Politicians should be held to their promises, and officers in
the Undergraduate Students Association Council are no exception to
that rule. Fall quarter is coming to a close, and USAC members have
only one quarter left to tackle their long list of unfulfilled
goals before the madness of spring elections captures their
attention.
During last year’s election campaigns, current USAC
officers all proposed specific projects and set lofty goals for
themselves and the council as a whole.
Some of the most important campaign proposals included: relaxing
UCLA’s expected cumulative progress requirement, improving
USAC’s internship program, and informing the student
community about important issues such as financial aid and the
presidential elections.
In addition to these main goals, each of the candidates had
smaller projects they intended to tackle.
Half a year later, their success record is mixed and the clock
is ticking. Once the new quarter starts, USAC will have a mere 10
weeks to catch up.
Several important projects have been completed successfully. The
best example of this is the Get Out the Vote campaign, which USAC
participated in along with the UC Student Association. That
campaign reportedly helped register 30,000 students leading into
the presidential election.
Another good effort is exemplified in the Students of Color
Conference which organizers said drew some 500 students to campus
to discuss issues like equal access to education.
USAC also took an active role coordinating aspects of
UCLA’s World AIDS day events.
But despite these successes, USAC has a long way to go before it
leverages its potential power and fulfils some of its most
important promises.
The campaign to reform ECP is creeping along. USAC President
Allende Palma/Saracho said it is on track for completion by the
middle of winter.
Similarly, the attempt to make the USAC internship a
credit-earning class was postponed fall quarter but might happen
before the end of the year.
Several other worthwhile projects were proposed, but appear
either to be stalled or to have vanished from the radar entirely.
They include a web site General Representative Jenny Wood hoped
would promote community service, Internal Vice President Darren
Chan’s attempts to engage the residence halls with USAC
issues, and General Representative Tommy Tseng’s
“Invest in California” program meant to educate
students about the social role of higher education.
Completing these projects would go a long way toward improving
UCLA and bringing USAC closer to students.
But the projects’ success will depend on the amount of
research and work that goes into them as well as the publicity
efforts to make the campus aware of them.
The undergraduate council has the unique ability to institute
substantive change on campus ““ thousands of students used
their vote to ensure someone would speak up for them. Hopefully,
council members will provide results.