We’re often told that life is all about the little things – but sometimes, it’s really the big things that matter.
Last week, the undergraduate student government passed a small bylaws change while continuing to ignore a more glaring issue that has been on hold since the beginning of its term.
The bylaws change passed last week creates a measure of accountability for the Undergraduate Students Association Council Finance Committee, modifying the way members are appointed to their positions. But instead of focusing on small changes to the finance committee, USAC should revisit a proposed bylaws change that revamps the council’s involvement in student group funding.
Under the proposed bylaws change, the general representatives would become standing members of the finance committee.
The finance committee controls allocations to student groups from the USAC Contingency Programming Fund, which is one of the most utilized funds on campus.
Last year’s council pushed off the measure for the current council to review. Over the summer, Finance Committee Chair Cynthia Jasso brought the measure forward again, and this council tabled it too.
The supposed reason for tabling the measure was the absence of two general representatives over the summer, Sam Haws and Sunny Singh. Both councilmembers were offered the opportunity to attend the meeting where the bylaws change was discussed via video chat, but neither of them did so, Jasso said.
Moreover, upon their return, neither have they nor has any other member of the council tried to bring the measure forward again.
“To be frank I haven’t thought about it much,” Singh said. “I’ve been really focused on my office.”
The council has chosen to ignore this proposal entirely, and has not brought forth any other substantial ideas for increasing involvement in contingency allocation. AsI wrote in May, the council largely rubber-stamps the allocations recommended by the finance committee and asks very few questions at meetings about specific numbers or recommendations.
It is impossible to expect the entire council to get the kind of detail they need to be thoroughly informed about allocations at every week’s meeting, considering the amount of time and the knowledge of contingency funding patterns this would require. That’s exactly why a structural change that puts certain elected officials into active roles on the Finance Committee makes sense.
General representatives have more time than other councilmembers to take on this role. Singh said this added responsibility is feasible for the general representatives compared to other offices, but thinks that the late proposal of the bylaws change last year was an issue.
“(The proposal) came up after elections, so we didn’t know this would be part of our job,” he said.
If the late start last year was an issue, councilmembers are not setting a good tone for this year either. They need to begin working immediately in order to implement the changes to the bylaws for next year.
If student government officials want to work on actual accountability issues within the finance committee and their own council, they need to bring the attention back to measures that make large changes in order to address large problems.
When it comes to effective student government, it’s the big things that count, not the little ones.
Email Delgadillo at ndelgadillo@media.ucla.edu or tweet her @ndelgadillo07. Send general comments to opinion@media.ucla.edu or tweet us @DBOpinion.