The Undergraduate Students Association Council approved letters and resolutions in support of four different changes to the California constitution at its April 7 meeting.

USAC is the official student government representing the undergraduate student body at UCLA. Council meetings are open to all students and usually 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, a representative from UCLA’s chapter of the California Public Interest Research Group, a student-led environmental advocacy organization, said the chapter’s three-year-long campaign to expand protections for California’s coasts is the club’s major priority this quarter. Salam, the statewide vice chair of CALPIRG Students, added that the organization is increasing recruitment efforts to find people to deliver public comments supporting coastline protections to Gov. Gavin Newsom and his agencies. Salam, a fourth-year political science student, said CALPIRG will hold hearings across California throughout the quarter and that she encourages students and professors to testify at them.

Special presentations:

• Timothy Page,the organizing and training program manager of It’s On US – an organization that supports student leaders in sexual assault prevention work on college campuses – gave a presentation on how student governments can stop on-campus sexual violence before it happens. Page recommended that USAC uses its existing platform to promote the Its On US cause. Page added that he encourages students to become PeerEDU certified – one of the organization’s core educational programs relating to leadership and sexual assault prevention.

• Alyssandra Lachica and Niki Aghili, two of the USA Judicial Board’s associate justices, gave a presentation on the Judicial Board’s cases from winter quarter. Lachica, a fourth-year political science student, said the USA Judicial Board declined to reinstate an initiative, after a petitioner alleged the USA Elections Board improperly ruled it was ineligible, in a March 6 hearing.

[Related: USA Judicial Board to hear allegations against USA Elections Board]

Funding:

• The council allocated $10,130.67 from the Contingency Programming Fund to one USAC entity and 33 non-USAC entities.

• The council allocated $16,087.31 from the Supplemental Fund for Service to four USAC entities and 18 non-USAC entities.

• The council allocated $1,288 from the Student Wellness Committee Programming Fund to two USAC entities and two non-USAC entities.

• The council allocated $3,077.12 from the Academic Affairs Commission Travel Mini-Grant to 10 non-USAC.

• The council allocated $800 from the Academic Success Referendum to two non-USAC entities.

• The council allocated $2,959 from the Discretionary Fund for the Spring Resource Fair.

Officer reports:

• President Diego Bollo said he is reviewing candidates for the UC Board of Regents’ 2027-28 student regent. He also said in his written report that he is participating in UCLA Semel Healthy Campus Initiative Center’s Humans of UCLA Project. He added that he is reviewing BDSEP funding allocation updates with student affairs but did not respond in time to a request for comment on the acronym’s meaning. He coordinated a meeting with Benito Nieves, the interim director and associate dean of students, to review and discuss interim student conduct policies.

• Internal Vice President Tommy Contreras said the Bruin Success Referendum’s language was approved by the UC Office of the President and is now awaiting approval from Chancellor Julio Frenk. If passed, the referendum would add a $55 quarterly fee to undergraduate students to help fund 10 UCLA identity and community-based centers and programs on campus, including the Black Bruin Resource Center and the Academic Advancement Program – the latter of which faced budget cuts last year He added that USAC’s end-of-the-year gala will be May 11. He said the rest of his updates would be written, but did not update his written report.

[Related: Academic Advancement Program to pause some programs, reduce staff amid budget cuts]

• External Vice President Sherry Zhou[ said her office has five lobbying days within two weeks, ending with the first Bruin Lobby Day – in which the EVP’s office will go to Sacramento. Her office has been preparing by meeting with stakeholders and researching legislation. She added that her office worked with the rest of the UC campuses to write demand letters to governor candidates, that they plan to collect signatures from students and organizations for. Zhou did not respond in time to a request for comment on the contents of the demand letter. Zhou also said in her written report that her office worked on resolutions and initiatives in support of California Assembly Constitutional Amendment 18, a proposed amendment to the California Constitution to increase the number of UC student regents from one to two, and is coordinating with other UC campuses to ensure they are able to pass resolutions and letters of support for it. She added in her written report that her office is beginning the student regent selection process.

• General Representative Talia Davood said a Lyft rideshare program would be starting on the weekend of April 7. Omer Shem Tov, who was previously held captive in Gaza by militant group and political party Hamas, was set to speak at an April 14 event, she added.

• General Representative Brett Berndt said his office held a student renters’ rights workshop and forum and collected clothes in collaboration with Unravel – a sustainable fashion organization at UCLA – for a future mutual aid fair. He added that he is working with the Santa Monica Rape Treatment Center and the Campus Assault Resources & Education Program to to potentially present to the council.

