USAC OKs two-year terms
By Rashmi Nijagal
Daily Bruin Staff
In an effort to help strengthen students’ positions on the
Associated Students of UCLA’s (ASUCLA) board of directors, the
undergraduate student council joined the graduate student
association last week by approving two-year appointments to the
student association’s board.
Members of the undergraduate council and the student group
explain that the new term limits provide continuity to the board,
as opposed to the one-year appointments that have been made.
"In the nature of the board of directors and ASUCLA, there are
many complex issues and it really disempowers students to take
several months to really understand how this association works,"
said Rob Greenhalgh, undergraduate student government president.
"(The two-year appointments) provide an opportunity for people to
learn (the process)."
Due to the fact that this year will be the first year for the
new term limits, the in-coming president will make two two-year
appointments and two one-year appointments in order to stagger the
effect of the appointments.
The one-year appointees will have full voting rights next year
while the two-year appointees will gain voting rights the following
year.
Each year, the president will serve a one-year appointment on
the board of directors. In addition, every president afterward will
have the ability to make two two-year appointments.
The undergraduate student government can still appoint seniors
while the council will also be able to remove appointees from their
position.
"I am in full support of their decision," said Elaine Chu, a
fifth-year international economics student and an undergraduate
board member. "I am very eager to see the results of having the
two-year appointments. (It) will intensify the effects that
undergraduate appointees will have on key university committees due
to their experience and history on the committee."
Though the two-year term limits have vast support, some have
reservations about the appointments.
"I just think that two years are too much for some people," said
J. Joy Jacob, undergraduate student welfare commissioner. "Despite
the different provisions they put in the bylaws to check up on the
appointees, it really falls on the responsibility of the
appointment review committee to make sure they are doing their
jobs. How effective has that been this year?
"We wouldn’t need two-year appointments if the appointees were
competent in the knowledge of the actual committees," Jacob
added.
Others, however, disagree.
"I want to emphasize the fact that this empowers undergraduate
students because if we hadn’t extended it to two years, the
undergraduates would have been severely disempowered," Greenhalgh
said. "It gives a much broader representation of the student body
because it is not only people appointed under one administration,
but people appointed from two administrations."