UCSA recap – Feb. 7-8

The University of California Student Association represents 15 of 19 UC undergraduate and graduate student governments. The organization’s Board of Directors typically meets every month at a different campus. The board met this weekend at UCLA.

• The board unanimously passed a resolution in support of a diversity requirement proposal for the UCLA College of Letters and Science. The requirement would have students take a course about inequalities based on race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation or religion, among other factors.
• With a 15-0-1 vote, board members passed a resolution expressing no confidence in Gov. Jerry Brown. The resolution calls for Brown to allocate more funding to the University, claiming his plan to cut University operational costs compromises the UC’s quality of education.
• The board discussed whether to support Senate Constitutional Amendment 1, a bill that seeks to give some of the University’s autonomy to the state Legislature. Although many board members said they support the bill, some public commenters and officials such as Student Regent-Designate Avi Oved said they think the bill is not an appropriate way to address the tuition hike proposal.
• The board heard a presentation from Todd Lu, a second-year political science student at UCLA and a member of the Free University Coalition and Student Coalition Against Labor Exploitation. Lu presented about the University budget and how he thinks the University has been mismanaging its finances, which he said led to the UC passing a proposal to increase tuition up to 5 percent annually for the next five years. Lu said he thinks the University can prevent the tuition hike proposal by decreasing the number of administrators the UC employs.
• Board members also heard a presentation from Jason Webber, a Berkeley alumnus and a member of Californians United for a Responsible Budget, on overcrowding in state prisons.
• For its Invest in Graduation Not Incarceration, Transform Education campaign, which seeks to reduce government spending in the correctional system and put the money into social and educational programs, the board agreed to establish goals for the quarter. One of the goals is to prevent a 1.7 percent increase in spending on state prisons and to establish a police accountability board on each campus.
• The board also heard an update on the UConsent program from Undergraduate Students Association Council Student Wellness Commissioner Savannah Badalich and Chrissy Keenan, co-campaign manager of 7,000 in Solidarity and a third-year human biology and society student.

Compiled by Jeong Park, Bruin senior staff.