Mission Statement

To act as an empowering dynamic on campus where UCSD students collaborate to achieve greater educational equity. This encompasses equal access to higher education, undergraduate retention and graduation, and matriculation to graduate
and professional schools.

SPACES values the power of student initiated action and organizing by providing an environment for student growth and development and thus is a foundation to create leadership and unity through community engagement.

In the Spring of 2003, space had been secured for a student-run recruitment and retention center through the approval of the Price Center Expansion Referendum. Although students had been guaranteed such a space, there were no fixed, allocated funds for the center’s operations. In the Spring of 2007, the member organizations of the Student Affirmative Action Committee (SAAC), Student Initiated Access Programs and Services (formerly known as Student Initiated Outreach and Recruitment Commission) and the Student Initiated Programs for Holistic Retention (formerly Academic Success Program), banded together to support student initiated retention and access to higher education efforts. Dwindling state funding and the impending opening of a student-run access and retention center prompted students to take matters into their own hands. The Promoting Understanding and Learning through Service and Education (PULSE) Referendum was approved by a majority of the student body in order to secure funding and resources for SPACES, SIPHR, and SIAPS.