By Melody Wang
Daily Bruin Contributor
The Undergraduate Students Association Council recently
appointed students to four committees, with 16 committee positions
left to fill.
The council appointed students to the Campus Programs, Community
Activities, Student-Initiated Outreach and Student Fee Advisory
committees at its July 18 and 25 meetings.
The CPC allocates funds for on-campus events, while the CAC
determines funding for community service related events. SIOC works
with student advocacy groups to fund their outreach programs.
Merrick Pascual, president of Samahang Pilipino, and Vanessa
Sifuentes, a third-year political science and Chicano/Chicana
studies student, were appointed to the SFAC.
Pascual originally applied for a position on the Associated
Students of UCLA Board of Directors, but, after he couldn’t
attend an ASUCLA retreat in June, he was not brought to council for
a vote.
The council will appoint one more student to SFAC Aug. 1 since
the third applicant, Edgar Urrutia, was unanimously voted down.
USAC Internal Vice President Elias Enciso, who also chairs the
Appointments Review Committee, said Urrutia did not understand what
the job entailed.
“It worried us if he would have the drive and motivation
for the job,” Enciso said.
He added that the job is important, since the position is a
two-year term and that SFAC advises how much of student fees should
be allocated to CAC and CPC.
Besides these recent appointments, the council must appoint a
second representative to the ASUCLA Board of Directors. This
student will participate in making financial decisions involving
ASUCLA.
USAC unanimously appointed Phyllis Feng, a former director of
Project Literacy and once involved with on-campus housing
government as one of the BOD representatives at their June 9
meeting, but the council still cannot agree who to appoint as the
second undergraduate student on the BOD.
Enciso said the second BOD representative will be appointed Aug.
1.
“We’re all going to sit down and try to find the
best qualified candidate,” he said.
To appoint someone, the USAC president first recommends a
student for the ARC to interview, then she brings the applicant to
the table. The ARC advises council members how to vote.
USAC President Elizabeth Houston asked council to vote on Joseph
Manko, a fourth-year political science and history student who was
also on the Assistant Vice Chancellor’s Leadership Advisory
Board, for the BOD position June 9, but the council voted him down.
Houston then brought Jason Lin, a third-year political science and
business/economics student to the table, but he was voted down as
well.
The majority of council wanted to appoint Pascual as a BOD
representative because of his experience as a member of the ASUCLA
Communications Board.
Council decided to send both Manko and Pascual to ASUCLA’s
June 19-21 retreat, to be trained for the BOD position. But,
Pascual could not go on the retreat because he was attending a
fellowship at UC Berkeley, which granted him a scholarship for
graduate school.
Because only Manko attended the retreat, Houston brought him to
the table to be voted on July 5. Again, he was voted down 4-6.
Pedro said she did not vote for Manko because she felt no new
information had been presented to council since the last time Manko
was brought to the table.
“It was just because there was no discussion and we
didn’t have time to find out how he did on the
retreat,” Pedro said.
At the July 5 USAC meeting,
ASUCLA Executive Director Patricia Eastman said the fact that
Manko was the only one to attend the retreat was enough reason to
reconsider him.
“If the other candidate had attended the retreat, then
we’d have choices,” Eastman said. “It
wasn’t a social affair. It was about 16 hours of intense
education.”
Houston said Manko would be good for the position because he can
serve the full two-year term, while Pascual will be graduating at
the end of the school year.
“If we appointed someone who could only serve one year,
then that would mean that all of the (undergraduate BOD members)
would graduate at the same time, leaving BOD with no
continuity,” Houston said to council at the July 5
meeting.
Further discussion of the BOD appointment was postponed until
the July 25 meeting, where council voted down another student.
Council members then said they would further discuss the
candidates and possibly revisit previous ones. Enciso said while it
is unfortunate that it is taking such a long time to fill the
second BOD position, it is crucial that council members find the
best possible candidate.
Both USAC and the Graduate Student Association appoint two
student representatives to the BOD.
GSA appointed both members June 7. GSA President Martin Griffin
said it was not a simple task because there were so many qualified
candidates.
“We had to weigh a number of considerations ““
experience versus enthusiasm, commitment to student services versus
capacity for objective analysis and so on,” he said.
“We had to strike a balance.”
USAC COMMITTEE APPOINTMENTS USAC appoints
students to various committees that oversee or offer advice on
funding for UCLA programs. COMMITTEE APPOINTEES COMMITTEE
DESCRIPTION Community Activities Commitee Karen Datugan Elizabeth
Delgado Ann Shioji Allocates funding for community service related
programs; members serve one-year terms. Campus Programming
Committee Celia Lacayo Rowena Ocampo Mediget Teshome Katrina Eiland
(CPC alternate) Allocates funding for all events that occur on the
UCLA campus; members serve one-year terms. Student Fee Advisory
Committee Merrick Pascual Vanessa Sifuentes (3rd seat yet to be
filled) Provides advice and student input regarding the use of
student fees; members serve two-year terms. Student Initiated
Outreach Committee Erika Ramirez Allocates funding for outreach
programs put on by student groups; members serve on-year terms.
ASUCLA Board of Directors Phyllis Feng (2nd seat yet to be filled)
Votes on decisions about the student stores and restaurants;
members serve two-year terms. SOURCE: USAC Appointments Review
Committee Original Graphic by JACOB LIAO/Daily Bruin. Web
Adaptation by AVISHAI SHRAGA/Daily Bruin Senior Staff.