Hello Anteaters,
To view a pdf of this report, please visit: Monthly Report – Nov and Dec
Happy new year! I hope you all had a welcoming first week of Winter Quarter as you get situated in your new classes. The latter half of Fall Quarter was a very busy time for ASUCI, so I would like to take the time to wrap up and provide you with an update on what we worked on for both November and December, since December was a short month! Here are the main issues we addressed and plan to take forward with us this 2017:
- A Sanctuary UC: Following the 2016 presidential election and in response to various harmful, proposed federal policy changes, many offices within ASUCI reached out to various student and community groups, as well as UC Irvine and UCOP administration, to help ensure that the UC increasingly becomes a safer place for undocumented students, as well as pushing to ensure that cities home to the UC become a safer place for all undocumented students and their families. I believe that it is paramount for the UC, surrounding cities, and all of California to become a safer environment for undocumented students and their families, and for the UC to provide them the resources and support they need to successfully obtain their education, especially during a time when they are subject to serious physical, mental, and psychological harm and violence.
As of right now, various organizations in collaboration with student groups are working to solidify California as a sanctuary state. ASUCI Senate has introduced a legislation titled, “Sanctuary Campus for Undocumented Students,” which you may view here. In addition, the ASUCI External Vice President’s office has released a statement in support of a list of demands proposed by AFSCME 3299 and the University of California Student Association (UCSA) to call for a Sanctuary UC. You may find that statement here. - Presidential Election Voter Turnout & 60 by 16: During early voting on November 1st, 578 UC Irvine members voted electronically, 93 people dropped off their Vote-By-Mail ballots, and 9 voted on paper. This was a major increase from the last time we had early voting at UCI! On Election Day, UCI’s 6 precincts had a voter turnout of 73.19% among those who registered to vote, not including those who submitted their votes by mail, voted early, voted provisionally, or in their home precincts.
UCI also had among the highest number of registered students throughout the UC as well, coming in fourth behind UCSB, UCLA, and Berkeley. Overall, all 10 UC campuses were able to register a total of 45,411 UC students, (thanks to UCSA for providing this data). - Students of Color Conference and UCSA Statewide Partnership: In November, the ASUCI External Vice President’s office hosted the annual UC Students Association (UCSA) Students of Color Conference (SOCC) in the Student Center, which welcomed over 600 students from across the UC. Both ASUCI and UCSA have addressed many of the issues that arose during the conference, and ASUCI is committed to ensuring student safety, inclusivity, and in helping provide more educational and support resources to students regarding many themes the conference addressed. Moving forward, ASUCI plans to continue working with UCSA to intentionally assess the resources UCSA provides to its member organizations, in an effort to strengthen our partnership and simultaneously hold it accountable in supporting students across the UC. UCSA also established an ad hoc committee to determine best practices for the students of color conference in the future.
If you have any questions about the conference and/or UCSA, please contact the External Vice President’s office at externalvp@asuci.uci.edu. - UC Council of Student Body Presidents: The UC Council of Student Body Presidents (CoP) met in November. To recap, CoP is the body comprised of all graduate and undergraduate student body Presidents system-wide. It is an advisory committee and regularly meets with UC President Janet Napolitano to discuss issues and campaigns that are impacting each respective campus, or campuses UC-wide. Some of topics we discussed include:
- The PDST Policy Revision – reviewing its affordability, diversity, and work impact on students. We sent our feedback for the new revisions to UCOP after discussing it with our graduate Presidents.
- Vacancies on the UC Board of Regents – by March 2017, the UC Board of Regents will have 4 vacancies. CoP is working with officials from UCOP to write a letter urging Governor Brown to convene an advisory committee based on guidelines set forth in the California State Constitution, which requires that he consult an advisory committee that consists of a representative in the UC Council of Student Body Presidents. In consideration of the strained relationships students have had with UC officials this year and the urgent need to have a successful and intentional advocate for students in the board, we want to ensure that students are involved in the selection process for the next UC Regents.
- The UC Women’s Caucus (UCWC) Leadership Conference, which was established by the UC Council of Student Body Presidents last year, will be hosted at UC Irvine this year on Friday, February 10th through Sunday, February 12th by ASUCI and AGS. The University of California Women’s Caucus (UCWC), established in 2016 by the UC Council of Student Body Presidents, is a political coalition that serves to represent the gender needs and interests of women, trans individuals and allies across the UC system. This year is the 2nd annual UC Women’s Caucus Leadership Conference, where student leaders and members across the UC will discuss and select issues we, as a political coalition, plan to address in 2017.
Both our organizations are extremely excited to have you attend and look forward to seeing many of you there! You may find more information about the conference through our website here: http://ucwomenscaucus.wixsite.com/home.
– Register to Attend (Deadline: Jan 25 @ 11:59PM): https://goo.gl/forms/JzIQna6WSeaCPMWx1
– Submit a Workshop Proposal (Deadline: Jan 19 @ 11:59PM): https://goo.gl/forms/n5ComWJmK7lmomqE3
– Get Involved and Volunteer! (Deadline: Jan 25 @ 11:59PM): https://goo.gl/forms/KnZjuFK5ebaTIGxH2 - Hunger & Homelessness Awareness Week: The ASUCI Internal Vice President’s office hosted a very successful Hunger & Homelessness Awareness Week in collaboration with many campus departments and organizations! Their efforts were highlighted in an LA Times article here:
- ASUCI Special Elections: In accordance with the new constitution, ASUCI will only have elections for all of our representatives during Spring Quarter. However, because ⅓ of our Senate were elected into office during the 2015-2016 school year’s Fall Elections, we are hosting a Special Elections this week to vote for Senators to serve for the remainder of the school year until the Spring 2016 Elections. Please don’t forget to make an impact on your student body this year by voting in the elections at www.elections.uci.edu! But first, don’t forget to check out the candidates and their platforms here: www.asuci.uci.edu/elections!
Thank you for reading! If you have any feedback, questions, or comments, please feel free to contact me at president@asuci.uci.edu.
Sincerely,
Tracy La
ASUCI President
