USAC entities.

• The council allocated $4,554.99 from the Supplemental Fund for Service to two USAC entities and five non-USAC entities.

• The council allocated $8,728.98 from The Green Initiative Fund to one USAC entity and five non-USAC entities.

• The council allocated $110 from UCLA Housing Laundry Fund to 22 individuals.

• The council allocated $75 from the Replacement BruinCard Fund to nine individuals.

Special presentation:

• Luis Garcia Chaves, the chair of the Student Fee Advisory Committee, said the committee presented its winter quarter update, and the Department of Arts submitted a new monetary student fee and supported a voluntary fee to cover the high cost of outside equipment rentals which includes microphones, projectors and cameras.

• Financial Supports Commissioner Nico Morrone presented his office’s Financial Transparency Viewer and said that the USAC budget grew by over 5% since last month and funding approvals for student organizations went up by 13% from last quarter.

• Melissa Mouchamel, the advocacy committee head for Swipe Out Hunger, gave a presentation on the Undocumented Bruin Grocery Stipend Program Presentation, discussing the rates of food insecurity running high in undocumented student population. She added that many undocumented students generally do not qualify for federal aid or CalFresh or are not eligible to hold campus jobs. The purpose of the program, she said, is to help food insecure students not eligible for CalFresh to gain support, adding that UC Davis has a similar program.

Appointments:

• The council appointed Aditya Narashim to the Bruin Learn Working Group.

Officer reports:

• USAC President Adam Tfayli said in a written report that he met with Associate Vice Chancellor for Campus Safety Steve Lurie and had a meeting with members of the Farrukh Foundation, an alumni-led charity which builds schools in underserved areas.

• Internal Vice President Josh Garland said in a written report that he met with Lurie with External Vice President Javier Nuñez Verdugo and discussed the selection of the next chief of the UCPD. He added that his office is collaborating with Swipe Out Hunger and the Student Coalition for Basic Needs to discuss the BruinFresh Initiative.

• General Representative Diego Bollo said in a written report that he co-led a Latine Lobby Day online seminar and met with SOLE to strategize for the Hispanic-Serving Institution planning.

• General Representative Tommy Contreras said in a written report that he signed onto the Students for Justice in Palestine Support Letter and is continuing work with IGNITE, the Student Wellness Commission and Bruin Dine on an initiative to support emergency relief services on UCLA’s campus.

• General Representative Chris Ramsey said in a written report that he met with Marvin Smith, UCLA’s executive director of financial aid.

• Academic Affairs Commissioner Cristopher Espino said his office collaborated with the Disabled Student Union to create a website to provide COVID-19 resources and statistics and collaborated with the League of United Latin American Citizens at UCLA to hand out “Know your rights” cards for people encountering immigration enforcement.

• Campus Events Commissioner Robbie Hall said in a written report that his office will host events during spring quarter that include a movie screening and an event featuring comedian Conan O’Brien.

• Community Service Commissioner Carolyn Wang said in a written report that her office’s Robert S. Michael Scholarship, which is offered to students with a strong record of charity work, will open for applications during week one of spring quarter.

• Cultural Affairs Commissioner Kyland Talbott in a written report that his office held a Hip Hop Congress workshop.

• Morrone said in a written report that his office’s Financial Transparency Viewer is now available in its beta version.

• Facilities Commissioner Joy Huang said in a written report that she met with members of DSU to discuss Center for Accessible Education and BruinAccess issues.

• SWC commissioner Chiara Frank said in a written report that she met with the campus ambassador for a mental health app to connect with Active Minds to program on campus.

• Transfer Student Representative Mona Tavassoli said in a written report that she is working on her, Morrone’s and Huang’s offices’ scholarship program for commuter students .

• International Student Representative Syed Tamim Ahmad said in a written report that his office is planning mental health workshops for spring quarter, including a collaboration with Yellow Chair Collective for mental health in three languages – Japanese, Korean, and Mandarin.

Agenda items:

• The council unanimously approved a resolution calling for the establishment of a Student Financial Oversight and Transparency Committee at UCLA.

• The council unanimously approved the addition of a referendum to allow Good Clothes, Good People – an organization within Wang’s office – to use student fees to fund any of its expenses, rather than just food and supplies. The student body will vote on the referendum during the 2025 USAC elections.

• The council unanimously approved a resolution to support the adoption and funding of the BruinFresh Undocumented Bruin Grocery Stipend Program, which will provide a grocery stipend to undocumented students who are unable to receive CalFresh aid.

• The council unanimously approved to adopt the resolution calling for the university to excuse absences relating to the presence of immigration enforcement agents.

• The council unanimously passed a resolution demanding the renaming of Campbell Hall to Carter-Huggins Hall after Black Panthers and UCLA students Alprentice “Bunchy” Carter and John Jerome Huggins, who were murdered in Campbell Hall in 1969.

[Related: UCLA community commemorates legacy of 2 students in Black Panther Party]