This article was updated on May 16 at 12:14 p.m.
Calls for “transparency” and “accountability” within the Undergraduate Students Association Council were made by nearly every candidate in this year’s elections.
The first thing on the council table post-election was a bylaw change meant to address these exact issues. On Tuesday night, Cassarah Chu, Student Wellness commissioner and fourth-year communications studies student, proposed a modification to USAC’s bylaws that would make general representatives standing members of the finance committee. The council tabled the measure for consideration at next week’s meeting.
The presence of general representatives on the committee would increase USAC’s accountability for contingency funding while ensuring that the finance committee retains its third-party oversight of funding. In order to better involve the student-elected council in contingency funding, this proposal should be adopted by USAC in next week’s meeting.
However, putting general representatives on the finance committee should not be viewed as the final solution to the greater problem of USAC’s lack of involvement with contingency funds. The council can already access any information it needs about contingency allocations and modify the finance committee’s recommendations as it sees fit.
The finance committee is composed of one chair and five members who review student groups’ applications for contingency funding and make recommendations for fund allocations to be approved by USAC. Additionally, each member of the committee oversees the finances of his or her assigned USAC offices and the use of all council funds.
The finance committee is currently appointed and approved by council. Since its members are not elected officials, they are not responsible to the student body in the same capacity.
It has become the case, however, that the council nearly always unanimously approves the committee’s recommendations without asking any questions, said both Tamir Sholklapper, fifth-year neuroscience student and chief of staff in the USAC Office of the President, who drafted the proposal, and Cynthia Jasso, chair of the finance committee.
“(The council is) essentially rubber-stamping the finance committee’s allocations,” Sholklapper said.
The involvement of three council members in the finance committee’s work may even encourage more discussion about funding allocations during the council’s Tuesday meetings.
Barring that, the proposal does not get at the heart of the issue: USAC has always had the ability to be more involved in funding allocations, but it has chosen not to. As students who have elected these councilmembers to represent them, the undergraduate body should hold them accountable for keeping a close eye on funding allocations.
While this proposal is a good start to involving the council, finding a way to bring in all 13 members and not just those who are members of the finance committee is the next step in making USAC a fully transparent and accountable body. For instance, all 13 members of council could be presented with more information about allocations – they could be regularly presented with student group applications or be required to sit in on committee meetings.
Jasso said she had concerns about introducing partisan politics to a body that is supposed to remain independent. However, with only three elected councilmembers on the finance committee, appointed members would retain their majority in the body, ensuring that partisan politics do not overrun the neutral space of the committee.
One issue, however, is that the proposal requires two general representatives for quorum.
This makes it possible for the appointed chair and two general representatives to hold a meeting and make voting decisions without other input, Jasso said. Reducing the number for quorum to one general representative would retain the majority of neutral appointed members while also holding elected councilmembers accountable for contingency allocation.
This proposal is a good springboard for further discussion about how to increase USAC’s involvement in and accountability for funding allocation.
Update: The attached document is the most recent version of the proposed change to USAC bylaws.