Last of Four
By Linh Tat and Scott B.
Wong
Daily Bruin Senior Staff Midway through the academic year, The
Bruin asked members of the Undergraduate Students Association
Council to assess their roles as student representatives. They were
also asked to assess the council as a whole.
Internal problems Lack of respect and tolerance
for those with different viewpoints has hindered USAC’s
performance this school year for many council members. “I
feel like there’s a lack of professionalism a lot of times in
our council meetings, about how people direct their remarks and
behave,” said USAC President Elizabeth Houston.
“I’ve done my best to reach out to this council.”
But for Internal Vice President Elias Enciso, council meetings have
been productive, and he’s seen the meetings run more
efficiently as the year progressed. “I think council is doing
very well,” he said. “I’ve even seen progress
with council from last quarter to this quarter, and I’m
confident that progress next quarter will be even greater.”
Others on council say meetings aren’t as productive as they
should be. Evan Okamura, external vice president and the newest
council member, questioned why some USAC student-appointed
positions still remain vacant when the academic year is halfway
over. “There’s a lot of pettiness that divides us from
getting stuff done,” he said. “People will be arguing
for half an hour, and it’s frustrating. I see the potential,
but we’re not achieving it.” The EVP said council
meetings are no place for pettiness. “It’s like airing
your dirty laundry ““ it’s just not something that needs
to be addressed at the council table,” Okamura said.
According to Jared Seltzer, who is serving his second consecutive
term as campus events commissioner, the level of energy of this
year’s council has not been as strong as in the past.
“People last year seemed to be working toward an exchange of
ideas which would lead to a common vision,” he said.
“The actions of this year’s council seem a bit more
disjointed.” Last year, Seltzer said, council members seemed
to have livelier discussions, but that hasn’t been the case
this year. “People are either too angry or apathetic to reach
out to each other,” he said. “The result of that
affects the whole student body.” Facilities Commissioner
Steve Davey, who is also serving his second consecutive term on
USAC, said the difference between this year and last year’s
council is like the difference between night and day. He could be
friends with members outside the council chambers last year, he
said, but that hasn’t been the case now. “IÂ think
the level of respect has gone down, and a lot of that has to do
with the election of (Houston),” Davey said. “Elizabeth
was an outsider to the student government.” But the president
has not done anything to warrant disrespect, Davey said. “I
think Elizabeth is doing what no student body president has ever
done ““ showing the student body that we’re here, we
don’t care who you are, or what your political belief is,
we’re going to serve all students, and we want to bring all
students together,” he said. According to Mike de la Rocha,
last year’s president, previous USAC presidents have also
experienced difficulty uniting council. “It’s always
been difficult for the president to build teamwork on
council,” he said. “From what I’m seeing, it
seems she’s having difficulty.” Earlier this year,
Enciso walked out of a council meeting, where he said Houston had
insulted the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.
Though the two have improved the way they handle differences of
opinion as the year progressed, Houston said, their relationship
has been deteriorating recently. “I thought we were making
progress, but in these last two meetings, Elias has demonstrated
some of the tactics, verbal or otherwise, that he demonstrated
earlier in the year,” she said. According to Houston, Enciso
takes things on a personal level. “He has no tolerance for
anyone who believes any differently than he does and he will not
work with them,” she said. “The ball is in his
court.” Enciso said he has been the one to initiate a good
working relationship with Houston. “The day after the
election results, I invited her to lunch and ended our conversation
with a hug, but still she pretends the office of the IVP does not
exist,” he said. “I think that Elizabeth is a nice
person, but I think that not having enough exposure to UCLA in
general, to organizing and to people who are different from her
““ that has contributed to some of the disagreements that we
may have had.” While not referring to any council member in
particular, Seltzer said when officers attack each other, it
affects the rest of council. “Those of us not engaged with
personal attacks slouch in our chairs and roll our eyes when such
incidents occur,” he said.
Student funding The biggest issue confronting
council this year has been how to fund student groups. Last spring,
a federal judge ruled in the case of Southworth v. The University
of Wisconsin that public universities may use compulsory student
fees to fund campus organizations, but only if the allocations to
groups are made on a content-neutral basis. Recently, another judge
reopened the case, now known as the Fry case, and criteria for fair
funding is being questioned again. The UC Office of the President,
which is awaiting results of the new case, has not produced new
guidelines for the UCs. Council members contend they have always
allocated funding to student groups fairly, but they’ve been
amending portions of USAC’s bylaws to ensure the
document’s wording complies with the most current applicable
court decisions. The council has held a number of ad hoc meetings
since fall to look into amending its bylaws. While initial meetings
were productive, council members say they’ve gotten less done
recently. Houston said in January she was disappointed with council
members who came to the ad hoc meetings without having read the
latest court decisions or funding guidelines by the University of
California Office of the President, especially when they were given
the material to read in December. “I was very disappointed in
the lack of preparation that everyone had done,” Houston
said. Over the summer, USAC administrative representative Lyle
Timmer-man said he would freeze student group accounts if the
council did not show progress in amending its bylaws. Since then,
he set a Feb. 27 deadline for the council to finalize all
amendments to its bylaws regarding fund- ing and sponsorship. While
it’s good that USAC has amended parts of its bylaws already,
council members have lost a sense of urgency, Seltzer said.
“It’s hard to feel the urgency to be forced to amend
our policy at UCLA when the UC as a whole hasn’t made up its
mind regarding the most recent court cases.”
Filling a vacant office seat Other conflicts
the council confronted this school year included the ineligibility
of former EVP Portia Pedro to continue holding office. A special
online election took place in November to fill the vacant position.
“Fortunately, it was a very quick process,” Enciso
said. “It definitely diverted some of our energy and some of
our focus, but for no more than two weeks, nothing that set USAC
back far.” “The real loss is not having Portia at the
table, because she, by far, was one of the most articulate and
intelligent USAC members at that table,” Enciso said.
“She was definitely an asset to USAC.”