Diana Raya Perez, a first-year transfer political science student, is running for the position of USAC transfer student representative, or TSR, for the upcoming 2026-2027 academic year. She currently serves as the Latinx Transfer Day Chair for Empowering Latines Against Struggle at UCLA and is also involved in USAC’s office of the internal vice president and the transfer student office, where she is on the California Community College Connections committee.
“After being involved in the transfer student representative office, I knew this position would be a great opportunity for me to make change in my community,” Raya Perez said. “I know it’s very hard right now for transfers because we have to compress four years into two, and I know a lot of transfers have not been able to get involved in the same way traditional students have. We need more opportunities for transfer students.”
Raya Perez is running on four platforms, which she shares are influenced not only by her experience as a transfer student, but also by the experience of other transfers with whom she has spoken with.
“It’s okay if you don’t know what you want to do now or what you want to do after UCLA, which is why all of my platforms emphasize [providing] information and resources for transfer students so that they feel comfortable while they’re here and after they graduate,” Raya Perez said.
Her first platform, which she has referred to as “once a community, always a community,” focuses specifically on community colleges. Raya Perez wants to fundraise for Puente programs at community colleges, especially CCs that have low transfer rates to the UCs and especially to UCLA. She would like to host informative panels at these CCs as well, where current transfer students can share how they have navigated the UC system.
As a student from Mexico, Raya Perez understands and wishes to address student safety concerns. Her second platform is to keep transfers safe by informing them through social media and by hosting meetings of issues happening on and off campus, particularly pertaining to marginalized communities and students of color. She also wants to provide ways for transfer students to get directly involved in advocacy, hoping to reestablish the UCLA Advisory Council on Immigration Policy and take preventative measures against ICE entering campus.
“Right now, everything is political because we live in a world that not everyone feels safe [in], so of course, it’s very important to keep students informed and to talk about these issues,” Raya Perez said. “It’s going to take a lot of work, not only from the transfer student office, but from all 15 offices within USAC. We all have to come together and find the plan that is going to push for UCLA to [prioritize] our safety. But in the meantime, I can provide the resources necessary for students to be informed, especially [because] many transfer students are from underrepresented communities that are currently being targeted.”
Raya Perez further wishes to expand opportunities for transfer students and get them involved in leadership positions on and off campus; she acknowledges that commuter transfer students are often unable to be fully engaged in positions that require them to be on or near campus. She also plans to fight against discriminatory policies that prevent transfer students from taking on positions, release monthly newsletters that list opportunities for transfer students and push for deadline extensions and work within the quarter system so transfer students are able to be onboarded to programs by fall or winter quarter.
Raya Perez’s last platform is oriented toward transfer life beyond UCLA, where she will connect current transfer students with alumni transfer students so they are able to learn about different pathways they can take after graduation. She believes that transfer students should be made aware of alternatives to graduate school and that there are also intermediate steps they can take between their undergraduate and graduate years to prepare them for what they wish to pursue in the future.
“I feel confident that I know I’m going to be able to communicate what transfers need and to fight for them,” Raya Perez said. “My experience coming to the U.S. and being in community college, not feeling like I belong here and then [being able to] form a community, has really pushed me to know the importance of community, and that is something I want to create for transfers when they come here.”
Voting opened at 8 a.m. on May 8 and closes May 15. To stay informed on Raya Perez’s campaign, you can follow her @diana4tsr on Instagram.
