Associated Students of UCSD (ASUCSD) Vice President of External Affairs Caroline Siegel-Singh was elected president of the UC Student Association (UCSA) last Friday at the August board meeting during the annual UCSA Student Organizing Summit.
Siegel-Singh will serve as UCSA President until August 2019 in addition to her role as ASUCSD VP of External Affairs.
UCSA is a student-run organization that advocates for UC students. The board is made up of the VP of External Affairs, Organizing Director, and Legislative Director from each UC campus’ student government, as well as other members elected by the UCSA Executive Board to lead their advocacy campaigns.
This year’s Student Organizing Summit and executive board meeting were overshadowed by debates over how UCSA can be effective in organizing support for underrepresented communities.
“UCSA has a lot of resources,” Siegel-Singh told The Triton. “I believe we should extend our resources to as many groups as possible so they can advocate for their communities.”
Siegel-Singh is in her third year of membership on the UCSA Board of Directors. She has been involved since her first year at UCSD. She participated in negotiating the tuition decrease with outgoing President Judith Gutierrez and organized lobbying efforts in support of the state budget that boosted funding for higher education in California.
“My main goals for this organization in the next year are to increase the amount of meaningful work with coalition partners and continue to foster meaningful coalitions, and continue budget consultation to look at increasing affordability,” Siegel-Singh said. “My long term goal is to push the incoming Governor to support a multi-year funding model for the UC [system].”
Besides Siegel-Singh, ASUCSD Organizing Director Prajay Lolabattu was also elected chair of the Campus Action Committee.
The 2018–19 UCSA Executive Officers are listed below:
- President: Caroline Siegel-Singh
- Chair: Davon Thomas
- Vice-Chair: Austin Moon
- Treasurer: Ashraf Beshay
- Campaigns Chair: Dominick Williams
- University Affairs Chair: Lindsay Huizar
- Government Relations Chair: Emelia Martinez
- Campus Action Chair: Prajay Lolabattu
- Fund the UC Chair: Sage Lauwerys
- UCweVOTE Chair: Jamie Kennerk
- Racial Justice Now Interim Co-Chairs: Asha Isse, Brittney Mendez*
- ACQUIRE Chair: Vignesh Iyer
- University Affairs Vice-Chair: Nuha Khalfay
- Government Relations Vice-Chair: Varsha Sarveshwar
- Campus Action Vice-Chair: Sarahi Gonzalez
*Candidates will serve as interim co-Chairs until Chair is elected at the September UCSA board meeting
Ethan Coston is an Assistant News Editor for The Triton. You can follow him @Ethan4Books
Correction: A previous version of this article stated that Siegel-Singh is in her third year of membership on the UCSA Executive Board rather than the UCSA Board of Directors. This is her first year on the executive board.