UCLA: Uniting the Campus through Leadership and Advocacy?
As USAC president, I want to welcome first-year students to UCLA! UCLA has a rich history of activism, community service and academic excellence. More importantly, students of UCLA have the opportunity to participate in organizations that produce agents of change in a plethora of arenas. Incoming students have an amazing power to change the status quo of our campus and society. Such power should never be underestimated.
Over the past years, UCLA students have mobilized around important issues such as diversity and outreach. Students have also worked to increase mental health support on campus, lobbied to lower fees and advocated to divest university funds from different countries in protection of human rights.
We, as students, need to stand up for our beliefs and voice our concerns. Our standing as students gives us an opportunity and a responsibility. We have the opportunity to belong to this institute of higher learning, where we are surrounded by critical thinkers. We also have the responsibility to vocalize concerns about what happens on our campus, in our community and our society as UCLA students.
UCLA students can set a new precedent for the degree of involvement of the college student body. We must make each and every student aware of the power they possess, the voice they can use, and the dreams they can accomplish.
I urge all students to get involved in something they believe in. I urge all the incoming students to not be afraid to stand up against any form of injustice through your actions. If you are unable to do so, then stand up with your words. If you are still unable to do so with your words, then do so with your heart. Know that you stood for something as a student at UCLA, as a participant in the L.A. community and as a member of society. Be a conscious contributor to the world.
“The great aim of education is not knowledge but action.” ““ Herbert Spencer