The newly elected undergraduate student government remained civil during its first regular meeting Tuesday evening, even during a discussion of the politically charged topic of office-space allocation.
The meeting centered around the allocation of Kerckhoff Hall office space for student organizations next year, but council decided to wait until next week to approve the recommendations presented by the Office Space Allocation Committee.
Council discussed the five groups recommended to receive space in the four offices in question ““ the Afrikan Student Union, Samahang Pilipino, the Vietnamese Student Union, Bruin Democrats and Model United Nations ““ as well as three additional groups that council is still discussing: the Rally Committee, the Indian Student Union and the Disabled Students Union. The recommendations still must be approved by the council.
The guidelines for the allocation of office space were formulated in February 2006, reestablishing the Office Space Allocation Committee and creating an application process open to all student groups who meet certain criteria.
Under the new allocation process, four offices are randomly selected for reevaluation each year, and then the groups who would like to apply for this space submit an application to OSAC.
This reallocation only impacts the groups already housed in the four offices being reviewed and those groups without office space applying for space.
The new process went into effect this year, and the results were brought to the council by OSAC chairman Jason Mizzell for approval.
The Indian Student Union and the Rally Committee, which currently has office space, both applied and are still being considered.
The third student group still under consideration is the Disabled Students Union, which currently has office space but was not eligible to reapply because until recently it had been inactive for a number of years.
Mizzell said applications are evaluated using a point system for certain criteria such as the group’s contribution to the UCLA academic community, and then offices, lockers and mailboxes are assigned based on number of points.
Kyle Kleckner, president of the Bruin Democrats, which has not had office space in the past, said he was happy with the results and believes having an office will help his group.
“We’ve been wanting an office for several years now but were unable to get it as a result of the previous process. As a very large and active student organization, we’re very happy that we have this additional tool to help us put on events for the UCLA campus,” he said.
Mizzell said that when the final decision came down to the Rally Committee and the Indian Student Union, which received more points, he decided to leave the decision up to council. He believed the criteria by which the groups were evaluated did not address the type of group that the Rally Committee is and its purpose on campus.
He also added that because DSU was not eligible to submit an application, OSAC is not involved in any decisions about its office space and the decision is entirely up to council’s approval.
Suhn Rhie, president of DSU, said she had received an e-mail about the new allocation process but had not understood that it applied to groups such as hers that already had office space.
She added that she believes DSU serves an important service for UCLA students, and hopes the council will keep in mind the needs of disabled students and the work the group does before taking away their office. She stressed the importance of the advocacy work the group does and their relation with the Office for Students with Disabilities.
While some councilmembers expressed concern about setting a precedent by giving space to a group that was not eligible to apply, others questioned how it would reflect on them if they were to revoke DSU’s office space.
During the meeting, Alumni Representative Todd Sargent asked the council whether they wanted one of its first acts to be the removal of DSU.
Despite some disagreements on this point, numerous councilmembers said they want to accommodate as many groups as possible, and over the next week they will be examining different ways of giving the three groups still in question office space or storage space.
“A couple of solutions were brought up at the table that I thought were good ideas, such as … talking to groups who said (in their applications) they were willing to share space,” said General Representative Sanobar Sajan.
Sajan said she believes the fact that DSU and the Rally Committee are supposed to be removed from their office according to the new system is evidence that there are still some problems with the guidelines. She hopes council can work together to review and perhaps amend them for next year.
Facilities Commissioner Sherlyn Mossahebfar said that no matter what people’s feelings are about the final decision and the process, they should remember this is the first year of the new process and these allocations are not permanent, as they occur each year.
“Obviously when something is in the beginning of its process, there are going to be hiccups. I do feel, however, that these guidelines were thoroughly thought out, and it wasn’t an easy process coming up with them,” she said.