This year about 50 students will have the opportunity to learn
about student government hands on by interning for the
Undergraduate Students Association Council.
The internship can be a steppingstone to a council position, but
council members say USAC is focused on increasing awareness about
the issues that face student government rather than on recruiting
potential council members.
The interns will work directly with a council member’s
staff in one of the 13 USAC offices and will participate in weekly
seminar-style workshops aimed at educating students about the
issues they can work on as leaders.
Last year’s workshops included topics such as admissions
procedures and funding for outreach programs.
The internship experience familiarizes participants with the
processes of student government, but is not a means of recruiting
potential candidates into any particular slate, said USAC President
Allende Palma/Saracho. The two major slates ““ Students First!
and Equal Access Coalition ““ are voting coalitions that some
councilmembers belong to.
Palma/Saracho believes that most students emerge from the
internship with a stronger sense of which slate best promotes their
political ideals.
“The internship helps politicize students by showing them
the political process, but I wouldn’t say in any particular
direction,” Palma/Saracho said.
He explained that the majority of interns have historically been
primarily first- and second-year students with little knowledge of
school politics.
It is unlikely for many of these students to be supporters of a
particular slate prior to working in a council member’s
office.
Before she interned in the internal vice president’s
office, Rita Qatami, a third-year international development studies
and Middle Eastern and North African studies student, was only
marginally active in school politics. She voted in the school
election, but was largely unaware of the differences between
candidates.
“I didn’t even know what a slate was,” she
said.
During the internship she became more attuned to the political
process and started to identify with Students First! She plans to
work for the slate as a member of the president’s staff this
academic year.
Most students who intern for USAC are members of at least one
student organization, yet many do not go on to run for council
offices.
Jenny Wood, who currently serves as a general representative on
council, is the only former intern to hold a USAC position on this
year’s council, Palma/Saracho said.
Even those participants who do not go on to join the council
advise others to look into internship opportunities.
Deepa Goraya, another former intern who plans to continue her
involvement in student government, highly recommends the internship
as a starting place.
“It really gives students a good idea of what student
government is,” she said.
Last year, between 50 and 60 students interned with USAC, and a
similar number is expected this year. This year, Palma/Sacharo
expects the program to be accredited by UCLA, making student
interns eligible to earn units towards graduation for participating
in the program.
Additional information about USAC internships will be available
during the Welcome Week carnival and at the USAC open house, which
will also be held the week that classes begin.