USAC Recap – Nov. 1

The Undergraduate Students Association Council is the official student government representing the undergraduate student body at UCLA. Council meetings usually take place every week on Tuesdays at 7 p.m. in Kerckhoff 417 and are open to all students. Watch a live stream of the meeting on the USAC Live! YouTube channel.

Special presentations

• General Representative Inan Chowdhury said there will be a panel on Nov. 15 to teach students about nonviolence. The panel will be held from 4 to 7 p.m at the Bruin Reception Room, and will include speakers such as Reverend James Lawson, a civil rights advocate who worked with Martin Luther King Jr. in the 1960s.

Agenda

• USAC President Danny Siegel appointed second-year psychology student Papu Togafu to the Student Activities Center Board of Governors.
• Siegel appointed fourth-year psychology student Artemis Chavez to the Committee on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Affairs.
• The council allocated $8,269 towards the the Contingency Programming Fund.
• The council allocated a total of $345.50 for the Student Wellness Programming Fund.

Officer reports

• Siegel said he went to Oakland last week to meet with UC President Janet Napolitano and other UC student body presidents. He said they spoke about searches for student representatives to the Chancellor, which are currently underway at UC Berkeley and UC Davis, and university donations. He added their next meeting will be Nov. 14.
• Siegel said future construction projects at UCLA should evaluate student risk assessment, or how much construction can affect students in terms of parking or other opportunity costs.
• External Vice President Rafi Sands said he hopes students will be informed by Election Day about where their assigned polling place is. He added the polling place will be determined by where students live. His office will spread 4,000 flyers with a map telling students where they can go to vote. In addition, his office will give out a worksheet for students to read about the different propositions on the ballot.
• The proxy for Student Wellness Commissioner Christina Lee said that the commission will hold a town hall this quarter. She added SWC committee Active Minds held a program Friday called Community Healing Space to promote mental health awareness, due to recent deaths on campus. Active Minds also held a mental health fair Tuesday.
• Facilities Commissioner Sandra Rhee said her office is working on creating a wellness assessment of South Campus, to see if there are any recurring issues to be identified, such as with the physical buildings. She added there seems to be a different atmosphere in South Campus, and students may be more stressed there. Rhee said her office will have meetings about the assessment starting this week.
• Rhee said her office is reevaluating general campus facilities including sprinklers and air conditioners.
• General Representative Ruchit Majmudar said that his office’s plan to implement a program that will establish a religious base on campus was postponed due to scheduling conflicts between the different religious groups involved.