WHEREAS the University of California Student Association is a coalition of UC Student governments that aims to advocate for UC students at a statewide level to the UC Regents and California legislature; and,

WHEREAS the University of California Student Association shall be hereinafter referred to as UCSA; and

WHEREAS the Associated Students of UC Irvine is currently a member of UCSA; and

WHEREAS the Associated Students of UC Irvine shall be hereinafter referred to as ASUCI; and

WHEREAS the Executive Vice President is currently the voting representative from ASUCI to the UCSA Board of Directors; and

WHEREAS UCI students pay a total of $28,880.79  in membership fees to UCSA, which does not include the cost of the conferences; and

WHEREAS each UC Irvine student pays $1.30  in their ASUCI fees to allocate to UCSA; and,

WHEREAS the Executive Vice President’s office has a responsibility towards the students of UC Irvine in examining the overall effectiveness of the application of student fees towards membership in UCSA; and

WHEREAS the Executive Vice President’s office has seen ineffective leadership and general inaction in UCSA regarding most issues facing students in the University of California in the following capacity:  

• Inaction regarding an official stance on the appointment of the new UC President

• Disregard of undocumented students’ demands surrounding the appointment of President Napolitano

• Overrepresentation of graduate student voices

• Over-influence of the past executive director and current interim executive director

• Inadequate organizing support for student campaigns

• Lack of staff and board cultural competency

• Insufficient support for students of color

• Dismissal of UC workers outreach to UCSA

WHEREAS on August 11th 2013, at the UC Student Congress in Irvine, CA, a coalition of UC students, many of which were from UC Irvine, asked the UCSA board of directors to take a stance against Janet Napolitano’s appointment as the UC president; and,

WHEREAS the response to these students’ demands was to postpone taking a vote at the next board meeting after each External/Executive VP could gather information from their respective constituents and from a UCSA survey that was circulated in order to get responses from constituents; and,

WHEREAS the survey had less than 300 responses, furthermore those responses represented more dissent than approval of the UC appointment; and,

WHEREAS on September 7th, 2013, at the University of California Berkeley, the UC Student Association voted not to take a stance against her appointment. Only six board members voted in favor of taking such a stance with 9 dissenting; and,

WHEREAS undocumented students and their allies had their voices dismissed and ignored for three months in discussions at UCSA Board meetings regarding the appointment of President Janet Napolitano; and

WHEREAS currently there are 8 undergraduate associations that are members of UCSA and  representing over 180,000 students (as of Fall 2012); and

WHEREAS there are ten graduate associations that are members of UCSA and representing over 50,000 students (as of Fall 2012); and

WHEREAS graduate students often control the board of directors even though their associations and constituents are relatively smaller than the undergraduates; and

WHEREAS the overrepresentation of graduate students on the UCSA Board of Directors causes undergraduate campaigns led by undergraduate students to be stifled and neglected; and

WHEREAS the past Executive Director of UCSA and current interim Executive Director have on countless occasions overstepped their duties as staff; and,

WHEREAS their over influence has affected the ways in which students run and operate in the organization as well as the carrying out of campaigns; and,

WHEREAS UCSA Board of Directors and staff have not cultivated the tools essential to grassroots organizing around UCSA campaigns; and,

WHEREAS for the student-selected campaigns to be effective and well-planned, every UC campus must have regular visits from at least one field organizer; and

WHEREAS UCSA undergraduate staff support via field organizers has dwindled to zero due to changes in the composition of staff and the medical leave taken by the undergraduate staff organizer; and

WHEREAS in the past, UCSA Organizing staff component has conducted two field visits to each Campus per a quarter; and

WHEREAS no UCSA staff member has been on the UC Irvine campus for such a visit in the current academic year; and

WHEREAS once a month, UCSA holds a board meeting for a full weekend at one of the UC campuses; and

WHEREAS majority of these board meetings are spent on elongated discussions that do not necessarily reflect the needs of and different campuses and their constituents; and

WHEREAS organizing around student campaigns are reserved only for the Campus Action Committee (composed of Campus Organizing Directors) which are only conducted for an hour and a half to two hours each weekend-long board meeting;

