One quarter into the 2025-2026 term, the Daily Bruin spoke to the Undergraduate Students Association Council about each officer’s goals – and what they’ve accomplished so far.
USAC is the official undergraduate student government body of UCLA and is comprised of 15 elected student officers and commissioners who are selected each spring. The new council commented on their biggest priorities for the coming year, as well as challenges they may face.
President: Diego Bollo
Diego Bollo did not respond in time to a request for comment about his goals for the term.
Internal Vice President: Tommy Contreras
Tommy Contreras, a fourth-year political science and public affairs student, said in a written statement that his most important action items include strengthening the weight of student input on university policies, working alongside local officials to expand basic needs support for students and being more transparent about USAC processes and budgets with the rest of the student body.
“Basic needs support is at the core of student success—no one can focus on their education if they’re struggling with food or housing insecurity,” he said in the written statement.
Contreras also said the biggest challenge he foresees in his term will be dealing with institutional barriers, such as a lack of resources, opposition from the administration and bureaucracy. However, he added that he believes he can overcome these challenges with dedication and through community-building and bringing students together.
External Vice President: Sherry Zhou
Sherry Zhou, a fourth-year communication and political science student, said her main focus for the year ahead will be advocating for an increased budget for the UC and the UC Board of Regents to make attending its colleges more accessible – such as through combating housing and food insecurity.
“We need to create more holistic basic needs programs that truly fill the gaps that we see at UCLA, some of those being basic needs programs specifically for international and undocumented students who aren’t able to apply for state programs,” Zhou said.
Zhou said the upcoming governor race and other statewide races in the midterm election will have significant effects on UC students because of state officials’ power over the UC, a public university system.
“When we interact with … the regents or … the local, state and federal representatives, a lot of times they have no idea what’s actually happening and how policies that they vote on or policies that have been enacted actually affect students on the day-to-day level,” Zhou said.
Zhou added that she plans to combat bureaucratic challenges through student initiatives, such as working with students on the ground to collect testimonies, data and other forms of information to accurately portray the student experience to different stakeholders.
General Representative 1: Talia Davood
Talia Davood, a fourth-year political science student, said in a written statement that she wants to create an interfaith council to serve as an inclusive space for students to speak with and hear from administrators more frequently.
“While it may be an ambitious effort now, I hope to establish an interfaith council in our bylaws to promote a less polarized campus climate,” Davood added in the written statement. “In regards to transparency with administration, I recently met with Vice Chancellor (Monroe) Gorden (Jr.) to discuss and curate a format for more frequent town halls with students.”
Davood said her biggest challenge for her interfaith work thus far has been navigating the various needs of each religious group. She added that, with regard to her administrative transparency advocacy, she is also working to find the right balance between quantity and quality when planning town halls with administrators.
Davood added that the Trump administration freezing federal research grants at UCLA emphasizes the importance of USAC and its support of students. She said that whether students face a tangible gap in their resources because of the freeze or just feel frustrated about the cuts, she is determined to reach out and support their needs.
General Representative 2: Jayha Buhs Jackson
Jayha Buhs Jackson did not respond to multiple requests for comment about her goals for the term.
General Representative 3: Brett Berndt
Brett Berndt did not respond to multiple requests for comment about his goals for the term.
Academic Affairs Commissioner: Cristopher Espino
Cristopher Espino, a fourth-year education and social transformation and political science student, said in a written statement that one of his top priorities is launching a student-led research unit – both created by and made for students.
Espino added in the statement that he has prioritized the launch of this student-led research unit in the midst of the Trump presidency to ensure that students “aren’t just passive recipients of policy decisions, but active producers of knowledge.” Espino did not respond in time to a request for comment on the logistics of the project.
“My role is about creating lasting, systemic change—through programs and initiatives that will continue to support students long after I graduate,” Espino said. “I’m deeply committed to making academic equity not just an idea, but something every student can experience.”
Campus Events Commissioner: Daniel Leal
Daniel Leal did not respond to multiple requests for comment on his goals for the term.
Community Service Commissioner: Edison Chua
Edison Chua, a fourth-year cognitive science and economics student, said in a written statement that he hopes to focus on creating initiatives that produce real benefits for students and partners of the CSC office.
“I would like to see a greater emphasis on partnerships with the student body to build a better college environment for all students,” he said in the statement.
Chua added that he believes USAC is meant to help students succeed and said he will continue to meaningfully contribute toward that responsibility.
“The current situation brings about a lot of uncertainty and anxiety for our UCLA students,” he added. “I believe that our work still remains fundamentally unchanged – to address these concerns and provide tangible solutions.”
Facilities Commissioner: Joy Huang
Joy Huang, a fourth-year environmental science student, said in a written statement that she hopes to ensure the UCLA campus is accessible for all students, including students with disabilities, commuter students, students of color and nontraditional students.
Huang added in the statement that she plans to achieve this through advocating for increased institutional funding for BruinAccess, the Center for Accessible Education’s accommodations system and reformed audits of the CAE. Huang also said she is fighting for more accessible facilities, including repaired elevators and a direct, on-campus stop in the Sepulveda Transit Corridor. She added that she hopes to resume her advocacy work with the Lily Shaw Disability Cultural Center, an all-inclusive physical space for students with disabilities to speak about and fight against the challenges they face without fear of repercussions from UCLA. The center, named after a former USAC facilities commissioner who died in 2020, is yet to find a permanent location on campus.
