Board continues personnel discussion
By Patrick Kerkstra
Daily Bruin Staff
At a hastily called meeting on Sunday, associated students’
(ASUCLA) board members convened expressly to discuss personnel
matters, according to a document issued by the organization’s
Executive Director Jason Reed.
Official announcement of the meeting came last Friday afternoon,
barely meeting board requirements of 48 hours notice.
Board members consistently refused to comment on the content of
the meeting, but they did say that they will call a meeting of
association career employees at 10:30 a.m. Monday in Ackerman Grand
Ballroom to partially reveal the nature of some of Sunday’s
events.
As outside temperatures rose, casually dressed board members
assembled in front of Kerckhoff 400, joking and chatting amongst
themselves. Jason Reed, director of the association for over 10
years, was the only association employee present.
Reed sat alone at one end of the room’s long tables as the
meeting began.
Tim Beasley, chair of the board of directors, called the meeting
to order at 2:11 p.m. After announcing that the sole purpose of the
meeting was to discuss personnel, the board closed the meeting to
the public.
Breaking only once, the board finished its business in under
three hours, one of the briefer meetings of the year.
Although the association is partially student funded, the board
has uncharacteristically closed much of its business to the public
this year. The organization’s regulations allow board members to go
into executive, or closed, session to discuss any matter. However,
in the recent past, the board had exercised the right only
rarely.
But this year, which has brought threats of financial disaster,
organizational paralysis, and evidence of management’s failure to
inform the board of large predicted losses, has seen a dramatic
increase in the amount of time spent in executive session, Beasley
said.
Sunday’s meeting, which was not even attended by a recording
secretary, was not an exception.