A few members of student government ran against no opposition
last spring intending to continue their offices’ longstanding
traditional programming, while another member looks to use
increased funds to attract bigger names to Westwood Plaza.
The campus events, community service, cultural affairs and
student welfare commissions of the Undergraduate Students
Association Council are also all direct beneficiaries of a student
fee referendum passed last month to boost student programming
funding by approximately $210,000.
The $9.25 hike ““ which raises the quarterly fee USAC
collects from students to $33.34 ““ provides for $3.25 in
specific allocations to the four offices.
It comes in handy for the campus events commission, which has
not received a funding increase since 1985 ““ having to fend
off rising parking costs for artists and inflation with a static
budget.
One of the primary projects the office is taking on with the
additional $1 it will receive from each undergraduate is a large
concert with three yet-to-be-named high-profile artists.
Campus Events Commissioner Ryan Wilson said students will need
to be patient before they see tangible effects of the extra
funding.
“They may not see immediate dividends, but rather
long-term improvements,” he said.
A CEC-hosted awards show is in the works, and Wilson said his
office is brainstorming how to expand its audiences and
“attract different types of demographics.”
“It’s everybody’s money,” Wilson
said.
Cultural Affairs Commissioner Robbie Clark has similar goals for
her $1 per-student allocation, hoping to improve noontime shows in
central campus.
“We haven’t been able to pull better people and
bigger names,” Clark said. “Now we have the opportunity
to diversify our programming.”
In addition, Clark has started an independent film series in
conjunction with the Graduate Student Association’s Melnitz
Movies series, and she wants to host more educational programming
from her office.
However, she admits she’ll need more help from the student
body to make these plans reach fruition.
“We need to pull more people and get them involved with
planning,” Clark said. “We also need to get more people
to help with advertising so that more people are drawn to the
office.”
Suzanne Yu, community service commissioner, said she has no hard
plans yet for the 50-cent funding increase her office will receive
other than working to “figure ways to use the funds for
undergrads as a whole.”
But Yu added that the bulk of the additional money will likely
help her office expand the number of sponsorships it can offer
community service organizations on campus.
Other plans currently behind the scenes for the community
service commission include a spring-scheduled community service and
leadership conference for Southern California colleges.
Generally, Yu said she doesn’t expect to have a full grasp
of her office until at least the end of this quarter.
“I still have a lot of learning to go on,” Yu said.
“Hopefully by winter I’ll have established
myself.”
Increasing turnout to pre-existing programming will receive a
large portion of the student welfare commission’s 75-cent
student funding injection, said SWC head Crisette Leyco.
“With the referendum, we’ll have more to work
with,” she said.
Some of the routine programs already in progress by the
commission include weekly CPR classes, and today begins the
office’s self-initiated AIDS Awareness Week.
For the most part, Leyco said her commission is self-running,
with more than a dozen event directors working within her office.
She said she sometimes feels “limited” by the sheer
logistics of meeting with a staff of 13 directors and eight
executive board members.
But she wants to spearhead an effort to venture the SWC beyond
its traditional health and fitness-oriented programs.
“I want to help publicize culture nights and work on other
things beside health stuff to provide student well-being,”
she said.