It’s the start of a new school year, and most students have yet to sharpen their pencils or open their textbooks. Incoming students are not the only new additions to the UCLA community ““ we’ve appointed a new chancellor and elected a new set of student leaders. But like all new things, only time will tell if they will prove to be a valued force.
Recently appointed Chancellor Gene Block is an upbeat, optimistic leader with many acclaimed goals for the year. He has proved to have the right perspective about campus needs coming into this post.
Block will lead UCLA in the right direction if he accomplishes his plans to improve outreach to the community. His plan to utilize our graduate school of education to work on local education issues will help ensure UCLA has a diverse local applicant pool in the coming years.
After all, UCLA is a public institution and should actively work to provide communities the opportunity to access resources available to those immediately on campus.
Block has made an excellent start at UCLA by talking to a very wide group of people on campus, including administrators, deans, student leaders, faculty and staff. We would like to see Block continue to talk to students in a constructive and productive manner. His visits to the dorms during move-in and his plans to have breakfast with students in the dining halls are an excellent start to that effort.
But this is not a one-way street. Students should begin this year with a fresh package of ideas, ambition and vision for becoming more active members of the UCLA community.
Students should follow the activities of both the chancellor and our newly elected student government leaders, and actively try to seek out leaders on campus with their ideas and join groups to become more involved.
The Undergraduate Students Association Council is the governing body that holds the power to channel funds ““ paid by every student in quarterly student fees ““ to various student groups and activities.
Each USAC councilmember brings novel ideas to the table this year, and we hope to see all of them come to fruition by the end of this council’s term. All students should participate in the events USAC plans, go to their meetings, and educate themselves to become constructive contributors to student government.
A majority of this year’s council consists of Bruins United slate members. A slate, a student-run political party, has historically determined the direction of the council’s goals and accomplishments for the year.
Since Bruins United has a majority on council, they need to be very careful to listen to the concerns of people not affiliated with their party, and make every effort to be genuinely bipartisan.
This year is very much a fresh start for UCLA, and students can make sure our school is taken in the right direction.