Community Service Commissioner Valerie Sien is responsible for overseeing 20 different community service organizations within her commission. Passionate about work for her community, she ran for the position to provide support based on her experiences with community service. Assistant News Editor JJ Yang sat down with Sien to discuss her position.
Daily Bruin: What are the specific responsibilities of the Community Service Commissioner?
Valerie Sien: My commission has two purposes. One is to oversee the 20 different community-service-related groups. We provide them transportation. We give them vans that are owned by us and we hold workshops for them about recruitment. Second part is to bring community service to the campus in general. One of the things is Community Service Day, which exposes students to the needs of the L.A. community. For students that are new to the area, it’s a great opportunity to work with established organizations. In the past we’ve worked with the L.A. Regional Foodbank and the Dream Center. I also advise groups that are not part of the commission, and I help point them in the right direction.
DB: What are some programs you are working on?
VS: Two things I’m working on is the student risk education committee, trying to investigate ways in which we can provide liability for our community service groups. Most of our groups have no insurance. If they get sued, the signatories would have to pay for legal fees. We’re trying to figure out ways to protect our students, whether it’s driver safety training, or different ways to make sure our volunteers are protected and know the safest way to interact with the community.
There is talk of the university giving blanket liability to student groups on campus. There’s supposed to be a conference call about it in November but I haven’t received anything about it.
I’m also trying to implement a community service record, which would record how many community service hours a student does. We’re trying to do this through MyUCLA, We’re asking for UCLA to recognize this as an official document. Administrative officials are concerned with students possibly inflating their hours and dishonesty. We’re working on ways to have (Center for Student Programming) advisers involved with this.
DB: You mentioned community service days before, could you explain what they are?
VS: We have three mini community service days where we focus on one community service issue. We’ll have three days in the winter quarter.
We’re also waiting on the Mayor’s office for the mayor’s day of service. The big service day is Nov. 15 just in the fall. We will not just be focused on one issue.
DB: What motivated you to run for this position?
VS: When I was in high school I was really involved in community service. I was in Key Club. I was in CSF. When I got to UCLA I was part of the American Red Cross at UCLA, but I also got involved with my Christian fellowship. Starting last year, I realized I really started missing doing community service. Last year I joined the Internal Programs Committee and I was encouraged to run for this position.
DB: You are an independent. Has your position traditionally been nonpartisan?
VS: It’s always been independent, because with community service we want to work with everyone.
It keeps you focused on what you set out to do. If you were part of a slate, you may or may not be hindered by that. You might have the platforms your pushing through instead of community needs.