Professor Ya-Hong Xie led this quarter’s third Professor
in the Union series event ““ a student-faculty lunch and
discussion sponsored by the Associated Students of UCLA ““
Tuesday to discuss “The Exciting Field of Electronic
Materials.”
ASUCLA formed the weekly series in response to a proposed
Student Union Strategic Initiative allowing ASUCLA to sponsor
programs ““ some of the same programs the Undergraduate
Students Association Council has traditionally conducted.
USAC called the initiative into question over the summer, but a
revised proposal has not yet been released. USAC officials have
said they believe ASUCLA should stick to its traditional funding
role and let USAC and student groups run programs.
USAC sponsors a similar program called the brown bag
discussions, during which professor and students meet to discuss
prevalent issues.
“I wouldn’t say (ASUCLA) oversteps its role, but I
would say it raises some concern as to how we are utilizing our
money in the union,” said USAC President Anica McKesey.
“Finances are allocated to certain groups, so the
distinction, therefore, of making programming on the side of ASUCLA
is very questionable,” she added.
Even on the ASUCLA Board of Directors, members disagree what the
role of the union should be in student programming, said board
member Yousef Tajsar.
Brown Bag discussions address prevalent issues and policies
while Professor in the Union discussions are different because they
encourage student-faculty interaction, he said.
Still, interaction between professors and students can be done
in the classroom, McKesey said.
Programming is about utilizing the conversations produced from
student-faculty interactions and talking about different social
issues and the responsibilities students are feeling, she said.
“To say that you want one or the other is to say you want
both,” she added.
Tajsar said the board is working with the council to resolve
differences of opinion about programming.
“I would say (ASUCLA and USAC) are interacting well and
communicating a lot,” he added.
ASUCLA held the first Professor in the Union luncheon at the end
of winter quarter last year to expand student knowledge outside of
the classroom, said Lisa Raigosa, the student support services
manager.
The student union hoped to attract students with the Professor
in the Union series because it lacks the pressure of the classroom
setting and because grades are not involved, she said.
Meetings are held every Tuesday from second to ninth week in
Ackerman Union and allow 45 students to participate on a
first-come, first-serve basis, she said.
Brown bag discussions are not scheduled as regularly because
they depend on other programming that USAC does, Raigosa said.
Raigosa also said she has not seen advertisements for
USAC’s brown bag discussion series and does not believe that
ASUCLA has overstepped the bounds of its responsibilities.
At Tuesday’s event, Xie discussed topics from his
childhood in Beijing and his experiences at UCLA as both a graduate
student and a professor.
Students in attendance say they enjoy the Professor in the Union
series.
Third-year sociology student Kenny Chow said the luncheon
interested him because he likes learning about ideas that are not
related to his area of focus.