USAC recap – Aug. 30

The Undergraduate Students Association Council is the official student government of UCLA’s undergraduate students. Council meetings are Tuesdays at 7 p.m. in Kerckhoff 417 and are open to all students. 

Agenda

• The council unanimously approved Cultural Affairs Commissioner Kinnery Shah and Campus Events Commissioner Daniel Soto’s request for $90,000 to fund Bruin Bash.

• The council unanimously approved Financial Support Commissioner Andrea Hester’s request for $21,300 in funding for textbook scholarships.

• The council unanimously approved President Emily Resnick, Homecoming Executive Director Kelly Knickerbocker and Homecoming Co-Director Mandy Schafenacker’s request for $23,700 in funds for UCLA Homecoming 2011.

• Finance Committee Chair Ronald Arruejo and Finance Committee Vice-Chair Cynthia Jasso presented their modification to the structure of the USA Contingency Programming fund application.

*Officer Reports* 

• President Emily Resnick announced the fire marshall approved a farmer’s market at De Neve Plaza. There will be six markets this year, with the first being in early October.

• Kristina Sidrak, internal vice president, met with transit operations to discuss Strathmore safe rides for fall.

• Joelle Gambe, external vice president, announced resident assistants on the Hill will be trained to register voters on campus and students will also be registered to vote during Volunteer Day. She also reported on her experience at the recent University of California Student Associations’ Congress.

• Raquel Saxe, academic affairs commissioner, announced she will meet with Vice Provost Judith L. Smith twice a quarter. Smith will partner with academic affairs to meet with college deans, departments chairs and faculty to initiate a syllabus review, where faculty upload all syllabi before enrollment. Smith and Saxe also discussed the Peer Writing Center, which is planned to open in fall and will focus on upper-division courses.  Saxe discussed her efforts to put a student on the appeal board for admissions. She also announced plans with the Financial Supports Commission and the Campus Retention Committee to make the loan library in the Student Activities Center as accessible as possible to students.

• Administrative representative Deb Gellar announced upcoming interviews of candidates for Associate Vice Chancellor of Enrollment Management. She described the upcoming merge of the Center of Student Programming and Department of Cultural and Recreational Affairs and explained the Cultural and Diversity Programming Fund, Student Risk Education and Management Fund and AVC Student Programming Fund will be a single application this year.

• Administrative representative Ron Champawat announced ASUCLA is changing Ackerman hours to 8 a.m. to 1 a.m. He also announced USAC surplus will be ready in late November to early January, and USAC currently has $120,000 to $130,000 available for programming until the surplus is accessible.