Some members of the Undergraduate Students Association Council expressed concern that constitutional bylaws were broken during the approval process of presidential appointments in spring.
These student appointments were for seats on important committees such as the students’ association board of directors, the Student Health Advisory Committee and the Campus Activities Committee.
The USAC president looks over the applications for these positions and then forwards the most qualified candidates to the Appointment Review Committee. The review committee, which is chaired by the internal vice president, holds interviews and then forwards its recommendations to the full council for a final vote.
But General Representative Monica Kohles, who is a member of the review committee, contends that the appointment process last spring was hurried, constitutional bylaws were broken, and lesser-qualified candidates were appointed as a result.
The constitution requires that the chairperson of the Appointment Review Committee, Evan Shulman, receives applications at least two days before candidate interviews. Presumably, the chairperson evaluates these applications with the rest of the committee in advance so adequate questions can be prepared for the interviews.
Kohles said this never happened.
“I kept asking (the external vice president) for the applications, and he said he hadn’t received them. I even went to Homaira (Hosseini), the president, and she said she would put the applications in our mailbox. The next morning, they weren’t there. We only received the applications an hour before the interviews were scheduled,” Kohles said.
“This is a clear violation of constitutional bylaws, and it really seems like they did not take the process seriously,” she added.
Hosseini, the USAC president, said the appointment process was rushed because of time constraints.
“The administration was constantly calling to get the names of applicants. (The Academic Review Committee) was pressured as well,” she said.
Hosseini said she tried to get more time to evaluate the candidates, but that the council rejected her request.
“I sent out a council-wide e-mail asking to push the meeting back. But I couldn’t get the two-thirds vote required to do that. I really tried to make it work,” she said.
Not all members of the council felt Hosseini’s explanation was adequate.
General Representative Natalie Gonzalez said it’s essential for the bylaws to be followed in order that the actions of USAC are not conducted in secret or subject to manipulation.
“I just felt that overall the process lacked transparency,” Gonzalez said. “It lacked efficiency, and it was very difficult as a councilmember to make informed decisions because we were under such time constraints.”
Kohles said the time issue was used as excuse, and the quality of the process was sacrificed.
Gonzalez said that she hopes these events will not be a precedent for next year’s council.
“They (Hosseini and Shulman) are going to be the leaders. … I don’t know if these violations were intentional, but what happened, happened. We’ll see where they go with it in the future,” she said.