When the Undergraduate Students Association Council votes on the
senate proposal tonight, its decision may hinge on just three
people’s votes.
According to several councilmembers, the voting will likely fall
along slate lines, with the seven Bruins United councilmembers
expected to vote to pass the proposal and Student Power! members
voting against it.
“My impression is that one slate will vote one way, and
the other will vote the other way,” said Campus Events
Commissioner Jason Kaminsky. “That’s to be expected.
It’s just a difference in ideology.”
However, since the proposal is a change to the Undergraduate
Students Association bylaws, it requires a two-thirds majority to
pass, or nine out of the 12 voting councilmembers.
USAC President Jenny Wood, who is aligned with Student Power!,
does not vote except to break a tie, which cannot occur on a
measure requiring a two-thirds vote.
This means the fate of the senate proposal will likely come down
to votes of the three independent commissioners: Kaminsky, Student
Welfare Commissioner Tracy Pham, and Community Service Commissioner
Farheen Malik.
For the proposal to pass, senate supporters, led by General
Representative Brian Neesby, must convince two of these
commissioners to vote in favor of the senate.
Neesby, author of the senate proposal, said he has worked
particularly closely with some of the commissioners over the last
few weeks in an effort to swing their votes.
“I’ve kind of focused my attention where there is
the possibility of changing someone’s opinion,” he
said.
Kaminsky noted that his meetings with Neesby have been
productive.
“I’ve met with Brian dozens of times,” he
said.
“We discussed a lot of changes to the proposal that I
think would make it considerably better.”
Still, Kaminsky said that he has been approached by the two
slates less than he might have expected.
“I’ve talked to both sides to get what is in my mind
a more balanced opinion,” he said. “But surprisingly I
haven’t really been lobbied that much.”
However, General Representative P.C. Zai emphasized the
importance of the commissioners in the senate vote, especially
Kaminsky, who she said thinks independently and tries to ignore the
slate politics.
“Jason Kaminsky is the main swing vote,” she
said.
According to Kaminsky, being an independent councilmember in the
middle of such a highly politicized vote has its advantages.
“It has forced me to go a lot more in- depth into the
proposal,” he said. “I’ve had to examine my
beliefs on it. It gives me more freedom.”
The commissioners have a particularly high stake in the result
of the senate vote because it directly affects their positions more
so than many other councilmembers.
If the proposal passes, the commissions will no longer be voting
members of the new council, though they recently gained collective
veto power in a revision of the proposal.
Neesby said he expects this change to have a significant impact
on which way the commissioners vote.
“They are probably thinking about what is best for their
commissions,” he said. “And I applaud that to a certain
degree. But I think people are getting hung up about losing power.
I think we need to look at what’s best for all students, not
simply whether a commission has a vote.”
But according to Kaminsky, while the welfare of his commission
will influence his decision, it is not the only factor he will take
into account.
“Obviously I focus a little more on the aspects that will
affect my office and my commission,” he said.
“But I’m definitely looking at how it is going to
affect the student body as a whole.”
With reports from Constance Dillon, Bruin
contributor.