Keneisha Austin Austin is a fourth-year
student and is USAC’s internal vice president..
Many students at some point in their four to five years at UCLA
have or will ask themselves one very important question: how do I
get involved in my campus community and effect change in regards to
the issues I care about?
Well if you are one of these students ““ and I hope all of
us are ““ then you need to get involved in your Undergraduate
Student Association Council, which is UCLA’s official
undergraduate student government.
USAC is comprised of 13 elected offices and commissions, each
specifically designed to address the needs and concerns of
UCLA’s undergraduate student population.
Since it is recognized as the official student voice on campus,
USAC is an extremely important part of UCLA that ensures it is
hearing its students’ voices. This task is one that the
elected officers and commissioners of USAC are committed to
doing.
The officers and commissioners work for students, since its the
students that elected us. It is for this reason that every student
should not only be aware of, but also feel a part of their student
government.
USAC exists to serve students.
And your 2001-2002 USAC council is ready to undertake this task.
This year’s council is working to ensure that students have a
voice in the decision-making process that affects so many aspects
of their lives.
We as a council do not want to just be student advocates, but
also ensure there are mechanisms in place where students can
advocate on behalf of themselves. The 13 different offices and
commissions make this goal possible. These commissions encompass
things such as community service, education, cultural and campus
events, student welfare, campus facilities and financial aid.
As a council, we recognize the broad range of our student
population and work to provide spaces for all to feel
represented.
Ensuring that every student has access to education, that the
quality of life for students is always being improved, and that our
educational experience inside and outside of the classroom is
diverse and relevant are tasks to be accomplished by this
year’s council in a variety of different ways.
The availability of USAC to work on diverse issues is an
inherent part of USAC that students shouldn’t ignore. Being a
part of student government allows the opportunity for the many
varied opinions and issues to be heard, for a concrete means of
addressing those issues to occur.
But USAC doesn’t accomplish all of this alone. In fact, a
vital part of USAC is the Student Advocacy Groups, which are the 20
student organizations USAC sponsors.
These organizations, created to serve specific populations of
our campus, do the extremely important work of ensuring that many
students’ viewpoints and concerns that perhaps otherwise
wouldn’t get heard are represented and addressed.
They also play the vital role of supplementing the traditional
educational experience of this university on a variety of issues
that are not always addressed. The work of the student
organizations address specific issues and concerns that affect all
students, whether directly or indirectly.
Thirteen people alone cannot possibly hope to adequately
represent the voices of over 30,000 undergraduates, but in
conjunction with the student organizations, the mechanism for
attempting to include all segments of the campus population is much
stronger.
Student organizations are also vital to the success of this
university because they provide a more holistic educational
experience for the student population.
Though the role of student government is to work for students,
this huge responsibility cannot be accomplished by just the 13 of
us.
We need you!
Every student should get involved in student government. There
is a broad range of possibilities for involvement, such as
attending council meetings and expressing your opinions.
Getting involved with the offices and commissions provides the
most effective method of having the issues and concerns that are
relevant to you directly heard and addressed. So venture up to the
third and fourth floors of Kerckhoff Hall to the USAC offices.