Having served last year as my chief of staff, Rustom Z. Birdie has proven himself as an honest advocate for students in my office and throughout his term as Financial Supports commissioner.
Birdie has been transparent and expressed his regret in his relationship with Jobbook.
In Birdie’s opening statement to the Student Judicial Board, he stated: “Before going into specific details, I would like to express my sincere regret for my poor judgment.” Furthermore, in his closing statement, he similarly stated, “I take full responsibility for my mistakes and I apologize.”
The Daily Bruin editorial also claims that Birdie was dishonest in his dealing with the Judicial Board and should therefore be removed. Before making such claims, the board should review the 61 pages of evidence submitted by Birdie, which included all emails pertaining to Jobbook and the original contract.
Furthermore, the board should review audio transcripts from Birdie’s testimonies in which he acknowledges that he used his Undergraduate Students Association Council email address to email the Daily Bruin.
In Birdie’s initial email to the Daily Bruin, he stated that “USAC FSC is bringing (Jobbook) to the UCLA campus.” Similarly, throughout the Judicial Board hearing, Birdie repeatedly stated that promoting this career service site was always a “potential office program.”
Though no one in Birdie’s office ever worked on this program, there was always a potential for this program to develop. The Judicial Board has determined that Jobbook was never a USAC FSC sponsored program; however, Birdie never stated it was a sponsored program, only that this was a program that FSC was bringing to campus.
At what course in developing a program does an idea become a sponsored event? There is great uncertainty in this and therefore cannot be grounds to claim Birdie was ever dishonest.
Birdie’s commitment to this campus is unprecedented and his work in office is to be commended.
Perhaps the Daily Bruin Editorial Board should more closely examine the audio files of the case before making strong recommendations.
Like councilmembers, they should be held to a high moral standard and understand the broader implications of their comments.
Thach “Tak” Nguyen
Former general representative, 2009-2010