The undergraduate student government approved the allocation of
a total of more than $220,000 to various student groups and council
members, bringing the number of groups who received funding to an
all-time high since base-budget funding was opened up to all groups
for the first time.
The budget was approved during a Aug. 24 meeting when 92 groups
received funding.
After years of discussion, and the interference of the UC Office
of the President, the Undergraduate Students Association Council
made funding available to all groups on campus regardless of their
status.
In previous years, only officially recognized student
organizations were eligible to receive funding from the council.
Any organization with a political or religious ideology was not
able to become officially recognized, and as a result, these
independent groups were not able to apply for funding.
The groups receiving the highest amount of funds this year were
MEChA, the Muslim Student Association and the Asian Pacific
Coalition, along with four other groups that received more than
$4,000, a large sum considering that the maximum a student group
could receive was $4,400.
Past councils have been accused of making more favorable
allocations to groups that typically support certain councilmembers
during elections. With a majority of councilmembers being from the
Students First! slate and most of the highest benefactors being
Students First!-supporting groups, similar accusations could emerge
this year. Still, several factors such as group size and campus
contribution are considered in the funding process.
The Budget Review Committee, which makes recommendations to the
council, has stood by its decisions and believes that it allocated
funds fairly considering the large volume of applications that had
to be considered.
The committee used a point system to determine how much each
group will receive.
In a number of cases, some discrepancies can be seen in regards
to the number of points a group has earned and the amount of money
they were allocated. These discrepancies indicate that the points a
group receives during the application and hearing process do not
directly correlate with the amount of money they receive.
Tracy Ohara, the budget review director, said the point system
was not used on a dollar-per-point basis. Instead, the points were
used to help the committee follow a downward trend when allocating
funds.
Ohara added that another reason that some discrepancies exist in
the allocations is that some groups did not request funding for
certain line items. She gave the example of money allocated for
phones. A group can get up to $800 for that specific line item, but
there are a number of groups who do not have a phone line.
“That automatically made the (group’s) allocation
lower,” Ohara said.
The number of groups that applied for the funds more than
doubled compared to last year, and contrary to previous
expectations, the added groups are not all of independent
status.
Only 24 out of the 200 independent groups chose to apply ““
nine of which received funding.
During the meeting, USAC President Allende Palma/Saracho said
the low number of the independent groups could be due to a number
of reasons, the main one being the timing at which the process was
opened, leading to groups not having adequate time to complete the
application.
One of the independent groups who have been pushing for the
funding of independent groups and successfully received funding is
Bruin Republicans.
Christopher Moritz, the group’s president, believes that
this is “very very positive step for UCLA” but added
that the application process should be simplified.
A new issue that the council expects to address in coming months
is the potential appeals of the groups denied funding. The Budget
Review Committee turned down 42 groups, citing that most of these
groups did not meet the minimum criteria stated in USAC bylaws.
The bylaws call for funding to be provided to groups that
“provide opportunities for the educational benefits and
personal and social enrichment that derive from participation in
extracurricular activities” and also stimulate on-campus
discussion.
An issue surrounding the process is the interpretation of the
above guidelines by the committee, which led to Financial Supports
Commissioner Alex Gruenberg’s abstaining from the vote to
approve the budget during the meeting.
Gruenberg said that after reviewing some of the applications for
the groups denied funding, he did not feel that he could fully
approve the allocations. He believed that certain groups had
comprehensive applications comparable to those of groups approved
for funding.
Any group which chooses to appeal their allocation has two weeks
from the date of the decision to do so. In order for requests to be
considered, the group is required to submit a formal letter of
appeals to the USAC president, internal vice president and budget
review director.
Aside from student groups, USAC officers also receive their base
funding through the same process.
This year’s allocations show the Internal Vice President
Darren Chan receiving a surprisingly low amount considering his
position.
He believes the low funding his office received is due to the
way he prioritized the items on his application and not the fault
of the process.