Undergraduates’ official student liaison to the outside
world is heading to west Africa next week to represent their
interests ““ though many students are not sure who he is or
why he’s going.
Chris Neal, external vice president of the Undergraduate
Students Association Council, leaves for Ghana on Monday to
represent the nation’s college students in a conference held
by the International Union of Students.
Neal is traveling with a contingent from the United States
Student Association, which was spawned from the union. The
association is a coalition of student government representatives
from across the nation formed to organize student movements on
issues like voter registration and preventing tuition hikes.
“We’re trying to see how we can effectively work
together,” Neal said, referring to the international variety
of students expected to attend the conference.
USSA President Jo’ie Taylor, who will be traveling with
Neal, said the conference ““ the first in the last four years
““ will allow them to relay student organizing strategies with
foreign student officials.
“If students (globally) are fighting tuition or fee hikes,
then that means something,” Taylor said. “We can borrow
(each other’s) strategies and come up with common
goals.”
She pointed out that the union’s efforts in the past
helped to organize students worldwide against apartheid in South
Africa during the early 1980s. Taylor said possible topics that
could reach the table include current anti-sweatshop movements.
Yet in the midst of these global efforts on behalf of students,
many of the students Neal and Taylor represent are not aware of the
trip.
First-year undeclared student Shifali Dhingra said she does not
object to Neal traveling across the world in the name of UCLA, but
would want to be better informed and updated of his actions.
“They need to make it known for us; it would help if we
knew about the issue,” Dhingra said. “(Neal)
can’t represent everyone if no one knows what he’s
talking about.”
Other students would also like to be better informed about
Neal’s travels, since they say their student fees support
student government, including Neal’s office.
“I just don’t know what he’s doing,”
said Sergio Chavez, a fourth-year Latin American studies and
Spanish student.
Chavez added that he is willing to support Neal, but it
“depends on what he’s focusing on.”
Neal contends that he campaigned for his office with the promise
of representing students on an international level. But in terms of
increasing student awareness of his activities, he plans on
reporting back to students in the form of newsletters and newspaper
submissions.
He added that students interested in his efforts can come to his
office and apply to be in future USSA delegations.
USSA’s origins and the roots of the IUS trace back more
than 50 years. After World War II, students from several countries
met in Prague in the Czech Republic in 1946 to tackle common issues
students from around the world faced, effectively forming the
IUS.
Students formed their own national coalitions after leaving this
meeting, and the U.S. delegates formed the National Student
Association in 1947, which became USSA.