By Luz Maria Kumpel
One year ago today, I sat where you are now, reading about Undergraduate Students Association Council elections. As I am someone extensively involved on campus, you would figure that USAC was an integral part of my student experience.
Unfortunately, that is untrue. Like you, I always wondered why USAC would only come out of hibernation and attempt to reach out to all students when election season was around the corner.
By no means am I unfamiliar with USAC either. I made it a priority this year to get to the bottom of USAC’s elusiveness and find tangible solutions to ensure that your student government is there for you. As a director in general representative Thach Nguyen’s office, one of the most successful USAC offices this year, we strived to not only meet our campaign promises but to also tackle projects and issues of student need. That experience, coupled with my diverse leadership experiences within the many facets of UCLA, makes me the ultimate USAC insider with an outsider’s perspective.
So this is my promise to you: Things at this university will change if I am elected your next president.
Sitting on the outside of USAC looking in, I had experienced UCLA like most of us before elections last year. As an orientation counselor, Dance Marathon steering director, UCLA tour guide, resident assistant-in-training and a peer mentor, I have felt the disconnect with USAC while committing myself to ensuring that all of our experiences at UCLA are everything we wanted them to be and more. We are all here to pursue our dreams at this magnificent university, and Bruins United is committed to bringing us all together to ensure that USAC works for all of us.
As the Bruins United candidate for USAC president, I will advocate for all of us and never lose sight of why you have granted me an office in Kerckhoff. Never again will more than 700 student groups go without funding. Never again will you be ineligible for the textbook scholarship, funded by USAC (your student fees!). Never again will USAC be absent from Bruin Walk after this week. Bruins United strives to ensure that your money and your voice is our priority. This election season, BE YOU and help turn this campus around!
Kumpel is a third-year psychobiology student and the Bruins United USAC presidential candidate.