Arjun Pathiyal won a position on the North Westwood Neighborhood Council as an undergraduate student board member in April.

Pathiyal, a second-year political science student, sat down with Daily Bruin staff writer Amy Wong to discuss how he hopes to enact change on the council.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Daily Bruin: What inspired you to run for the undergraduate student board member position?

Arjun Pathiyal: I’m originally from Washington, D.C., grew up there my whole life, and as you can probably imagine, just kind of being right in the backyard of American politics. I always wanted to be a lawyer and possibly make my way to the government, and I thought, no better way to do it than the most local form of government. I honestly didn’t even know what it was until an older friend of mine reached out to me and said he was stepping down. Once I realized that I’m in a unique position where I’m a student, not from Los Angeles, but someone who can look in as an outsider, and at the same time, bridge what’s going on on campus to the rest of the neighborhood, both the residential and commercial sections. I thought that was really cool.

DB: What are the most substantial issues facing UCLA students in the North Westwood area, and how do you plan to address them?

AP: A lot of people say that UCLA doesn’t really have a college town. I completely disagree. I think Westwood is one of the greatest college towns. It has a little bit of everything.

I just thought that maintaining that relationship and kind of inputting what would be good for UCLA students on top of what would be good for people who live in the neighborhood, you could see some pretty cool things happen in Westwood.

DB: Speaking of students, how do you plan to advocate for UCLA undergraduates and ensure their voices are heard in local decision-making?

AP: A lot of UCLA students don’t know what the city council is, and thus don’t even know what they’re talking about, what’s on the agenda, how often they meet, stuff like that. At the same time, we’re voting on an array of things that are kind of all over the place, so it’s hard to know exactly what UCLA might want.

So rather than think about it that way, I just try to think about what would benefit our overall students the most. As a neighborhood council member, I think that it’s important not to just come in with your own interests, but also understanding what else is going on in the neighborhood.

DB: Based on what you’re hearing your classmates talk about, what do you think are some of the issues they’re concerned about?

AP: I think it’d be great for UCLA to have this addition of the Metro. It goes straight to downtown, which, as a UCLA student, you probably don’t get to experience that often, just because how far that is. Metro makes it super accessible, not having to worry about commuting issues. I just think it’d be really good for the social aspect, the work aspect, and for people commuting to UCLA – our professors, our faculty, our staff, they also can get here a little bit easier, a little bit cheaper, a little bit more affordable.

The neighborhood council can request more budget to speed things up. One thing that we recently voted on was an amendment to change it, so in off hours, the train doesn’t come every 20 minutes, but rather, every five minutes. If it’s coming every 20 minutes, that’s essentially an added 40 minutes to your travel at least, assuming, wait 20 minutes where you’re going, and you wait 20 minutes on the way back, which a lot of people can’t afford that. So things like that, I think, are pretty cool to be able to have a say.

[Related: Los Angeles Metro holds open house to discuss Sepulveda Transit Corridor Project]

DB: How do you plan to work with other members on the neighborhood council to achieve your goals?

AP: A lot of the members on the neighborhood council obviously have different interest groups that they’re representing, whether you own property here, or you’re a student here. So it is sometimes hard to reach agreements – in terms of what might be best for the UCLA student or faculty or staff might not be what a resident in Westwood wants or a business owner.

I think the important thing here, though, is to realize that the school contributes so much to the community and the people of the school, that’s not just students, but our grad students, our faculty, our staff, they contribute so much to the neighborhood, and they can continue to contribute more. So a lot of these things, when we’re voting, I try to explain that angle about how if you agree with me and vote on this side, you can actually see how this is going to benefit you guys through the UCLA community.

DB: What challenges do you anticipate facing in this role, and how do you plan to overcome them?

AP: I’m 19 years old, haven’t even graduated college, and some people I’m seated with are super successful business owners or teachers at UCLA who have years of countless more experience than me. You kind of feel like a small fish in a big pond sometimes. I think the thing that I need to do is just keep reminding myself that I’m representing more than just myself. Everyone on the city council, on the neighborhood council, is so supportive of hearing everything out and trying to be cooperative, regardless of their age, regardless of who they represent. So it’s not even like I should be running into that issue at all. It’s just something that I’ve kind of thought about.