“I want to continue advocating for student needs in sustainability, accessibility, and transportation,” Huang said. “However, I would like to include more collaboration and coalition building with off-campus students and organizations, especially with other UC students, STC4All, and environmental justice organizations in Los Angeles.”
Huang said she also plans to initiate a resolution that calls for comprehensive audits of CAE, housing and other accessibility services and a resolution asking for the audit of accessible facilities on campus and the maintenance of faulty elevators and ramps. She added that – in conjunction with her work with the Lily Shaw Disability Cultural Center – she also wants to author a resolution requesting the resumed planning and development of the center.
[Related: Community advocates discuss plans, hopes for Disability Cultural Center]
Huang also said she anticipates facing barriers including limited institutional support and funding, noting that disability accessibility services – such as BruinAccess – have already faced substantial financial cuts. However, Huang said she believes students have the power to stop cuts to accessibility programs through using their voices.
Financial Supports Commissioner: Nico Morrone
Nico Morrone did not respond to multiple requests for comment on his goals for the term.
Cultural Affairs Commissioner: Divine Trewick
Divine Trewick, a third-year music industry and sociology student, said in a written statement that she would like to see an increase in student involvement in USAC-sponsored and organized activities and more underrepresented students appointed to roles within USAC.
She added in the statement that she would like to center her year in USAC around expanding the CAC’s cultural art galleries toward a wider scope of marginalized communities and leveraging her office’s resources to support student organizations against institutional oppression.
“I developed these goals with underrepresented and marginalized students in mind,” Trewick said. “It reflects the needs and values of the most marginalized students who need additional support.”
Trewick added that she believes the most challenging aspect of her term will be helping students feel safe to speak up and voice their true opinions.
“Despite this challenge, I am committed to providing ongoing support and advocacy for students,” she said. “I will continue to encourage students and remind them of their rights, as well as the importance of public comment during USAC meetings.”
Student Wellness Commissioner: Hannah Yip
Hannah Yip, a fourth-year computational and systems biology student, said she hopes to better provide the student body with information on accessing wellness resources on campus.
“For us, that looks like a lot of education and consolidation of the kinds of resources that we have on campus,” Yip said. “We’re already starting to work on a map of wellness resources that can show students where to get what they need.”
The Student Wellness Commission – a USAC student health organization – is sending out surveys to students to get a sense of their greatest challenges and barriers when it comes to accessing different campus programs and centers, Yip added. SWC has 13 committees with various focuses, including sexual health and mental health.
“I’m really excited to … streamline our operations so that we can collaborate with more offices, more student groups and really expand the things we do this year,” Yip said.
Yip said she predicts narrowing down what the SWC should focus on will be a challenge but added that she hopes to consider the student body’s needs first and foremost.
Transfer Student Representative: Hyerim Yoon
Hyerim Yoon, a fourth-year English and history student, said her goals over the next term include improving transfer students’ access to opportunities on campus, especially within USAC.
“My main goal is ensuring that transfer students are present and actively participating in every leadership and decision-making space at UCLA, and that is both with and beyond USAC,” she said.
Yoon added that she is currently working toward making it easier for transfer students to run for USAC by improving her social media presence and hosting conversations with the Transfer Student Center.
“We make up about a quarter of the UCLA population, and it makes absolutely no sense that we’re not seeing that number reflected in leadership spaces,” she said. “This gap honestly reveals a systemic issue of underrepresentation in decision-making spaces, and when leadership doesn’t accurately reflect our student body, I believe that the broader decisions we make as USAC, as a governing body, risk being out of touch.”
The greatest challenge Yoon said she has faced in her term is getting people to listen wholeheartedly. She added that she has noticed nontransfer students being disinterested in transfer student awareness initiatives, as they may believe the information does not pertain to them.
However, Yoon said the TSR office has designed trainings where students who hear presentations about transfer students can correct their misconceptions and truly understand the transfer student experience.
International Student Representative: Keya Tanna
Keya Tanna, a fourth-year psychology student, said in a written statement that she would like to make the ISR office’s initiatives more proactive – rather than reactive.
“My goal is to institutionalize long-term systems of support — whether that’s emergency visa updates, integrated career pathways, or tax filing guidance — so international students don’t just feel supported in the moment, but protected and empowered throughout their UCLA journey,” she said in the statement.
Tanna added that she hopes to focus on making career services less intimidating, establishing an International Tax Lab for multilingual support and sustaining Louder Than Labels x HomeBase Circles, a community support space for diverse creative expression.
The greatest challenge Tanna said she believes she will face throughout her term is securing a sustained international buy-in – cooperation from administrators, faculty and external partners during times of budget pressure or shifting university priorities.
“I want to emphasize that the International Student Representative office is not just about helping a small subset of students—it’s about reinforcing UCLA’s global identity,” she said. “In a time of political uncertainty and global instability, showing that UCLA must protect, support, and uplift its international students and adhere to its statement of values.”
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