Â
Please click here for the full-size
infographic
By My Yen La
Daily Bruin Contributor Next year’s academic affairs
commissioner for the Undergraduate Students Association Council
will let the Academic Senate know what they think of adjusting
course units and implementing a diversity requirement in the
curriculum. Candidates for the position are Katheryn Klein, a
member of the S.U.R.E. slate, and Student Empowerment! slate member
Bryant Tan. S.U.R.E. stands for Students United for Reform and
Equality. The academic affairs commissioner represents the student
body to administrators and faculty in academic and educational
matters, which include general education requirements. Duties
include sitting on the Academic Senate Executive Board Committees
and “initiating programs and activities intended to enhance
the educational environment at UCLA,” according to USAC
bylaws. Klein hopes to show students resources that will help them
academically. “I want to enable people to take ownership of
their academic experience,” said Klein, a third-year
political science and history student. “A lot of people
don’t know the academic resources are there.” Tan, a
third-year Asian American studies student, wants to get students
more involved in voicing opinions on decisions that affect them.
“I think a lot of students let their four years go by without
really knowing what’s going on,” Tan said. “I
want to help students become actively engaged in their
education.” Both Klein and Tan strongly stress implementation
of some type of diversity program. But while Tan wants to implement
it as a requirement, Klein hopes to create a diversity program
option within the general education curriculum. “A large part
of designing a diversity requirement within the general education
program is so that more people are aware and care,” Klein
said. If elected, Tan plans to work with faculty in various
departments to determine ways to implement a diversity requirement.
Both candidates also emphasized the need to repeal SP-1 ““ the
1995 UC policy that ended affirmative action in admissions
practices ““ and the need to improve student retention and
outreach program. “What’s our university and school if
we’re not reflective of L.A. and California?” Tan said.
Klein, the current president of the Political Science Student
Organization, has been a student representative at faculty and
executive board meetings. Stressing the plethora of resources that
many students, especially freshmen and first-year transfer
students, leave untapped, Klein hopes to work with the On-Campus
Housing Council to acquaint them with student groups and academic
resources. She also plans to push for a senate system, with
representation from each student group. Additionally, she hopes to
accomplish the purpose of Student Programming And Resource Complex,
which will expand the John Wooden Center and the Men’s Gym to
give students and various programs more space. Other plans include
pushing for a dual admissions program and working with the
financial services commissioner to advocate tax-free textbooks.
Like Klein, Tan sees the need to create a more heterogeneous
environment at UCLA. Tan has worked with the current academic
affairs commissioner regarding matters of administrative policy and
outreach. He has also been a residence assistant and the external
director of the Asian Pacific Coalition. According to a stipulation
in SP-1, the UC may admit up to 75 percent of its students based
solely on academic criteria. The regents passed the policy in 1995,
ending affirmative action in university admissions. Noting that
there are more aspects to an applicant then what their report card
shows, Tan plans to work with the Affirmative Action Coalition
toward an admissions policy in which those qualities bear more
weight. In addition to having a diversity requirement, Tan wants
more food- for-thought discussions. “I think our university
curriculum is limited,” Tan said. “I want to really get
people to dialogue about issues.” Tan plans to hold general
body meetings, have academic affairs reports published and
distributed widely, and to target different parts of campus at
different times. “I need students to pass out petitions, talk
to faculty,” Tan said. “There are ways to get people
empowered.”