More student organizations will soon be able to apply for office space in Kerckhoff Hall as the Office Space Allocation Committee will open up the application process.
Historically, the only student groups designated as advocacy groups by the Undergraduate Students Association Council could receive office space.
This policy was changed, however, when last year’s council voted in February 2006 to change the guidelines for office allocation. A key part of these changes was a new application process that is open to groups other than student advocacy groups.
Councilmembers say the creation of these new guidelines represents much time and a large collective effort on USAC’s part to create a fair, legitimate system of allocation that did not favor certain groups over others.
“They were guidelines that the whole council worked on and agreed on,” USAC President Marwa Kaisey said.
Facilities Commissioner PC Zai said in recent years, student advocacy groups were given office space without any application process. Councilmembers said the allocation of office space is a particularly politically charged issue, since groups that have received space in the past would like to retain it and those groups who were not allocated space want the opportunity to receive it as well.
“This is a really touchy subject for a lot of the student organizations,” Internal Vice President Gregory Cendana said.
Julio Rodriguez, president of the Queer Alliance, which currently has a full office, said the application process might be inadequate because it does not take into account the full significance of a group to the campus community.
“I think the purpose of certain organizations like ours having offices goes beyond an application. The reason for this office is to provide a safe space for LGBT students,” Rodriguez said, adding that the group would likely protest if it is asked to reapply.
But some groups that do not currently have office space view the change differently.
Katya Balan, vice chairman of the Bruin Republicans, which does not currently have office space, said she welcomes the new application process and hopes it will benefit more student groups.
“The way office space was allocated before was unfair and maybe even favored certain groups. … I have a lot of faith in (the committee) to make positive changes to the process,” she said.
The guidelines passed last year set out criteria for groups to receive office space. These criteria, addressed in the application, include how long the group has been registered with the Center for Student Programming, how many years they have applied or been eligible for campus funding and whether they have used campus facilities before.
Jason Mizzell, chair of the committee, said these criteria will then be evaluated on a point system to make the allocation decisions fair, transparent and clearly justifiable.
Zai said she believes the change in the allocation process was overdue, since the political nature of the topic made people hesitant to address it.
“(Office space) is a limited resource, and it’s very difficult to even look at (it) without people getting riled up,” she said. Kaisey acknowledged that not everyone will be happy with this solution, and student advocacy groups that currently have office space are particularly concerned.
“I think that the people who have office space now are going to be worried (about the new application process), … but they should realize that every student group deserves a fair shot at receiving office space and any of USAC’s resources. The process that we have (put) in place has been very carefully crafted to be fair,” she said.