USAC recap – April 28

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

• Council approved contingency programming funding of $6,330 with a 11-0-1 vote.
• USAC unanimously approved funding of about $1,000 for the Academic Success Referendum Fund.
• Council unanimously approved a resolution supporting water conservation at UCLA.
• Councilmembers made comments about the negativity surrounding elections, remaining neutral and being respectful to current candidates. Several councilmembers asked USAC President Avinoam Baral to show respect toward Election Board Chair Shagun Kabra. Student Wellness Commissioner Savannah Badalich said Kabra has continuously attempted to hold everyone accountable to the same standards, and councilmembers should show more courtesy toward him.
• After public comments requesting an investigation, councilmembers unanimously voted for the Election Board chair to lead an investigation about the leaked LET’S ACT! documents. Academic Affairs Commissioner Allyson Bach said her name and contact information were given in the documents. Transfer Student Representative Negeen Sadeghi-Movahed said she has talked to lawyers and thinks the released contact information is a breach of privacy punishable by law. Several councilmembers, including Sadeghi-Movahed, said they were not involved in the actions claimed by the leaked LET’S ACT! documents and feel hurt by the conflict the documents have created between communities of color.
• Council unanimously approved new USAC Live! guidelines.

Special presentations

• Student Regent-Designate Avi Oved and External Vice President Conrad Contreras shared statistics and information about potential tuition increases and the state budget. Oved and Contreras said state spending is nine times higher for prison spending than for higher education and that there is a surplus in the state budget. Oved said he has lobbied for increased University of California funding in Sacramento and that the lack of funding is a social justice issue because a growing number of underrepresented communities don’t have equal access to higher education. Oved and Contreras invited councilmembers to participate in an event on Thursday and circulate social media posts pushing Gov. Jerry Brown to increase higher education funding. Oved said the period between April 21 and May 8 is important for creating action on campus and social media before Brown releases the budget.

Officer reports

• Badalich said a Title IX officer will be visiting campus to lead focus groups for students to talk about issues related to sexual assault. Students do not have to be or know survivors to attend. Badalich said 7000 in Solidarity and the focus groups will have private office hours for students who do not want to publicly speak about sexual assault and other campus issues. The Student Wellness Commission will be partnering with Bruins for Recovery, a student group that helps students recover from addictions. Badalich said she is working with Bruins for Recovery to add a housing preferences list that allows students to share if they are recovering from an addiction so they can be housed appropriately to help them in their recovery.
• Patty Zimmerman, an administrative representative, said she and Baral have worked with UCLA Development to get an online platform for the USAC endowment. The USAC main page now has a donate button that Baral helped create with the UCLA Foundation.

Compiled by Alejandra Reyes-Velarde, Bruin contributor.