By Sophia Chakos-Leiby
Daily Bruin Contributor
The Undergraduate Students Association Council general student body meeting – organized to inform students and gain input about rising housing and parking rates – turned into an informal discussion when only 20 people, including USAC and On Campus Housing Commission members, showed up at Covel Commons on Wednesday.
USAC President Karren Lane said attendance was probably low because there were a lot of other student events in the dorm area.
Members did not pass any resolutions or make plans for action. The two groups – also joined by student representatives from the Associated Students of UCLA – just “exchanged information and plans for change,” Lane said.
OCHC member Adam Harmetz criticized the administration for using floor lounges as residence space for the backlog of students waiting for housing elsewhere – such as De Neve, where lounge students will move this week.
Harmetz argued that empty lounges are necessary since they provide study space and “are a place where the PA and RA can build a community.”
OCHC has researched information over the past eight weeks and will submit a report to the administration on dealing with crowded student living environments.
USAC also focused on the use of study lounges as residence space, affordability of housing and changing the classification of housing from auxiliary, meaning self-supported, to university supported.
The IVP office is gathering student petitions on the difficulty of paying for housing on and near campus to submit to the administration to change the classification of housing.
They are talking with Student Regent Tracy Davis regarding this issue.
Student Alumni Association president Joe Manko criticized the administration about raising parking rates, saying they don’t realize how such increases will discourage student involvement on campus.
“On the academic side, it will deter people from coming to campus for lecture series or programs put on at night. Years back, people were free to (park) on the weekends to utilize resources at the library or shop at the store. All this created community,” Manko said.
Starting in July, daily permits increase from $6 to $7. Monthly yellow permits will rise from $48 to $52; blue permits from $60 to $64; and X permits from $84 to $91.
Lane said she will re-schedule the general body meeting for the first or second week of spring quarter.
The attendance Wednesday was a dramatic decrease from the first USAC general body meeting held in November, when about 150 students came, Lane said.
Lane said she expects more students to come to the meeting next quarter and added that input is imperative to changing the administration’s housing and parking policies.
“These meetings are a good way they can come together as a collective,” she said.
Austin will help put out USAC’s newsletter, USAC Insight, and start an e-mail system where students can anonymously post questions, concerns and feedback that Austin said she will report weekly to council.
“I could never represent 23,000 undergraduates, so I want to create processes where they represent themselves,” Austin said.