Blog

June 24, 2016 | By Angel Juarez | UC Riverside

College can be quite the experience, from dorm life, clubs and organizations, and new friends. Yet, nobody talks about the amount of work that a student has to put in in order to keep this privilege. No one talks about textbook prices. Or the cost of living on campus. Or tuition hikes. I was not as lucky as some students to receive a financial aid package that would let me sleep at night without having to worry about my next fee deadline.

In January of 2016, I decided to apply to my campus’ dining facilities in hopes of getting a job that would pay off my dues. Luckily, I was hired within the second week that winter quarter had begun. However, there was one downside: all my shifts were late-night shifts.

The school has a policy for work study jobs: a student should not work more than 15 hours a week, in order to prevent them from jeopardizing their academics. However, getting a position in dining services (at least for my campus) depends on your availability. The minimum amount of hours a dining student is supposed to work is nine hours. If your class schedule is not flexible, you most likely will not get a position. I learned that after trying to apply in the fall of 2015 with classes spread out throughout the day for every day of the week.

Anyway, my days were exhausting. I worked 12 hours a week for four nights a week, usually right after my last class. My shift would start at 9 pm and go until midnight, and I would have class early the next morning. I would come back to my dorm room tired, but I never let that discourage me. My motivation to continue working those ungodly hours were my fees and tuition, and I could not give up just because I hated my hours. I did gain some skills, such as better time management and leadership.

I will forget this as a part of my first-year experience as a college student. However, I do wish that cost was not the main reason for have to get a job as demanding as dining.

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Angel Juarez is an incoming second year at UC Riverside studying Theater and Dance for queer/gender identity and performance.

May 20th, 2016 | By Kevin Sabo | UC Berkeley
If there is a common theme in the last year of UC student activism, it is that our collective impact is maximized when students tell our real stories. We knocked on doors of decision makers offering them the opportunity to listen. We humanized our experiences by coming to them with more than numbers, but also the audacity to show them what it means to be a student at the University of California in 2016.

We asked university leaders to consider relieving the overcrowding in our counseling centers because our mental health services must keep up with our expensive, demanding education. It is shameful that it takes 21 days to get an appointment. It is disheartening that only a small fraction of counseling staff reflects the diversity of the UC.

We found the courage to tell the world we are hungry and homeless. For years, the UC has turned its back on food insecurity and colossal housing prices. The Global Food Initiative and President’s Housing Initiative are important first steps, both directly resulting from student advocacy. The UC must take the full cost of attendance seriously, because food and housing insecurity is a major barrier to completion, especially for low-income students, first-generation students, transfer students, student parents, and students of color. This is a question of access; the UC has a moral responsibility to answer it with a solution.

We lobbied as graduate students who learn, research, work, and teach alongside the rest of the UC community but who are undervalued and exploited. Investments in graduate student success, including guaranteeing degree pathways and healthy relationships with advisors, are overdue.

We continued the fight to have UC administrators take sexual violence seriously. No space at the UC is without survivors. We owe them dignity through comprehensive services, fair adjudication and discipline for their assailants, and preventative training for everyone who finds themselves in a UC classroom.

We took our stories to the Regents, to Sacramento, and all the way to Washington DC. We are building political power for a demographic too often discounted. By standing together at the UC, we are making a powerful statement that young people are in fact engaged in the decisions that are being made for them. The onus is on those making these decisions to not close the door on us when we come to tell our stories.

My final challenge as UC Student Association President to UC administrators and our leaders in government is this: consider that in our lived experiences are lessons for how to best serve student needs. Remember your responsibility to care for us. We do not come to the UC intent just on getting a piece of paper showing a degree. We come heavy with the dreams of our families and with a inspired belief that what we learn will help us change the world for the better. We should be greeted with all the services we need to harness our hope and dedication, so that no matter what happens after we arrive, we are able to make it to graduation day.

I am so appreciative of everyone who had the courage to tell their stories this year, as well as those who keep their stories close to their heart but still turn out to make change for UC students. Most of the work that we do as student advocates is being there for each other. We listen, we encourage, we debate, and we carry what we hear with us into meetings with administrators or lobby visits with legislators. Through collective action, we actualize our power to raise our voice until it cannot be ignored. Students should be proud of how much we accomplished this year. There is always more work to be done, but we should not forget that we were successful this year in forcing solutions to problems that affect students’ daily lives.

To be a student at the University of California in 2016 means to come to some of the best public universities in the nation and challenge them to be better. For most of us engaged in student advocacy, that challenge is just as important as anything else we will do at the UC. We will leave the UC better than we found it.

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Kevin Sabo just finished at UC Berkeley where he studied Peace and Conflict Studies and is the President of the University of California Student Association.

May 20, 2016 | By Caroline Nguyen | UC Irvine
I’ve been volunteering with an organization that serves the homeless on Skid Row, Los Angeles for a couple of years. Mental illness has affected my family in tremendous ways. As a result, this work resonates with me on a viscerally personal level, because I understand that homelessness is often a cruel byproduct of underfunding for mental health services.

