With their year coming to an end, members of the Undergraduate Students Association Council said their tenures were largely guided by their campaign promises and, while they had many accomplishments, other projects encountered administrative problems and some are still in progress.
Having a specific platform during elections allows candidates to form a plan that can be put into action right away, said Cultural Affairs Commissioner Marivell Caba. Once elected, the year can go by quickly, she said.
“Things move so quickly. To me, being a commissioner, elections feel like yesterday. You have to know what you want to do and get it done,” she said.
Joline Price, a general representative, said platform items should be considered general guidelines, and candidates for office should expect to be flexible and open-minded.
“You shouldn’t feel pigeonholed into exactly what you said you were going to do,” she said.
Promises fulfilled
There are some officers, however, who have been able to make a great deal of progress on their specific goals from their platforms.
President Marwa Kaisey said she completed most of the goals she set for herself during the campaign.
She started the Westwood Neighborhood Council, which she credits for helping save parking spaces in Westwood Village.
“We have a lot of people who joined USAC just to work on that project … we know that it will continue next year,” she said.
Kaisey also created a hub for transfer students to connect through programs.
Other officers expressed similar sentiments about the success of their projects.
“I think that in the year that I had, I was able to tackle most of the goals I had in mind,” said Gregory Cendana, internal vice president.
His campaign goals included advocating on behalf of student workers through serving as a liaison to management.
Recruitment fairs were also a large aspect of his campaign, and he said his office produced two fairs which allowed on-campus residents to find out about student groups.
Also, he worked with Associated Students UCLA to push for a student discount program, which was eventually introduced as the ASUCLA Benefits U program.
The Social Justice Speaker Series was a major achievement for Samer Araabi, a general representative.
“It generated campus dialogue and got people talking about merits of social issues,” he said, noting that over 1,000 students overall attended the series.
Caba and the Cultural Affairs Commission has successfully hosted an art gallery series.
The Cultural Affairs Commission has worked to include several of UCLA’s cultural organizations into a Cultural Day Showcase. WorldFest, which began on Monday, includes over 30 campus organizations, she said.
Nat Schuster, Academic Affairs commissioner, said his office has produced at least one program every week, including guest speakers and dinners with graduate students.
The program has also been successful in getting students to enroll in seminars taught by fellow students, called Undergraduate Student Initiated Education.
“The faculty loved it. In fact, the administration decided to institutionalize it for five more years,” he said.
Campus Events Commissioner Ravi Dehar said his office was able to fulfill its goals by expanding Bruin Bash and programming efforts with other student groups.
“USAC is doing more than making a financial contribution; USAC is taking an active role,” Dehar said.
Farheen Malik, the Community Service Commissioner, said she added a second Community Service Day, ensured all proposed projects received at least some funding, and collaborated with fraternities, service organizations and other groups to produce projects and conferences.
Tamaron Jang, the Student Welfare commissioner, said she reached her goals through the 10 different subcommittees that comprise her group.
She said publicity efforts were increased for philanthropy events such as World AIDS Day, and the commission worked with Office of Residential Life and the Ashe Center to take over the Student Health Advocates program as a programming feature.
Roadblocks to success
Other goals, which officers said initially seemed feasible, failed due to problems with outside groups.
Shaun Doria, Financial Supports commissioner, said while it is good to have specific ideas, some cannot be seen to completion.
Often, councilmembers experience obstacles when working on some proposed ideas, either due to complications such as overlapping interests or difficulty working with administrators.
Doria said his idea for Bruin Attractions, a program designed to help new students get around Los Angeles, fell through. The idea was to pair younger students with upperclassmen who owned cars so that they would be able to get around Los Angeles, but the project had to be abandoned when it became apparent that few upperclassmen were willing to participate.
“It didn’t work out and we focused our resources elsewhere,” he said.
Carlos Saucedo, a general representative, said his efforts toward producing a statewide queer conference became a smaller conference for high school Gay-Straight Alliance clubs from the Los Angeles area because of a similar event that took place at UC Riverside earlier this year.
Saucedo said he also experienced problems when trying to work on his goals of lengthening Powell Library hours and extending the Community Service Officer Campus Escort Service.
He said his campaign to extend library hours failed because of a lack of response from university officials.
Doria said he also had a difficult time convincing some administrators to allocate funding for his plan to establish a scholarship endowment fund.
Since fall quarter, Doria and his staff have progressed slowly, drawing up guidelines and contacting some administrators. However, he said their greatest challenge has been pooling together the minimum of $50,000 needed to start an endowment.
Caba said her office was unable to move forward on their plans to make improvements to the UCLA Happenings Web site.
Works in progress
Though plans for the upcoming elections may be shaping up soon, councilmembers said some projects and goals are still in progress.
External Vice President Tina Park said much of her work is still in progress, with ongoing efforts against student fee increases and for more financial aid.
“We’re doing lots of advocacy, lots of lobbying to get the fees lowered,” she said.
Her plan for a UC admissions and diversity summit will come to fruition at the end of spring quarter through an admissions symposium.
Another goal will be fulfilled next Friday when her office holds Lobby Day.
About 75 students will be trained to lobby for student issues in district offices throughout the county, she said.
One of Araabi’s campaign goals was to set up a nondenominational prayer room on campus, which he expects to open within the next five to six weeks.
“We’re in the process of contacting all the religious and spiritual groups on campus,” he said.
Work on Price’s plan to establish a farmer’s market on campus continues, as well.
“We’ve been in contact with the Westwood Farmers’ Market association and spoke to administrators about where we could put a farmers’ market on campus,” she said.
True to her campaign goals, plans are currently in progress to reassess lighting locations on campus and, within the next few weeks, nominations for the Golden Paw Award for student-friendly businesses will be accepted, Facilities Commissioner PC Zai wrote in an e-mail statement after being unavailable for interviews.