The Undergraduate Students Association Council is the official student government representing the undergraduate student body at UCLA. Council meetings take place every week on Tuesdays at 7 p.m. in Kerckhoff Hall 417 and are open to all students. Watch a live stream of the meeting on the USAC Live! YouTube channel.
Agenda
- Members of council discussed the University of California Office of the President’s proposal to raise tuition rates by 5 percent annually over a five-year period. USAC External Vice President Conrad Contreras said that there will be a statewide day of action Tuesday on each UC campus. He added that he will organize a group of students to go to the UC Board of Regents meeting at UC San Francisco’s Mission Bay campus on Wednesday to protest the proposed tuition increase.
- The Office of the External Vice President was granted $1,500 of discretionary funds with a vote of 13-0-0 to provide transportation to the regents meeting and to cover the cost of materials needed to protest the proposed tuition increase.
- Council discussed logistics of the upcoming USAC meeting on a resolution calling for University divestment from corporations some students say profit from human rights violations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Councilmembers voted to advise USAC President Devin Murphy to limit public comments to three and a half hours. The motion was approved as a recommendation with a vote of 8-5-0.
- Patty Zimmerman, student government services manager, suggested that the meeting be open to all members of the press, but to disallow any video recordings besides the USAC live stream.
- Members of the council suggested that any students who want to make a public comment must have a BruinCard, and the proposal was approved as a recommendation with a vote of 11-2-0.
Special presentations
- The Armenian Students’ Association at UCLA said next week is Artsakh Awareness Week. The group gave a presentation about Artsakh’s history of conflict with surrounding nations and said that students should be interested in Artsakh because it concerns issues of human rights and national self-determination.
- The Israel-Palestine Conflict Mediation Group said that it will have guest speakers talk to students. The organization knows students have firm opinions about divestment, but said it is mostly concerned with intellectual honesty and using terms correctly.
Officer reports
- Murphy said he met with UCLA Chancellor Gene Block and Vice Chancellor and Chief Financial Officer Steven Olsen to discuss the impact of the proposed tuition hike on UCLA. He said he also met with Graduate Students Association President Michael Hirshman to discuss the proposed 5 percent increase in tuition. Murphy said they were disappointed that Block expressed support for the increase without consulting student leaders.
- Contreras said he was also at the meeting with Block. He said he talked to Block about his joint statement of support for the tuition hike, which Block was unwilling to rescind.
- Internal Vice President Avinoam Baral said that the T-shirt design contest received 121 entries.
- General Representative 1 Manjot Singh said there would be a Photoshop workshop on Nov. 21 on the third floor of Powell Library and a LinkedIn workshop during week 8.
- Academic Affairs Commissioner Allyson Bach said that her Professional Development Program team is organizing a research opportunities expo, which will also feature pre-professional organizations. She also said that the UCLA Academic Senate is drafting a resolution for the university’s diversity requirement that will be presented to council, and is planning a meeting to discuss ways that they can approach opposition toward the resolution.
- Student Wellness Commissioner Savannah Badalich talked about End Stigma Week. She mentioned that Operation Mend is holding an event on Wednesday called “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell: Invisible Wounds,” which will cover sexual violence against men in the military.
- Transfer Student Representative Negeen Sadeghi-Movahed said that she met with a UC Berkeley student to plan an initiative to support commuter students who live within 40 miles of campus.
Appointments
- Shawn Trabanino, a fifth-year anthropology student, was unanimously appointed to the Judicial Board.
- Jason Schechter, a fourth-year political science student, was unanimously appointed to the Judicial Board.
Compiled by Hannah Rossen and Melissa Tay, Bruin contributors.