UCLA Student Media plans to rent out a section of the Daily Bruin office to the Student Affairs department which hopes to use the space for either a transfer or veteran student center, as discussed in an Associated Students UCLA meeting Friday.
Student Media, which encompasses seven news magazines, the campus yearbook, UCLA Radio and the Daily Bruin, has run a financial deficit for the past several years and plans to lease the space to mitigate the deficit. Student Media has not decided how much it will charge Student Affairs for the space, said Student Media Director Arvli Ward.
In 2014, ASUCLA extended a $200,000 credit line to Student Media in an attempt to lighten its financial strain. The credit line allows the Communications Board, an independent branch of ASUCLA that oversees Student Media, to delay payment of up to $200,000 to ASUCLA.
Ward said leasing the space would benefit both parties because it would provide income for Student Media and provide a space for students who want to access centralized resources.
Transfer and veteran student groups have called for the creation of a centralized location where they can access resources. Ariel Rafalian, UCLA Undergraduate Students Association Council’s transfer student representative, said one of his main campaign platforms was to create a centralized transfer resource center.
Rafalian said he spoke with several transfer and veteran students who said their resources are too spread out around campus.
UCLA Veterans Resource Office coordinator Donald Stiles said the space would be an improvement from the current space that they have for veterans.
“The current space the Veteran Resource Office occupies is not large enough to conduct private discussions, such as psychological services,” Stiles said.
Roy Champawat, director of the UCLA Student Union, said the plan can simultaneously address Student Media’s financial issues and the lack of centralized transfer and veteran student centers.
“(The plan is) an opportunity to help an ASUCLA entity, if a deal (can) be struck, to let real money flow to Student Media,” he said.
Transfer and veteran students will work with Janina Montero, vice chancellor of student affairs, to determine how to most efficiently use the space, Rafalian said.
Monroe Gorden Jr., associate vice chancellor of student affairs, said transfer and veteran students have made visits to the Daily Bruin office to view the proposed space.
Student Affairs and ASUCLA officials could not provide a date for when the construction of the space will begin. Rafalian said he and his office hope to work with Vice Chancellor Montero to have the center built by the end of the academic year, and are looking for sources outside of UCLA to help raise money for the center.