It has been more than six months since the elected officers of
the undergraduate student government have taken office, and while
they are working together to fulfill council goals, individual
officers also have work ahead of them as they set out to complete
their individual promises.
The general consensus of the council members is that they are
confident in the progress that has been made and project success in
the remainder of their term, but it is questionable whether they
can complete all their goals by the spring.
The three goals on which the Undergraduate Students Association
Council decided to work on as a whole were the Get Out the Vote
campaign, the Free UCLA project, and the elimination of the
expected cumulative progress requirement.
Of the three goals, the first completed was the Get Out the Vote
campaign aimed to create political awareness for the elections and
to get people registered to vote.
“We were revitalizing voter awareness as a tool to
facilitate the process of the Get Out the Vote campaign,”
said John Vu, external vice president and one of the key
contributors to the success of the campaign.
The project was organized to provide a voter registration
campaign as well as voter education. Other officers such as General
Representative Tommy Tseng helped put on workshops to educate
students on the various propositions.
“The outcome was overwhelming. We did all that we set out
to do and even surpassed our goals,” said Allende
Palma/Saracho, the USAC president.
The campaign drew a more-than-expected crowd at the Rock the
Vote concert and allowed for about 3,000 students to become
registered voters.
The next council agenda item is the Free UCLA project. The
project is set to give the campus nighttime and outdoor programming
autonomy and more specifically, clarify and create a consistent
guideline for UCLA’s ability to hold nighttime and outdoor
programming.
Because Palma/Saracho believes UCLA has faced several
inconsistent restraints from the administration in the planning of
nighttime or neighborhood programming, USAC promised to seek a
compromise and produce a set of guidelines constituting the
restrictions in the planning of such programs.
This project is only gradually progressing.
Palma/Saracho said with help from Eligio Martinez, the academic
affairs commissioner, they have begun to work on the project by
gathering information by means of conversation and interviews.
“We’ve had a lot of other projects going on so we
couldn’t put too much focus on this yet, but it is a project
that we have been working on and will continue to work on during
winter quarter too,” Palma/Saracho said.
The last action agenda item, eliminating the expected cumulative
progress, is planned for student involvement this quarter.
The project is one of the few that has been carried over from
last year.
The ECP requirement implemented in 2001, requires that students
must take at least 13 units per quarter and meet the increasing
unit minimums thereafter.
The campaign is aimed at educating students about the
requirement and what USAC argues to be its limiting pressures on
students who are involved in extracurricular activities or have
jobs. USAC plans to gather substantial evidence by a survey on ECP
and its effects on individual students scheduled to be out the
second and third week of this quarter to present to the
administration.
The ECP project, initially the project of Martinez, has been
handed to Tommy Tseng, general representative, to take over.
Because Martinez is the chief investigator, he was advised to
stay out of the campaign entirely to eliminate bias.
“We (the office for general representatives) felt that
USAC as a whole wasn’t making the progress that we would have
liked to see. That is why we took it over. I felt like this was the
best course of action for the students as our office is responsible
for taking on projects that are a priority for students,”
Tseng said.
Though council members are confident about a successful outcome
for all of their projects, only time will determine their
completion.
In addition to the council action agenda items, each individual
council member had promises to fulfill once elected into
office.
The president, Palma/Saracho, said his office has primarily done
advocacy work by lobbying for lower student fees and “staying
in the (Board of) Regents’ ear.”
“We laid all the issues out on the table for the regents.
They are getting away from their responsibilities. We are making
sure to dissect every penny they are asking from us,”
Palma/Saracho said.
An individual project Palma/Saracho has also worked on is the
Student Empowerment Internship, which is a series of classes setup
for leadership development of the interns working in various USAC
offices.
“Implementing the internship is definitely a priority. We
are trying to get credit for the class through the experimental
college, but that is not definite yet,” Palma/Saracho
said.
In the president’s absence, Internal Vice President Darren
Chan would have to assume all the responsibilities and powers of
the president’s office. In his own office, Chan has focused
heavily on accessibility and communication, working toward
“bridging the gap between (the) On-Campus Housing Commission
and USAC” Chan said.
In the fall, two joint OCHC-USAC meetings were held “to
discuss our respective goals for the year, and how we can work
together to advocate on behalf of the students” Chan said. A
primary discussion topic has been ECP.
These meetings are “an effort to make sure that
students’ voices are heard” Chan said. Representation
of on-campus housing residents is especially important, as
“the needs of the students on the Hill sometimes differ from
the needs of the rest of the students” he added.
Chan has also expanded USAC’s leadership development
programs, opening January’s Leadership Summit to non-USAC
sponsored student groups for the first time.
The summit teaches leadership skills to student leaders via a
series of workshops and speakers.
“Each one of these bodies has their own fortes in terms of
student leadership, and we wanted to bring the strength of each
group together and use it for the betterment of the other student
groups” Chan said.
Chan said the council has also continued its concern over
student fee hikes. “The student fee issue that’s on
hand right now is the increased fee for ASUCLA” Chan
said.
Meetings are being held on a monthly basis to discuss this
matter.
Alongside the internal vice president is John Vu, the USAC
external vice president. His job is to coordinate USAC’s
advocacy to institutions and groups outside of UCLA.
In addition to that, Vu generally acts as the bridge between the
campus and elected legislators.
Vu had promised to host an electoral action training during
summer to provide political and other voter information for
students, but was never able to. “It costs about $3,000 to
put one on and because Santa Monica College held one, we made sure
UCLA students were informed to attend that one instead,” Vu
said.
Vu instead held a regional voter training session at UCLA with
help from student lobby groups in the first week of school.
Busying himself with conferences to determine the issues
students encounter during their academic career, Vu has plans to
present those issues to the nationally elected officials in
Washington, D.C.
The issues are particularly in areas of fee increases.
To emphasize the importance of his job, Vu said, “The
elected officials are accountable to you so it’s important
that we make it clear what we want from them.”
Earlier in the fall quarter, Vu was a leading figure in the
organization of the Students of Color Conference, which attracted
over 500 students from all over the UC system.
The Students of Color Conference was another way for Vu to
provide and preserve diversity on campus ““ a campaign promise
he had made.
Now, Vu plans to continue his lobbying efforts, as they are a
part of a larger action plan with the University of California
Students Association and the United States Students Association,
both of which are student lobby and advocacy groups.
Together, they plan to continue fighting for student immigrant
rights for access to higher education and potential employment in
the U.S. through the Dream Act.
In addition, Vu along with USSA and UCSA are lobbying to
increase the eligibility in the local context, which would result
in widening the eligibility of prospective applying freshmen.
Vu said he has realized the importance of lobbying and how
awareness of issues would necessitate action.
Vu is also working on providing lobby-training sessions for
other student leaders on campus.
“It is important for students to know that they can go to
Sacramento or Washington D.C. to lobby and have their concerns be
heard,” Vu said.
“Overall, I’m surprised I’m not burned out.
Its not just about being passionate about advocacy, planning and
organizing, but more so about having fun. And that’s what
I’m doing ““ I’m having fun,” Vu added.