USAC Officer Evaluation: Naomi Riley, Academic Affairs Commissioner
By Editorial Board
May 2, 2020 9:15 p.m.
Naomi Riley came into the Academic Affairs Commission with big goals. She achieved most of them and managed to pick up a few more along the way.
Riley aimed to make decision-makers more accessible to students. Thanks in large part to Riley’s office, student Academic Senate positions are now stipended, which could open up seats at the table to students who couldn’t afford to donate time to academic policy debate without pay. Riley also worked to instate four student appointment positions on the public safety advisory committee following the Getty fire to ensure a student voice at the table in emergencies.
In a multi-year effort, Riley has also pushed the Academic Senate a little further out of its comfort zone on several key issues, including standardized testing and the availability of online materials.
On her student retention platform, Riley worked to implement a symbol system to indicate nontuition costs of all courses in the UCLA registrar. She also made strides in expanding USAC’s iClicker library, not to mention stretching book-lending times in cooperation with UCLA libraries.
Riley promised to designate Covel Commons as a study space for students. When students return to school next year, Covel Commons Residential Restaurant will be designated as a late night study space. On top of that success, Riley’s office worked to establish Night Royce as a collaborative space for late-night studying and to revamp overnight laptop rentals.
Her office made an effort to redistribute enrollment units to better include students with dependents and veterans under the priority enrollment umbrella, a policy change that’s currently making its way through the Academic Senate. She also pushed for a policy revision at the University of California level to allow LGBTQ+ students to consistently use their lived names.
At the council table, Riley has taken charge in writing letters and resolutions on vital campus issues, including the Getty fire and the COVID-19 outbreak. She pushed hard to get administrators to the council table and seized opportunities to bring in students to provide testimonials.
This board recognizes Riley made significant gains in bringing students into USAC and expanding AAC’s social media presence, but withheld one point because, for better or worse, Riley said she felt USAC should not engage with critical comments on Reddit.
On the whole, Riley has had an exceptionally productive year, to the point that not every win could fit in this evaluation. This board congratulates Riley on a job well done.