WHEREAS the Executive Vice President’s office has worked closely with organizations such as AFSCME 3299 and well as other local and/or statewide labor organizations for the campaigns that it has pushed for; and

WHEREAS these campaigns must have also been supported by UCSA, for the majority of which UCSA has shown a lack of commitment and action; and

WHEREAS during the November 16th Board Meeting at UCLA, a resolution titled, “Support of AFSCME 3299 and Campus Workers”; and

WHEREAS the resolution asked for UCSA to support our workers with following let it be resolved statements:

Therefore, be it resolved, the University of California Student Association recognize and support the fundamental right of AFSCME 3299 and all university labor unions and all other campus unions to collectively bargain for better working conditions; and

Let it be further resolved, that UCSA stands in solidarity with the AFSCME

3299 Service and Patient Care Technical employees and other unions at the University of California; and

Let it be further resolved, that the UCSA denounces any disrespect towards its Service and Patient Care Technical workers; and

Be it finally resolved, that the UCSA via the Campus Action Committee and other tools deemed appropriate, will work in solidarity with AFSCME 3299 and other unions and their allies in their struggle for better working conditions and compensation, both symbolically and actively.

WHEREAS the Board of Directors tabled the resolution indefinitely with many members stating that they did want to take a stance in contract negotiations; and,

WHEREAS none of the action items stated that the desire for UCSA take sides on contract negotiations; and

WHEREAS this example is only one in a long trend of UCSA’s dismissal of AFSCME and UC workers; and

WHEREAS UCSA has not shown support for students of color in the capacity that students have requested; and

WHEREAS the Students of Color conference was devalued by UCSA staff and board when approached by the conference planners several times; and

WHEREAS this type of devaluement was exemplified in the inappropriate use of the Rosenberg Foundation grant, which was achieved through efforts from the past ASUCI Executive Vice President’s office; and,

WHEREAS when the conference planners requested the funds during the Students of Color conference board meeting, they were denied most of the grant money that expired December 2014; and

WHEREAS there have been several instances of anti-Black and anti-immigrant rhetoric used by staff and board of directors the past few years; and

WHEREAS UCSA staff and the UCSA Board of Directors have received no formal training on diversity and sensitivity, and have allowed racist incidents to occur without disciplinary action;

WHEREAS Executive Vice President’s office believes, based on the lack of action and attention toward these incidents, that UCSA does not hold UCI’s values of respect, integrity, commitment, and empathy; and

WHEREAS Executive Vice President’s office firmly believe that until UCSA acts in a way that would represent these values of UC Irvine, it shall not represent the body of UC Irvine.

LET IT THEREFORE BE RESOLVED that the ASUCI recognizes the disconnection between UCSA and the students of UC Irvine; and

LET IT BE FURTHER RESOLVED that the ASUCI withdraws from UCSA at the end of Winter Quarter, 2014; and

LET IT FURTHER BE RESOLVED that ASUCI legislative council believes in the potential of UCSA but does not believe in the current structure and running of the organization for the past few years; and

LET IT BE RESOLVED that ASUCI Legislative Council believes in sending students to the three UCSA annual conferences even if UCI is no longer a member of UCSA; and  

LET IT FURTHER BE RESOLVED that ASUCI Office of the Executive Vice President will continue to send students to the Student Lobby Conference April 4th- 7th; and,

LET IT BE FURTHER RESOLVED that if in the future, legislative council body of UC Irvine finds that UCSA has indeed shown a recommitment to the values represented by UC Irvine, it may advise the next Executive Vice President to reconsider joining UCSA; and

LET IT BE FURTHER RESOLVED that ASUCI will pay UCSA the dues for the Fall and Winter quarters of the academic year 2013-14; and

LET IT BE FINALLY RESOLVED that the $9,000 remaining UCSA membership fees be pulled out of  account 7160- 6436 and  be reallocated to the EVP office programming account (7160-6409) to engage students in other statewide advocacy affairs, such as legislative hearings, organizing conferences, and other related expenses.

View Legislation with footnotes: 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Zw3O8IgT68pwhk4GmUGwjtE0AiHNW6OkENX7m4dLT_k/edit