Photo above: Caroline and her older brother, Kevin

My older brother Kevin was diagnosed with schizophrenia 10 years ago, and his symptoms have since been managed by a team of health professionals and daily neuroleptics. As his sister, I’m one of his immediate caretakers. I’ve learned how to monitor his symptoms and the side effects that may arise from his psychotropic drug therapy, as well as stabilize him should he experience a psychotic episode.

Because I’ve grown so intimately familiar with schizophrenia, I very quickly detected that one of the regulars on Skid Row, Eric, displayed many telltale signs of paranoid schizophrenia, which is the subtype my brother has. He and Kevin share a similar caliber of intelligence, temperament, and unfortunately also nearly identical auditory hallucinations, pathological grandiosity, and delusions of persecution that are characteristic of psychosis.

As such, every conversation with Eric strikes straight at my heart. My brother’s initial on fall of symptoms in 2005 was so severe that he became an imminent threat to himself. I know without a doubt that had it not been for the intensive professional care he received, within a month he would have either been in prison, on the streets, or dead.

But today Kevin is safe — 7 nights a week he will return to a bed surrounded by four walls whereas Eric will not, when the only difference between the two is that one was privileged enough to gain access to lifelong medical treatment and the resources needed for human survival.

“The only difference between the two is that one was privileged enough to gain access to lifelong medical treatment and the resources needed for humane survival.”

And keep in mind that Eric is one of the more lucid ones. I only know Eric because he still remains coherent enough to speak to me. On the contrary, the overwhelming remainder of those with schizophrenia on Skid Row have subsisted so long without psychiatric intervention that their state of mind now renders them unable to engage in appropriate interpersonal interaction, and they fall invisible.

I urge you to challenge any unfavorable stereotypes you may have of the chronically homeless, a disproportionate amount of whom are braving mental health afflictions beyond their capacity to single-handedly manage. Mental illness has genetic and biological components; therefore, onset of disease evinces neurological and physiological changes, not foibles. Improper education about mental illness compounded by lack of awareness regarding the factors that contribute to homelessness create so much division in society — those who are affected are alienated, disenfranchised, and dehumanized.

“Improper education about mental illness compounded by lack of awareness regarding the factors that contribute to homelessness creates so much division in society — those who are affected are alienated, disenfranchised, and dehumanized.”

Even today when Kevin’s doctors have found a medication regimen compatible with his brain chemistry, his residual symptoms and the muscle disorders he experiences as side effects are physically and psychologically exhausting. I rejoice, though, that he at least faces these challenges with consistent domestic support and the comfort of shelter and adequate nutrition.

People like Eric, however, have no such luxury, and I can’t perceive how difficult it must be to not only battle a grueling deregulation of thoughts and behavior, but to do so alone, in fear, and in hunger. From what I’ve learned, those with a latent predisposition to mental illness often develop conditions after exposure to environmental stressors. In other words, even if an individual arrives at Skid Row psychologically sound, there’s a large chance their mental health will swiftly deteriorate, for I can’t imagine stressors more aggressive than the theft, violence, and sexual assault these residents experience on the regular.

My brother is a human being with a favorite food, favorite T.V. show, aspirations, and hobbies, who also happens to have a mental illness through no fault of his own. Folks on Skid Row like Eric are just the same.

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Caroline Nguyen is a student at the University of California, Irvine. Outside the classroom she advocates for resource expansion and education on the legal and psychosocial challenges faced by Southeast Asian migrants and refugees, as well as campus and statewide reform of student mental health services.

May 20, 2016 | By Julia Schemmer | UC Riverside
Every other month, the UC Regents convene together for a long chunk of meetings, covering everything from administrative salaries to admissions data. From May 11-12, the UC Regents gathered in Sacramento, California.

There, they discussed the issues affecting the University of California and to make decisions about what the solutions should be. Miss the meetings? Check out the top takeaways from the meetings here:

Janet Napolitano reaffirmed her support for undocumented student programs. During her opening remarks on Wednesday, May 12, Napolitano confirmed that $8.4 million dollars will be earmarked per year to fund programs such as the UC Dream Loan Program, student staff coordinators, undergraduate and graduate fellowships, and the UC Undocumented Legal Services center. Although the University undoubtedly has a lot of work to do when it comes to providing for undocumented student programs, the confirmed funding marks a positive step forward for the continued accessibility of the UC.

The Regents are considering an overhaul of their current Committee structure.
Currently, there are ten committees within the UC Board of Regents, in which the UCSA-appointed Student Observer sits on three, providing about 30% representation for students in the decisionmaking space. The Regents are considering consolidating the committees to only six, which would provide 50% of student representation within the committees.

“When you hear an announcement like that, you would think it would be more paramount. I think it was a good idea because it’s a reflection of what the Regents have been experiencing over the last few years. I’ve seen it before where there has been an organizational gap between the committees,” says Guillermo Rogel, a May Student Advocate to the Regents.

