Friday, October 24, 1997
Trailer parked
Rally Committee loses office space to Food Services
By Stefanie Wong
Daily Bruin Staff
The oldest student organization on campus, the Rally Committee
has been a 75-year tradition at UCLA.
Known for organizing the card stunts at football games and being
the keepers of the Victory Bell, Victory Banner and air horn, this
group is dedicated to maintaining campus spirit and the inclusion
of any students with similar goals.
But Rally Committee members feel that they are being treated
like pariahs by the students’ association, with several moves
around campus that may have impacted their membership.
As a standing committee of the undergraduate student council,
the Rally Committee is entitled to certain perks, including office
space in Kerckhoff Hall.
It’s Homecoming Week, traditionally one of their busiest times
of the year, when that office space is sorely needed. But the
30-member organization currently inhabits two trailers behind
Kerckhoff Hall.
One of the trailers is used to store the 2,000 card packs used
for the football game card stunts, and the other is actual work
space that only holds six people at a time.
When seismic renovation of Kerckhoff Hall began three years ago,
many student organizations and ASUCLA offices were temporarily
moved to the Plaza Building. The Rally Committee was one of those
groups.
Early last summer, these displaced groups had to be moved again,
when construction for the new Student Health Center began in the
Plaza Building.
But the offices in Kerckhoff Hall had not been completed because
the construction was stopped temporarily. Administrators are not
certain when the construction will resume, but it could be as long
as two years before the project is finished.
In the meantime, many of the ASUCLA offices were moved into
Ackerman Union – temporarily replacing student study lounges on the
third floor.
The Rally Committee, even though it has a fully functioning and
assigned office inside Kerckhoff Hall, has been officially booted
out of its space and has been in the trailers since being moved
from the Plaza Building.
"Rally Committee’s permanent space is occupied by some of the
Food Service staff," said Jerry Mann, director of student-support
services at ASUCLA. "People can’t go to their own permanent space"
because of the halted construction.
The Rally Committee will not be able to move into their assigned
office until the renovation of Kerckhoff Hall is completed and the
other groups can move into their own permanent space.
However, members of the Rally Committee are not satisfied with
having to wait, especially since their space is ready to be used
but is being occupied by another entity.
"We were promised the office in Kerckhoff Hall where the Food
Service office is located," said Jessica Uribe, the Rally
Committee’s art director. "I would like to see them uphold their
agreement and promise.
"My question is, why can’t the ASUCLA Food Service department
move into the trailers? Why are the students the last on the
priority list?"
According to Mann, the six Food Service offices that currently
occupy the space were there for almost a year before the closing of
the Plaza Building, and moving the offices would not have been
practical.
"It would be more expensive to move (Food Services) out of
there, it would impact operational efficiency and the fact that
they’d already been in that space for a while and settled in," Mann
said.
When the offices and organizations were moved out of the Plaza
Building, ASUCLA did consider placing the Rally Committee in a
temporary office inside Ackerman Union but opted against that
decision.
"We weren’t real sure they’d operate well on the third floor of
Ackerman Union … and we wanted to give the Rally Committee space
that would work for them," Mann said. "Where we have them now
allows them to expand when they need to expand, and when they’re
not active they can contract."
Members of the Rally Committee agree that an office in Ackerman
would not have been a viable solution, but they still feel that
this is an unjust situation.
Not only is the committee not allowed into promised work space,
but they feel that the problem has affected their quality of work
and membership.
Because only six members can work at a time in the trailer, the
number of hours each person must work increased.
"The space that we have now – it’s funny and comical to see the
space," Uribe said. "We’re potentially supposed to be one of the
largest organizations on campus, but our office space is half the
size of a room."
According to Uribe, when students see the committee’s office and
the amount of work each member must do, potential members are
turned away.
"We’re not able to do as much as we’ve done in the past because
we don’t have the membership … (the small office space) endangers
the survival of the group," Uribe said.
According to Mann, ASUCLA does sympathize with the Rally
Committee and is working to get the group into their office space
in Kerckhoff – which they view as the home of the committee.
ASUCLA has, according to Mann, recently reorganized and
consolidated the Food Service area, and the Rally Committee may be
able to move into their space sooner than anticipated.
"I’m optimistic that we can get the Rally Committee into their
permanent space sooner than later," Mann said.
"We should be able to move on it fairly quickly but it’s not a
sure thing," he added.
DERRICK KUDO
The Rally Committee, which has been in existence for over 75
years, has been moved into two small trailers behind Kerckhoff
Hall. Brianna Seabron (foreground, left) looks for a spot in the
cramped office, while Tim McGrath, a third-year student, works on
plans for the card show.