Only days and even hours before student governments from
University of California campuses across the state prepared for a
“No on Prop. 54 Day of Action,” some campus
administrations froze all funds that could be spent on the
campaign.
If passed, Proposition 54 would ban the state from collecting
most race-based data.
“At the last minute, we were told we couldn’t spend
the money we had allocated,” said Jeremy Paul Gallagher,
president of the Associated Students of UC San Diego.
Student government officials at UCSD had planned to spend
student-derived funds during a rally and a walk-out that had been
scheduled for Wednesday’s UC-wide “Day of Action”
events. Gallagher said he did not know how much money had been
allocated.
“Now we just have to do everything as cheaply as
possible,” Gallagher said, adding that even a few hours
before the rally, he did not know where he would obtain the money
for sound equipment needed for the rally.
“We are not going to be as effective,” he said.
The UC Berkeley administration earlier this week prohibited any
of the $35,000 that had been earmarked by UC Berkeley’s
student government to be spent on the campaign. Berkeley Chancellor
Robert Berdahl has come out against the use of student fees on
political campaigns.
The student government at UCLA has not been directly affected by
such a restriction by the administration, but members of the
Undergraduate Students Association Council are showing their
support for their counterparts on other UC campuses.
With a unanimous vote, USAC councilmembers passed a resolution
at their meeting Tuesday night stating that they “stand in
solidarity with (the council) at Berkeley, both associations
working continuously to educate their memberships.”
This controversy, leading to the spending bans, has resulted
from a misunderstanding of the UC guidelines, many councilmembers
said.
Though the guidelines available on the UC Office of the
President Web site explicitly prohibit UC or any of its entities
from spending university resources on political campaigns, updated
guidelines make the prohibitions less clear.
Updates were made in 1999 after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled
that student governments had to allocate funds on a
viewpoint-neutral basis, but student leaders say the newer
guidelines have not been made easily accessible to them.
Amid the confusion regarding the various and sometimes
contradictory guidelines, these leaders are obtaining legal advice
before proceeding.
“We will continue talking with the administration and
looking into getting legal advisers,” Gallagher said.
At UCLA, USAC External Vice President Matt Kaczmarek said
council will not spend any student-derived fees on the campaign,
just to be on the safe side.
Wednesday’s “No on Prop. 54″ events were
funded by $400 that USAC allocated to the Asian Pacific Coalition
last week. Organizers and councilmembers both agreed the
day’s events were successful and not affected by the
controversy.
Kaczmarek said he is grateful for the support he has been
receiving from UCLA administrators.