• General Representative Jayha Buhs Jackson was not at the meeting and did not update her written report.

• Academic Affairs Commissioner Cristopher Espino said in his written report that he developed a presentation outline and transition documents for his office, adding that he created a sign-up list for the student representatives of the Academic Senate to present on behalf of USAC. He added that his office continued engagement with Kids in the Spotlight, a Los Angeles-based organization that helps young people from foster and under-resourced backgrounds to tell their stories and initiate internship opportunities for UCLA students. Espino added that his office launched a housing ambassadorship program.

• Campus Events Commissioner Daniel Leal said his office will be holding a movie screening at the Landmark Westwood on April 13 and the annual Hammer Arts Party on April 24.

• Community Service Commissioner Edison Chua said the Robert S. Michaels Leadership in Service Award – which recognizes outstanding leadership in service work – application is open. He also said in his written report that he is finishing up his office’s winter quarter transparency report which should be published on Instagram by the end of the week. He added that he met with Student Organizations, Leadership & Engagement, to provide updates on the state of the Community Service Mini Fund, Community Service Transportation Fund and the Supplemental Fund for Service. Chua’s office is exploring alternative funding options for student organizations, he said, adding that he will continue to update his office’s finance cheatsheet.

• Cultural Affairs Commissioner Divine Trewick said her office announced WorldFest, a cultural diversity fair, and plans to hold a Sunset Craft Fair, a dance workshop and a “No English Open Mic.” She added that Arts Restoring Committee applications are due April 24 and that her office would be holding a concerts, business and entertainment panel – its first event of the quarter.

• Facilities Commissioner Joy Huang said one of her committees – Environmental Justice Now! – would be hosting an informational event on ethical and sustainable purchasing on campus April 14. Huang added that her office will be holding an Earth Day extravaganza and CicLAvia event, which is a Los Angeles nonprofit organization advocating for car-free streets, later in the month.

• Financial Supports Commissioner Nico Morrone said the USA/Board of Directors Fund applications and commuter parking permit scholarship were due April 10. He also said his office distributed its full inventory of 203 lab coats and goggles and would be requesting more program funding for coats and goggles during the council’s surplus funding distribution.

• Student Wellness Commissioner Hannah Yip said UCLA Sexperts and the Health Education Resource team at the Arthur Ashe Student Health and Wellness Center would be hosting sex week – which includes various sex education programming. She added that a health and wellness vending machine is now open outside of the Ashe Center with free Narcan, Fentanyl test strips, condoms and menstrual products, as well as other low-cost health supplies.

• Transfer Student Representative Hyerim Yoon said her office started preparing for its yearly USAC 101 presentations to give to incoming transfer students. She added that her office is continuing transfer awareness training and will be holding a True Bruin checklist event and Dodgers versus Mets gameday. She added that her office is organizing a Transfer mingle with the Transfer Student Center.

• International Student Representative Keya Tanna said her office will host an event with the Palestinian Student Union, tabling at the Spring Resource Fair, a speaker event, international student representative prom and Global Bites – an event in collaboration with UCLA Dining.

Agenda items:

• Yoon introduced a bylaw change to be reviewed and voted on the following week.

• The council unanimously approved a resolution calling upon the California State Legislature to pass ACA 18, an amendment to the California Constitution to increase the number of student regents from two to four and ensure that the board includes both undergraduate and graduate student representatives.

• The council unanimously approved a letter of support for ACA 18.

• The council unanimously approved a letter of support for Assembly Bill 1650, which would prevent car companies from renting cars to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The council said in the letter that ICE operations are particularly salient to the UCLA community and that USAC supports it as representative of a diverse campus.

• The council unanimously approved a letter of support for Assembly Bill 2374, which would establish a California-specific Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institution designation to financially assist universities that excel in providing resources to Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander students. The council said in the letter that more than 35% of UCLA students identify as Asian American, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander. A federal law says that at least 10% of undergraduate students must be AAPI or Native American to qualify as an Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institution, the council added in the letter.

• The council unanimously approved a letter of support for Senate Bill 1255, which would establish a California-specific Hispanic-Serving Institution designation. USAC said in the letter that UCLA is on the threshold of becoming a Hispanic-Serving Institution, given that 24.7% of undergraduate students identify as Hispanic or Latino – .3% from the required threshold – and 35% are Pell Grant recipients, making it 2% short of the required 37%. The Trump administration ended funding to HSIs in September 2025, alleging that the designation illegally enforced racial quotas.