The undergraduate student government will hold a special meeting
with the UCLA administration tonight to discuss their funding
guidelines ““ which some administrators say may be in
violation with University of California regulations.
During last week’s meeting, the Undergraduate Students
Association Council first got wind of administrative sentiment that
their bylaws may not be in compliance with University of California
regulations.
Since then, Dean of Students Robert Naples has had a series of
conversations with USAC councilmembers that he said have clarified
a number of issues. But tonight will be the first opportunity for
him to collaborate with council in an official setting.
USAC has been in the process of discussing changes to its
funding policies for the past two years.
Naples said his intent last week was to caution USAC and ensure
they understood what is required for compliance with the UC Office
of the President’s guidelines as they proceed with
modifications.
Current USAC regulations offer funding only to Officially
Recognized Student Organizations. Independent groups, which are
religious, political and ideological in nature, cannot receive
funds. A proposed amendment would open funding to both officially
recognized and independent groups.
Councilmembers expect the administration to outline their
conversations with UCOP and explain how they affect USAC policy in
tonight’s meeting.
The aim is to examine current guidelines’ compliance with
UCOP regulations and to discuss possible actions if they are
not.
At this point, it is still not clear that any modifications are
necessary, Naples said, adding that USAC must take a look at their
funding guidelines to make sure that they can pass legal
challenges.
The current draft of UCOP guidelines released in early February
requires that all student groups be funded on a viewpoint-neutral
basis.
“What (council) now understands is that they can’t
categorically deny funding.” Naples said, referring to groups
that are political or religious in nature. “If they do that,
they are in violation.”
If council comes to the conclusion that bylaw amendments are
necessary, the next step will be to decide what changes should be
made.
“Now we have to have a larger conversation … on what
purpose funds serve,” said External Vice President Matt
Kaczmarek after council’s general meeting last week.
One existing concern of councilmembers, Naples and USAC
Administrative Representative Rick Tuttle is the extent to which
compulsory fees should be used to fund political or religious
groups and activities.
“There are limitations to the kinds of funding you can
support with mandatorily collected fees, but that doesn’t
mean that you can deny all requests,” Naples said.
He added that there are certain activities that should not be
financially supported by USAC but that it is not fair to deny
student groups the opportunity to apply for funding.
General Representative Josh Lawson, who has advocated for
opening USAC funding to all student groups throughout the term, has
said the current regulations are discriminatory.
In addition to allowing a funding discussion to occur, the
meeting with administrators will give USAC councilmembers a chance
to get more acquainted with the administration, said Community
Service Commissioner Justin Schreiber.
Naples said he did not expect any final decisions to be made
tonight.
“What I’m hoping to do is organize a series of
discussions with the Office of the President and the administration
and USAC so that we’re all in the same place,” he
said.