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USAC External Vice President Matt Kaczmarek, here at a council meeting, was selected as the new U

A UCLA undergraduate has been chosen to head the systemwide organization of student governments and lobbyers, representing the interests of over 190,000 University of California students to university and state officials.

Matt Kaczmarek, who is also external vice president of the Undergraduate Student Association Council – UCLA’s undergraduate student government – was selected by student representatives from other UC campuses on Aug. 17 as the new chair of the UC Students Association.

“The opportunity to be chair of UCSA is a real humbling experience ... it presents me with not an opportunity to be proud of myself, but an opportunity to show that I can work for the university,” he said.

UCSA’s outgoing chair, Stephen Klass, an undergraduate at UC San Diego, said Kaczmarek was the right choice as the new chair.

“His background in organizing, his involvement in university policy is just far beyond where people normally are when they take up this position,” he said.

Kaczmarek will face a formidable list of problems this year, as UC students find themselves crunched between increasing student fees and drastic cuts in services.

Sparring with the UC Board of Regents and state legislators to make sure more services aren’t cut is not the only thing Kaczmarek will have to deal with. The UC is also considering curbing enrollment growth for the 2004-2005 academic year, a proposal that would upset the university’s promise of accessibility to all eligible students.

To meet these challenges, Kaczmarek brings his experience from four years of involvement with UCSA and his enthusiasm for tackling tough situations.

“I view it kind of as a 365-day marathon where you’ve got a discreet amount of time to do as much as you possibly can,” he said.

Kaczmarek’s goals for his term as UCSA chairman include seeking state and UC funding for student-initiated outreach to the K-12 communities, making UCSA more visible at the state Legislature, and advocating for fewer cuts to the UC.

His most immediate priorities, however, are to keep student fees from being increased further and to defeat Proposition 54, an initiative which seeks to prevent the state from collecting information on an individual’s race or gender.

Proposition 54, spearheaded by UC Regent Ward Connerly, will be on the Oct. 7 ballot to recall Gov. Gray Davis.

Klass cautioned that the immediacy and magnitude of the problems UC students face, especially regarding the state budget, will make this year a challenge for UCSA.

“Matt and (the UCSA) board are going to have similar problems to this year in that we’re still going to be one or two more years in this state (budget) problem in California,” he said.

In the last state budget, the UC was cut by over $400 million, a reduction that has led to a 30 percent student fee increase, a freeze on faculty pay raises and cuts to all non-instructional programs.

Kaczmarek predicted that, while difficult, budget problems would be more manageable this year than they were this past year.

“This year we have a much better understanding of what the budget situation is, and we’ll be able to use what we learned last year to make allies,” he said.

Another challenge Kaczmarek may face is an internal one – how to balance his duties as UCSA chair and EVP of USAC.

To do this, Kaczmarek said he would have to rely on his hand-picked EVP staff to manage his duties while he is gone, a staff in which he expressed confidence.

And this will not be the first time Kaczmarek has balanced out two different jobs. Last year, he remained heavily involved in USAC while also keeping up with his duties as a Resident Assistant in Rieber Hall.

Karen Hedges, De Neve resident director and former Rieber RD, said Kaczmarek balanced his duties and received high marks from residents while maintaining a visible presence with USAC.

Kaczmarek said he would also have an experienced staff to support him at UCSA, which he hopes will translate into a good year for student advocacy.

“Our organization is really strong this year. We have a qualified group of people, and the board has strengths in so many different areas,” he said. “The association will be working hard.”

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