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
- Members from the Youth Movement Against Alzheimer’s said they are hosting an event Tuesday to increase student awareness of Alzheimer’s. The event will feature speakers, food and a concert.
- The co-directors of the Student Food Collective talked about their efforts to renovate the room where the Student Food Co-Op will be located. The co-op, which aims to fight student food insecurity, will allow students to order groceries online and pick them up on-site. They said they currently share the room with the Election Board and are working on ways to accommodate both groups.
- Undergraduate members of the Faculty Executive Committee updated the council on issues the committee has been looking into. They said the committee is considering updating teacher evaluations, modifying the Foundations of Science general education requirement and improving classroom spaces to accommodate increases in student enrollment. They also discussed the possibility of having more undergraduate students work as teacher’s assistants.
Agenda
- The council appointed Nancy Alvarez, a second-year mathematics and economics student, to the Finance Committee.
Officer reports
- President Danny Siegel said he met with UCLA Student Legal Services to discuss housing security and students’ tenant rights. He added the council should work with the Bruin Consent Coalition and Bruins Against Sexual Harassment to campaign against Gabriel Piterberg, a UCLA professor accused of sexual harassment who is teaching two classes this quarter.
- Siegel said Father Gregory Boyle, the founder of gang rehabilitation program Homeboy Industries, will give a lecture Tuesday at the University Catholic Center.
- Internal Vice President Sabrina Zeigler said her office will be holding an Off Campus Living Fair on Feb. 1. The fair will feature 11 different landlords and will also promote apartment safety.
- External Vice President Rafi Sands said his office is planning on campaigning against Measure S, a measure on the Los Angeles city elections ballot in March. Sands said the measure would limit new developments in Westwood and make it more difficult for students to obtain housing. Sands said the EVP office is holding its first event for 2017: Millenials Take Charge, a new campaign kickstarting this quarter.
- Academic Affairs Commissioner Ashly Mohankumar said her office and the EVP office are providing transportation for students to attend the Women’s March in downtown Los Angeles on Saturday. Mohankumar said she is working with College Academic Counseling to make sure first-year students continue to get advice on classes and other academic issues over the next two quarters.
- Student Wellness Commissioner Christina Lee said Bruin Consent Coalition is holding Consent Week events this week, including a yoga healing event Friday. She added her office will meet with the Ashe Center to get an update on their free menstrual products program.
- Facilities Commissioner Sandra Rhee said her commission is looking to build additional recycling and composting bins, as well as modify online platforms for students to reserve spaces.
- General Representative 1 Zoe Borden said she is working with the Office of Sponsorship and Career Center to host a job fair that features socially responsible companies.
- General Representative 2 Ruchit Majmudar said he met with the dean of the Anderson School of Management to discuss expanding the entrepreneurship minor. He added he met with the dean of the UCLA College to discuss making classes less theoretical and more practical.
- General Representative 3 Inan Chowdhury said his office is working with the Health Campus Initiative to compile mental health resources and events for students. He said he is reaching out to different organizations to get them to participate in Bruin Olympics, an event to be held in Spring Quarter.
- Transfer Student Representative Divya Sharma said he is looking to organize a “Transfer Students of Color” conference with other UC campuses.
Fund allocations:
- The council approved a funding allocation for the Contingency Programming Fund.
- The council approved, by consent, funding allocations for the EVP Bruin Defenders, the Academic Success Referendum Fund and the AAC Mini Travel Fund.