The top three undergraduate student government leaders met their midterm mark with mostly progress and success by continuing to fulfill the promises they made during their respective campaigns last year.
So far, Undergraduate Students Association Council President Gabe Rose, External Vice President Justin Hotter and Internal Vice President Dianne Tanjuaquio have already worked with their staff, students, faculty and administration to provide services ranging from academic programs to social activities.
But, some promises made during the elections were put aside due to issues such as time and feasibility.
The three council members said that, in spite of obstacles, they have been and still are making progress on their campaign goals since spring elections.
“My projects and goals are long-term. Things are definitely moving, but not necessarily finished,” Rose said.
In his spring campaign, Rose said that his biggest goals were to create improvements in student-alumni relations, to increase USAC publicity and accessibility to students and to create a “Concerts for Cash” series, where students can interact with each other and watch performances of various musical artists and entertainers.
All profits made during the “Concerts for Cash” would be placed into the USAC budget to help fund other student groups’ programs and activities on campus.
While running for office, Tanjuaquio pointed to work on increasing student group resources, promoting mental health and campus safety and finding ways to increase the popularity of ASUCLA meal coupons, which can be obtained with dorm meal swipes, for on-campus residents.
Tanjuaquio said that her tenure should be guided by her campaign promises.
“As an executive officer, I have to keep all the things from my campaign in mind all the time. I need to be accountable. I also want to be open to other big issues that come up,” Tanjuaquio said.
Hotter ran for office with the main goal of focusing on local issues including student parking and inefficient Westwood street lighting, as well as funding reform within his office.
As this year’s USAC election approaches, the three leaders and their offices note varying levels of success.
Hotter said that he already fulfilled two out of three of his goals.
He fixed the street lighting problem in Westwood during fall quarter, after contacting the Los Angeles City Bureau of Street Lighting. The bureau notified Hotter that 17 broken street lights were repaired by late November.
“It was a huge victory, probably the most significant campus safety victory this past year,” Hotter said.
On Jan. 8, Hotter reformed the travel grant funding process in the USAC bylaws to increase transparency, as well as to make the external vice president more accountable. Hotter said that in the past, the external vice president was solely in charge of money distribution and could allocate money to very few student groups. His legislation established a $500 cap on each student group application for a travel grant.
“I wanted to open it up, so more student groups can apply and get money,” Hotter said.
Tanjuaquio also made distinctive improvements on campus safety and supporting student group leaders.
Tanjuaquio held an event last quarter to bring resident assistants and student groups together. She said that approximately 15 leaders of student groups met with many resident assistants. They discussed problems such as the rates student groups must pay for space to hold events. Tanjuaquio said that she hoped that the groups can use their new connections to the Hill in order to reach more on-campus residents.
“I wanted student groups to have more opportunities to network. As a liaison to student groups, I thought it was important to help making running a group easier,” she said.
The internal vice president added that her office collaborated with the Student Welfare Commission for “Campus Safety Week” during the past fall and also organized World Aids Day events with other campus organizations.
Jesse Rogel, Tanjuaquio’s chief of staff, said that he thought she did well in terms of outreach to student groups.
“It’s a new challenge every year because student groups change leadership,” Rogel said.
Rose said one of his best achievements was continuing a smooth series of presidential and non-partisan appointments throughout his term. He recalls appointments as a difficult business at the council table in previous years.
“In the past, there have been walk-outs during council meetings. I would like to think that I did a fair job of not creating controversy,” Rose said.
Still, the three leaders’ terms have not been without their obstacles.
In particular, Tanjuaquio originally planned on increasing the number of emergency call stations on the UCLA campus and creating a “North Village Watch.”
She said that she decided her campus safety programs were not feasible after examining the criticism from the Daily Bruin’s internal vice president endorsement, studying the logistics herself and researching a similar campus safety program UC Berkeley was considering.
“I decided that there are other ways to approach campus safety,” said Tanjuaquio.
She decided to support the BruinAlert program ““ the recently launched service that would send priority text message alerts to registered members during emergencies, the evening van service and the UCPD escort service, instead of pursuing her previous plans.
Rose said that he agreed with the necessity of adapting and deciding what is and is not possible for him and his office.
“We have definitely changed plans after getting administrative input and just by exploring things. Some things may not be feasible, so we try to find a way to use the original idea,” said Rose.
He added that the administrators, “give other options and explain the logistical obstacles to us.”
In particular, Rose said that the administration advised him to work with a professional promoter for his “Concert for Cash” series. Rose said he had not thought about working with a promoter before, and that he and his staff are currently looking for a promoter to help search for performers and to discuss financial planning.
Hotter said he had a similar experience in tackling the problem of limited parking space access. He said that he wanted to do something action-oriented such as constructing more parking structures, until he realized the problems of cost, timeliness and enlisting help from UCLA administrators and urban planners.
He is planning a parking forum later in spring quarter, and he expects the forum to publicize the issue and target city officials, students and parking officials.
He said his office will also have a tenants’ rights workshop so students can learn their rights as Westwood tenants. Hotter also said that his office is looking for applicants to attend a United States legislative conference.
Rose said that his office plans to hold another 2008 Election INVASION campaign in late January. He said that he hopes that 2,000 students will register to vote and his office will host multiple election primary viewing parties.
Assistant External Vice President Jesse Melgar said that the past Election INVASION campaign in November was a highlight because different student groups formed a coalition under his office.
“It showed how powerful advocacy is and how effective students can be,” Melgar said. “The goal of the office is to ensure that students are told and educated about voting.”
Like Hotter, both Rose and Tanjuaquio said that some goals and projects are still in development.
Rose said that his office is in the planning and recruiting stages for the “Concerts for Cash” series, a more accessible and interactive USAC Web site, council town hall meetings on the Hill, an alumni-student basketball tailgating event and a spring break alumni connection program where students can shadow alumni professionals.
“My overall goal was to create an alumni program where there are lesser barriers for alumni internships or jobs,” Rose said.
Pardis Farhadian, chief of staff at the president’s office, said that “Concerts for Cash” is particularly noteworthy because of their plans to utilize Pauley Pavilion as the concert’s center spot.
“Concert music really brings students together. We want to show our venues and how we utilize them,” said Farhadian. “We want to put UCLA on the map.”
Tanjuaquio said that many works are still in progress, such as a wildfire solidarity campaign planned for Feb. 4, an internal vice president office Web site and blog for student groups, a global warming awareness event, a mental health series and a Virginia Tech memorial project.
“A lot of these kinds of projects die, so it is important that someone picks them up and sees them to the end,” Tanjuaquio said.
She said that she credits her staff of 20 other students for the progress on many office projects.
“They take their roles seriously. They are always looking for issues important to students groups, like making it easier for student groups to operate on campus,” Tanjuaquio said.
Rogel said all the people working in the office want to help in any way.
“We are students as well, and we work because we care about the campus body,” said Rogel.
Melgar said that the students in the office of external vice president were an integral part in Hotter’s campaign achievements.
“We have a lot of volunteers who are passionate about issues,” said Melgar.
Rose said he appreciates his office members’ efforts, which he says started strong even from the beginning of the year.
“The first half of the year is traditionally spent doing research, but we hit the ground running,” Rose said.
Rose said that he and the rest of USAC hopes to see their goals and programs through before the term ends.
“Our programs are created with a goal in mind of leaving something that will last. We want to create a model that can be used for a long time,” Rose said.