Supporting Students’ Basic Needs at UCSB

I have a real interest in how UCSB organizations support student life. When I scheduled a meeting with the Basic Needs Committee chair Tessa Veksler, I expected to hear about all my pet favorites – food bank initiatives, menstrual health events, etc. But as the academic term comes to a close, Tessa reflected more broadly on the responsibility of organizations like the Basic Needs Committee. With her upcoming Associated Students presidency, she had a lot to say about the role of student government on campus and what it means to represent student interests financially. 

Q. What does the Basic Needs Committee do?

A. We advocate for things like food insecurity and housing insecurity, and we work with other basic needs-related organizations on campus – such as the Food Bank – in order to make sure we are providing for students’ basic needs on campus. I recently learned that 43 percent of students within the UC system are food insecure, 25 percent of which are extremely food insecure. No college student should have to worry about what meal they’re going to eat next. Our committee may not have a ton of funding but because we’re positioned within Associated Students, we have the unique ability to advocate for these things on a higher level to administration. 

Q. What are your main goals?

A. Increasing accessibility and knowledge of basic needs resources available on campus, and ensuring that our student fees are actually getting back to the students. For example, in the last couple months we have put on finals-essential booths that provided testing materials for students. Right now, a lot of UCSB courses require you to purchase your own bluebooks and scantrons in order to take your exams. We believe that having these supplies is a fundamental basic need, so we attempt to provide these for as many students as we can. 

Q. How do you decide what the student body’s basic needs are?

A. I have been very fortunate to work with an incredible committee of students that are not only very dedicated but also a part of a variety of different spaces that allow them to understand what students need. We also conduct basic needs surveys and work closely with the basic needs team at the university level as well as speaking with organizations like the food bank to figure out how to better serve our students. 

Q. It sounds like a big part of your role is coordinating between different organizations. Why do you think it’s useful to have such an interconnected committee?

A. I think a big problem within the system is that a lot of the time we don’t know what other organizations are doing, which is frustrating because that means we end up either planning the same types of events or miss opportunities to consolidate our funding. There’s a gap in communication and this is something that I’m actively working on as part of my incoming presidency – consolidation of resources. The Basic Needs Committee is an absolutely integral part of Associated Students, but we are not as effective as we could be because we are a bit disconnected from the student body. What I am trying to do is hire people into the committee that come from outside student government – they bring a very unique and valuable perspective about the things that they see on campus surrounding basic needs.

Q. Why do you say your perspective is separated from the student body?

A. There are a lot of issues within Associated Students, and our lack of accessibility and approachability is a big part of it. We take an approach where we tell students “our doors are always open, come talk to us,” but I feel we need to shift to a hybrid approach where we are also going to students and talking to them and putting ourselves out there in order to give them the opportunity to speak to us. I think people have developed a mistrust in Associated Students as a whole because we have made mistakes in the past with regard to how transparent we are. I think that initiatives like what the Basic Needs Committee has done this year has definitely brought the student body closer. 

You asked earlier how we know when something is needed. The Basic Needs Committee started with one very small booth, and we only bought 100 of each thing. Within an hour it was all gone. We expanded to make it four times the size by collaborating with two different organizations. Last quarter the supplies were all gone again. I think this is a sign that we’re moving in the right direction. 

Q. You said transparency is a big priority of yours. Why is it important to you that the student body trusts Associated Students?

A. We are using their fees. Associated Students is built off of fifteen million dollars of student fees. Transparency is what students deserve first of all, second of all we are all students ourselves – so what differentiates us? What makes us so special and unique that we get to direct how student money is spent? We’re trusted with the responsibility of spending this money in a way that positively affects our campus community. I think that it is very, very important – especially because we’re a student-funded organization – to make sure that students know that we are doing our best to provide for them, and that they feel that this is something they should be investing in. 

Q. Can you tell me what you’re most proud of from the past year?

A. I think that I am really proud of the creativity and innovation and the unfaltering drive that my senate has had. I have never sensed there was a problem that we aren’t at least willing to try to find a solution for. The Basic Needs Committee is unlike a lot of other committees on campus because we are primarily built out of student government representatives whose focus is on legislation; which means we have the power of legislative action in order to write legislation to shift funding, or shift accessibility of basic needs on campus. I can only hope that as I enter this next year as president the association continues to flourish. I’m sure that it will because I’ve seen the incredible students that have been elected for the upcoming year, and they’re all very passionate. What’s at the forefront is their care for other students.