Leave the politics on the table.
After the Office Space Allocation Committee controversy last year, newly appointed OSAC Chair Argie Mina does not want to be a part of it.
Mina, a third-year undeclared student, was appointed chair by a vote of 9-0-1 at the Undergraduate Students Association Council meeting on Tuesday.
Mina expressed his desire to steer clear of the partisan politics surrounding office space allocations.
“When OSAC gets too caught up in all the politics, no work gets done,” Mina said. “OSAC should focus on fulfilling the needs of the student groups on campus.”
In the Student Judicial Board case last November, Students First! Facilities Commissioner Galen Roth was accused of playing politics when she proposed OSAC bylaw changes sitting as the committee chair.
Outdated bylaws had stipulated that the Facilities commissioner would serve as OSAC chair and therefore could propose such bylaw changes.
But newly updated bylaws recently approved by USAC states that the Facilities commissioner cannot sit as OSAC chair. Because the commissioner is an elected councilmember associated with a particular slate, concerns were raised as to whether certain groups would receive office space because of their slate associations.
Mina said he intends not to focus on the partisan politics especially after the J-Board case.
As chair, Mina said he wants to set realistic goals, which include fulfilling the OSAC bylaws, allocating Kerckhoff Hall office space fairly and auditing those spaces regularly to make sure student groups are making proper use of them.
Internal Vice President Evan Shulman, a member of the Appointments Review Committee, presented Mina’s application to USAC on Tuesday.
“(Mina) wants to ensure fair allocations of office spaces and make certain that audits of those spaces happen on a regular basis,” Shulman said.
USAC President Homaira Hosseini originally forwarded his application to the review committee.
“Mina has a passion to help out student groups, and that is the reason I forwarded his application,” Hosseini said.
Several councilmembers raised the issue of Mina’s involvement as a director for Tinig, a Pilipino-American chorale group, during council meeting.
However, Mina told councilmembers that he will manage his time efficiently to balance both responsibilities.
All councilmembers present voted to approve Mina’s nomination, except for an abstention vote by General Representative Natalie Gonzalez. When asked about her vote, Gonzalez said that she would not comment about OSAC at this time.