At last week’s Undergraduate Students Association Council
meeting, USAC approved three broad goals for the year, including
strengthening student voice, increasing campus safety and helping
transfer students adjust to UCLA.
Though these goals ““ called action agenda items ““
are conceptual, each USAC officer has pledged to take specific
actions to help further them.
Action agenda items help give the council a focus for the year,
and allow USAC to work toward mutual goals when the council can be
split on other issues, said President Marwa Kaisey.
“I think (action agenda items) send an important message
to the administration and the rest of campus that even though we
are a divided council, there are some things that we can agree to
prioritize,” Kaisey said.
The council approved four action agenda items and one focus
item, out of a total of seven discussed possibilities.
“(The council) should keep in mind the function of the
action agenda item is to communicate to the campus what USAC is
working on,” said Nat Schuster, academic affairs
commissioner.
“We should have that perspective about the items,”
Schuster said. “We cannot approve too many or they will not
have as much impact.”
Kaisey also said her office will focus mostly on strengthening
student voice by holding students appointed to academic senate
committees accountable to USAC, and securing voting positions for
more students on academic committees.
Tina Park, external vice president, said her office will be
working on the Get Out the Vote effort on campus.
The University of Southern California has challenged UCLA to see
which school will be able to register the most voters, and at last
week’s meeting, USAC agreed to accept the challenge.
So far, several hundred students have registered for the
upcoming election through USAC.
Park also said her office will be working on “increasing
diversity through admissions,” which USAC adopted as a focus
item for the year.
Focus items are also issues that council has voted to make a
priority, but that not every office is working on.
Park said she plans on holding administrators accountable in
their efforts to work on a more permanent admissions process for
UCLA, and would like to see more student involvement in the campus
groups that are working on admissions.
She said many details of the new holistic admissions process
have yet to be worked out, and she would like students to have some
input.
The UC Students Association will also be working on presenting a
student opinion on admissions to the UC Board of Regents, Park
added.
Schuster said his office will focus on freshman and transfer
student adjustment.
In the past, USAC has not done all it could have to help
transfer students adjust to UCLA, Schuster said, adding that he
hopes to change that in part by increasing student access to
academic counselors outside of Murphy Hall.
Schuster also said new students need to be made aware of the
mental health services offered on campus, and that he plans to hold
educational workshops for students about campus services including
counseling and psychological services.