The Judicial Board found discrepancies in a student government officer’s testimony when he was called to bear witness in his own hearing on March 11.
In November, Rustom Z. Birdie entered a contractual relationship with startup web company Jobbook.com. Birdie, who is financial supports commissioner for the Undergraduate Students Association Council, was promised 1,000 shares of stock by the end of January in exchange for promoting the company to UCLA students.
Justices concluded that Birdie did more to promote the site than he alleged, using office resources for promotion and entering the contract with his position in student government in mind.
On Nov. 6, both Birdie and Anna Alexandroni, former Bruins United candidate for external vice president and fourth-year political science student, signed identical contracts that listed them as founding partners of Jobbook. In light of the controversy surrounding the venture and after an article was published in the Daily Bruin on Feb. 15, both Birdie and Alexandroni cut off all ties with Jobbook.
Birdie did not disclose his relationship with Jobbook to USAC. When councilmembers and advisers found out about the contract through the Daily Bruin, they decided it would be best for Birdie to submit a petition asking the Judicial Board to investigate his relationship with the company.
The petition did not match up with the facts of the case. When justices asked Birdie if the noted discrepancies were meant to deceive the Judicial Board, Birdie responded that he had been forthcoming throughout the investigation.
In the petition, Birdie stated that the sole action he took to promote Jobbook was creating a Facebook event about the website’s launch using his personal profile, and inviting all his friends. However, throughout the course of the hearings, the Judicial Board came to the conclusion that the e-mail Birdie wrote from his office account to the Daily Bruin on Feb. 8 was a solicitation for an article promoting the website. Birdie said he did not view the article as a promotion because it did not cast his relationship with Jobbook in a positive light.
Haseeb Bajwa, a Judicial Board member and fourth-year economics student, pointed out that when Birdie contacted the Daily Bruin, his contract was still valid. Thus, the incentive of receiving shares in the company may have prompted him to promote the website.
In the petition, Birdie also stated that he did not use office resources to promote Jobbook. However, in the e-mail sent on Feb. 8, Birdie stated otherwise, saying his office was “marketing, advertising and educating Bruins about the benefits of Jobbook.”
Birdie later said he misspoke in the e-mail, and should have said that his office planned to promote the site, as it was a potential project for the FSC.
Birdie also said in the petition that he entered the Jobbook venture as a private citizen. Chief Justice Nikhil Sharma, a fourth-year political science student, pointed out that, in e-mailing the Daily Bruin with his official office e-mail, he blurred the lines between private citizen and student government official in terms of his relationship with Jobbook. USAC Adviser Berky Nelson confirmed that Birdie’s use of his office e-mail to contact the Daily Bruin constituted using office resources for promotion of the site.
Birdie also seemed to bypass normal procedure within his office to promote Jobbook.
In the Financial Supports Commission, there is a typical process for promoting a new office initiative, said Anthony Beightol, the commission’s chief of staff and Birdie’s roommate. According to Beightol, a third-year sociology student, when a project becomes an office initiative, the office applies for funding, prints posters and flyers, and Birdie contacts the Daily Bruin to see if there is interest in covering the event. In this case, Birdie contacted the Daily Bruin before telling his staff about the project.
Beightol said he did not know if Birdie had ever contacted the Daily Bruin about potential office projects ““ just definitive ones. Birdie said during the hearing that he ignored previous e-mails from Jobbook founder Jean de Brabant asking him to send out e-mail teasers about the upcoming site launch, but complied with de Brabant’s request asking Birdie to contact his school newspaper.
When Sharma asked Birdie if there was anything special about Jobbook that prompted him to contact the Daily Bruin before informing his staff about the project, Birdie did not directly answer the question. He replied that even if his staff had known about Jobbook, he saw no reason why they wouldn’t want to be involved in the venture, as it aligned with office initiatives.
Birdie also pointed out that no conflict-of-interest language exists in the USAC bylaws to date. Nelson said incoming officers are generally provided with a cursory review of the rules and constitution. Birdie said he is currently working with councilmembers to create specific conflict-of-interest language so as to prevent confusion among future student government officials.
The Judicial Board will provide a recommendation to USAC no later than 5 p.m. on April 8. USAC can choose whether or not to implement the board’s suggestions.