UCSA ORGANIZATION Original by JACOB LIAO/Daily Bruin Web Adaptation by MONICA KWONG/Daily Bruin Senior Staff
By Noah Grand
Daily Bruin Contributor
While the Undergraduate Students Association Council is often considered the main student government, there is another body looking out for all UC students: the University of California Students Association.
Composed of representatives from each campus’s graduate and undergraduate student governments, UCSA lobbies for students at UC Board of Regents meetings and in the state legislature.
“This year’s action agenda is to increase financial aid for undergraduates and graduates, reform UC admissions policies to make them more accessible to historically underrepresented students, and to increase support and resources for student retention services on campus,” said Blinker Punsalan-Wood, Field Director of UCSA and a former UC Santa Barbara student.
UCLA’s representation in UCSA is due to change with today’s election of a new USAC external vice president. Former External Vice President Portia Pedro was one of 19 students on the UCSA board of directors.
Part of the external vice president’s duties are to represent or appoint someone to represent UCLA in student interest groups USAC is a member of such as UCSA, according to the student government bylaws.
“It’s a really important position to this campus. Because of the very nature of the position, it deals with outside organizations and because UCLA is such a prestigious university and has such an impact,” said USAC President Elizabeth Houston.
The EVP also works with the United States Student Association to work on national issues. USSA is a Washington, D.C.-based student lobby organization.
“The EVP’s role is to listen to the students and let UCSA and USSA know,” Houston said.
Graduate Students Association External Vice President Kinshasa Curl is UCLA’s other representative on UCSA.