At the close of the fall quarter, the undergraduate student
government is working on gauging students’ opinions and
deliberating on whether or not to approve the budget of its
system-wide lobbying organization.
Analyzing student survey results and voting on the University of
California Student Association budget will top the Undergraduate
Students Association Council’s agenda when council members
reconvene in January.
Randomized survey sent out
Most undergraduate students opened their MyUCLA mailboxes this
week to find a survey asking for student opinion about various
school and world-related issues. Students who complete the survey
are entered in a drawing to win a $200 gift certificate to the UCLA
store.
Administered by the USAC presidential and first and third
general representative offices, the survey was randomly distributed
among 24,000 undergraduate students, said USAC President David
Dahle.
Student opinion is being polled on issues such as the possible
attack on Iraq, the Racial Privacy Initiative and the Minimum
Progress Requirement. Students were also asked to rank which issues
they felt USAC should prioritize ““ issues ranging from campus
diversity to parking.
USAC will use the survey as a tool for the elected council to
better represent undergraduate students, Dahle said.
“It’s a way of understanding what students are
thinking,” he said. “A lot of times, we don’t
know (what students want) … it’ll be a great help in making
decisions.”
The surveys will be compiled at the end of this week and the
results made public early winter quarter, Dahle said.
The survey was generated through the input of all council
members, said General Representative Adam Harmetz.
Students had opposing views of the survey’s
effectiveness.
“I feel the issues are important, but I’ve seen
these surveys in the past and I don’t feel they take (student
input) into consideration,” said fifth-year psychobiology
student Michael Leung.
But third-year sociology student Jennifer Flint said the survey
was important so USAC could get a feel of what students wanted.
Second-year history student, Ryan Teofilo said he wasn’t
sure if he has received the survey yet but would like to fill it
out.
“I’d hope (USAC) would listen to what people are
saying,” he said.
Council cannot pass budget
After a lengthy discussion at their meeting Tuesday night, USAC
was unable to take an official stance on the UCSA budget due to the
council’s failure to meet quorum.
The budget, which was approved by UCSA board members this
October, has already come under heat by many graduate and
undergraduate student councils throughout the UC.
UCSA Chair and UC San Diego External Vice President Steve Klass
and UCLA Campus Organizing Director and UCSA member Matt Kaczmarek
presented a detailed budget to eight of 13 present councilmembers
and others in attendance.
The council brought up concerns about what specific benefits
UCLA receives. With this year’s payment of $65,000, UCLA is
the single largest UC contributor to the organization.
Most of USAC also voiced their dissatisfaction with UCSA
presenting an already approved and implemented budget to
council.
Unlike previous years, UCSA ““ responsible for advocating
student issues on a university-wide and state level ““ will
have a budget deficit of $17,000. UCSA will also be issuing $7,200
in stipends to both Klass and Vice Chair Chris Neal, who is also
USAC external vice president.
Neal said the deficit should not be a large concern since the
association has $130,000 in savings to adequately cover costs.