CLAIRE ZUGMEYER Bryant Tan speaks at the
Undergraduate Students Association Council’s first general body
meeting of the year Monday. The goal of the meeting was to gain
student input on issues concerning them, members said.
By Arj Arjunan
Daily Bruin Contributor
The Undergraduate Students Association Council held its first
general body meeting of the year Monday to allow students to air
concerns and hear proposals.
At the meeting in the Charles E. Young Grand Salon, USAC
officers reported on their efforts to address diversity requirement
and housing and heard concerns from students.
“It’s a good way to get student input,” said
Arshad Ali, a fifth-year sociology student who serves as one of
President Karren Lane’s chiefs of staff. “Student
government is only as good as its ability to represent
students’ interests.”
Lane’s campaign for the presidency last spring focused on
eliminating USAC’s exclusivity. Updating students on issues
related to the council will get them more involved in student
government, she said.
The conversation between USAC members and students indicated
that the council has accurately identified issues important to
students, said academic affairs commissioner Bryant Tan.
The council made two formal presentations on the diversity
requirement and housing issues.
Tan reiterated USAC’s support for a formal diversity
requirement.
USAC wants the diversity requirement to include courses that are
comparative, rather than specifically tailored to one race, class
or gender.
“We hope that there is a cross-examination of communities
rather than one specific group,” Tan said.
The staff working in Tan’s office is sending letters to
faculty, asking them to reject the proposed changes to the general
education requirements.
The proposal, formulated by the GE Governance Committee, will
cut the number of required GE courses from 14 to 10 and increase
the units of those courses from four to five units without
mandating a diversity requirement.
USAC also highlighted housing issues at the general body meeting
in light of Westwood’s rising rent.
Internal vice president Kennisha Austin and external vice
president Evan Okamura outlined USAC’s goals in addressing
the affordability, quality and proximity of student housing.
The UC should financially support student housing cost with
state funds as it does for student education fees, Austin said.
The council is researching rent control policies in nearby areas
and plans on submitting a proposal to city council members, she
said.
Students who heard the housing presentation voiced displeasure
about the use of study lounges in dorms for student housing
assignments.
Converting double rooms into triple rooms will allow the
university to house more students and reopen lounges to students,
Okamura said.
“If students are studying late, they need a study lounge
that is close and safe,” he said.
To gauge students’ opinions of the general body meeting,
USAC members collected evaluations from them.
“It’s a good forum because it makes students feel
more connected to USAC,” said Neetal Parekh, a fourth-year
political science student. “In past years, the council and
the issues they deal with felt distant.”