There is also discussion on creating a committee regarding student affairs, which is a progressive step forward in the Regents’ acknowledgement of their responsibility to help students have a quality and safe education. Additionally, a proposed committee titled Community Engagement would enable the Regents to have a greater stake within the community for funding and outreach.

UCSA appointed Student Advocates to the Regents for the May meeting.
For every Regents meeting, UCSA appoints Student Advocates to the Regents, who speak about campus and systemwide issues directly to the Regents. The May STARs were Iman Sylvain from UC Berkeley, Guillermo Rogel from UC Santa Cruz, Ralph Washington Jr from UC Davis, Ryan Abusaa from UC Davis, and myself, Julia Schemmer from UC Riverside. Unlike most STAR appointments, they were able to attend a banquet with attendees such as the UC Regents, local officials, and Governor Jerry Brown, thus solidifying essential relationships to make long-lasting change within the UC. Students also met with the UCOP Student Affairs staff to discuss systemwide issues such as automatic voter registration, mental health, and housing insecurity.

“Being a student advocate to the regents meant more than just having a chance to speak in front of the policymakers whose decisions affect our lives — it was a chance to build personal connections with them and understand more about their backgrounds,” says Ryan Abusaa, a student at UC Davis. “As far removed as they may seem to be, we cannot simply disregard the remainder of their experiences from their time in the education system up through their current experiences as working members of our society.”

Student Regent Avi Oved finished his last Regents meeting. Avi Oved, a fifth-year undergraduate student from UCLA, finished his last Regents meeting as the 2015-2016 Student Regent. Next to follow his lead is Marcela Ramirez, a graduate student from UC Riverside. During the Regents meeting, a special committee convened to interview the three finalists for the position of Student Regent-Designate, who will be tagging alongside Marcela to learn the role of the student regent.

The Regents will be meeting next in July. Stay tuned for more announcements from the UC Board of Regents!

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Julia Schemmer is a first-year Public Policy major at UC Riverside and Media Intern for the UC Students Association. Her goal is simple: to put the lit back in politics.

May 20, 2016 | By Julia Schemmer | UC Riverside
In August, the city of Pomona will be filled with hundreds of University of California students for the annual UCSA Congress, now called Student Organizing Summit, made possible by the UC Student Association.

As delegation applications are released across the campuses during the summer, you may be wondering what UC SOS is and whether or not it is the conference for you. Check out the top five reasons why you should send in an application today!

1. You will have the opportunity to meet new people from your campus. My first UCSA Congress was the summer before my freshman year of college, before I knew any students at my campus. Attending UC SOS was an incredible way to meet new people at UC Riverside, who I then collaborated with on projects, took classes with, and became close to during the rest of the year. Students come from all sorts of different organizations, are passionate about a multitude of causes, and provide diverse perspectives towards the UC experience. Congress is a great way to solidify your bonds with your fellow peers and create tangible action at the campus level.
2. You will have the opportunity to meet new people from across the UC system. Some of the best friends I have made have been through conferences such as UCSA Congress, regardless of the campus they attend.. As students, we ought to stick together and remain unified in an administrative system that thrives upon anything but. When we work together as a unified body to create change, our impact is amplified. Although we are from different campuses and studying different topics, we are all one University of California family, and Congress is a great way to become united with your UC brothers and sisters.
3. This is your chance to take action towards causes you care about. No conference would be complete without generating action or progress towards vital causes. During the 2015 UCSA Congress, participants phone-banked their elected officials on legislation that deals with the accessibility, affordability and quality of the University of California system. You will work directly with creating action plans towards developing campaigns for causes you can take back to your campus during the academic year. You can leave the conference feeling like you were able to make a difference towards the causes that matter.
4. During the conference, you will learn about issues affecting undergraduate, graduate and professional University of California students. Since I went to Congress before entering college, I had no idea what issues were actually affecting UC students. It was a completely new world to me, having just come from my experiences as a high school student. During the conference, students have the opportunity to create campaigns based on issues affecting their educational experience at the UC. From food insecurity to mental health to voter registration, I came home to Riverside feeling equipped to tackle these issues with a newly informed perspective. Whether you have been in the UC system for one week or four years, it is always useful to become briefed on the issues affecting both undergraduate and graduate students.
5. UC SOS is your chance to exercise your voice. During the conference, each delegation will vote on the next two-year campaign for the UC Students Association to focus their efforts towards. Last year, the campaign was #HowAreYou, a plan to rethink mental health services within the UC. You will work with people from all across the University of California to develop various issue-based campaigns, in which the winning campaign is voted on by all attendees of the conference. It could be anything this year, and we need people like you to vote and decide what the next campaign should be.

With all of these reasons and more, UC SOS is an incredible way to develop as a student, activist, and trailblazer. Don’t miss out on the chance to change the University of California with your narratives, experiences, and voices.

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Julia Schemmer is a first-year Public Policy major at UC Riverside and Media Intern for the UC Students Association. Her goal is simple: to put the lit back in politics.