The Bruin Lobby Corps hosted an “All Organization Issues Forum” on Wednesday to receive input on issues of concern from various campus groups.
Campus organizations brought numerous issues to the table, including increasing diversity in admissions, improving health benefits for graduate students and continuing admission of California students to UCLA, despite the budget cuts.
The concern about campus diversity was voiced by the Academic Affairs Commission, the official representative group for academic-related issues for UCLA undergraduates.
The Academic Affairs Commission has started community outreach programs to change students’ mindsets about college, said representative Jillian Yumansky, a fourth-year sociology student.
“Right now, they don’t even think this is possible,” said Yumansky.
By encouraging high school students to stay in school, while increasing awareness of financial aid options, the AAC hopes to increase the diversity of students on campus, Yumansky said.
In response to this concern, the Bruin Lobby Corps offered to train committees from the AAC to lobby effectively and encouraged them to attend lobbying workshops hosted by the Bruin Lobby Corps.
Although a majority of the issues were related to undergraduate affairs, the Graduate Student Association discussed the improvement of benefits for graduate students as well.
Due to the fact that some of these students are older than undergraduates, the GSA advocated health benefits for both graduate students and their dependents, as well as universal health coverage for graduate students.
In addition to the improvement of health benefits, the GSA wanted to campaign for more need-based financial aid for graduate students.
Since these students cannot receive Cal or Pell grants, funding for graduate school is often more difficult, according to Dianne Tanjuaquio, a GSA representative.
To improve this, the organization wanted a greater advocacy of need-based financial aid, as well as greater cooperation with the undergraduate organizations for solidarity.
Recent events, such as the possible increase in admissions for out-of-state and international students, also took center stage at the forum.
Samahang Pilipino, an advocacy group for the on- and off-campus Filipino community wanted to see a focus on admitting more students from California.
“We would like to see the University being more responsible due to the fact that it is a University of California,” said third-year political science student Jason Tengco.
In terms of assistance from the office of the external vice president, Samahang Pilipino wanted the EVP to work with the Undergraduate Students Association Council president to start talks with the chancellor about this issue.
“We want to focus on the fact that the access of students should be at the forefront,” Tengco said.
With such an emphasis on budget cuts, money management was also discussed in light of the recent economic crisis.
The Office of the President expressed concern about investments made with funds from UCLA’s endowment fund.
In order to increase responsibility with the funds, third-year environmental science and accounting student Victor Weisberg proposed the creation of an advisory committee in the Board of Directors to discuss options for better investment.
“There’s a lot of proactive things you can do with these investments,” Weisberg said.
Weisberg, who is also a representative for the Office of the President, asked the EVP’s office to ask the University of California Students Association to support this initiative.
Despite the low turnout, the Bruin Lobby Corps considered the event a success and plans to host another forum in winter quarter.
“These are real concerns that matter to students,” Stephanie Perez, director of the Bruin Lobby Corps, said. “These issues are those that have persisted for a long time.”
Looking towards the future, the Bruin Lobby Corps hopes to increase its outreach programs to reach other campus organizations. “We want to host more forums and lessons in lobbying.” Perez said.
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