USAC Finance Committee chair to resign before term ends

The chair of the undergraduate student government’s finance committee for the past two school years will resign in May, about a month before her term is set to expire.

Cynthia Jasso, who served as the Undergraduate Students Association Council Finance Committee chair, plans to resign from her position early to go to Tulsa, Okla. to begin working for Teach for America in June.

Jasso’s time with Teach for America begins before the end of her term as USAC Finance Committee chair and official graduation date.

After serving on the Finance Committee since 2010, Jasso was appointed chair in June 2012 by former USAC President David Bocarsly.

Bocarsly said he appointed Jasso because her extensive experience on the committee made her the most qualified person to chair it. Bocarsly added that he thought she did a good job leading the Finance Committee, despite some conflicts regarding her role as an ex-officio member of USAC.

The USAC Finance Committee chair analyzes the finances of USAC and allocates money from the contingency and capital contingency funds to student groups.

As an ex-officio member of USAC, the chair also advises the council on how to improve student groups through funding, Jasso said.

USAC President John Joanino said Jasso’s years of experience on the Finance Committee allowed her to give effective advice to the council on an array of issues.

“Cynthia has done a very good job providing perspective about what past councils have done regarding student group funding,” Joanino said.

Jasso is currently training the vice chair of the Finance Committee, Cindy Wang, to take over the position of chair after her resignation in mid-May. Jasso said her exact resignation date will depend on when she thinks Wang is ready to lead the Finance Committee until her term expires on June 30.

“The vice chair is naturally groomed to be the chair,” Jasso said. “But there is a high learning curve.”

Jasso said she hopes to give Wang full control of the Finance Committee by the second week the new council has been in office. She added that she wants to be available to the new council during its first meeting to answer any questions about funding before officially resigning.

Jasso said she is proud of the work she has done during her two years as Finance Committee chair, but wishes she could have done more for students.

Under her leadership, Jasso said the Finance Committee held more instructional funding workshops and office hours than it had in previous years. She also said her committee increased the number of USAC audits conducted to encourage effective spending and allocations.

She said she hopes future finance committees will continue to improve the events and practices started while she was chair.

“This year has been about setting foundations for future years,” Jasso said.

The biggest challenge Jasso faced during her time as chair was working with USAC as an ex-officio member of the council, she said.

“My relationship with the first council wasn’t the best,” Jasso said. “I did overstep my boundaries in some situations because of different ideas about my job and what it entailed.”

During their year together at the council table, Bocarsly said he thinks Jasso sometimes mishandled her role of advising council and participating in discussions.

“When it comes to funding, she is extremely competent and smart,” Bocarsly said. “But she sometimes overstepped her boundaries and fell too close to party lines.”

Jasso added that she collaborated more with this year’s council because of her prior experience working with USAC directly as Finance Committee chair.

Former Finance Committee Chair Ronald Arreujo, for whom Jasso served as vice chair, said he chose Jasso as his vice chair because of her funding knowledge and their good working relationship.

Because of the chair’s responsibility as a nonvoting, nonpartisan member of USAC, Arreujo said it is essential that the chair make unbiased and transparent decisions when working with council.

“I tried to pass that on to Cynthia, and I think she really took that to heart,” Arreujo said.

Future Finance Committee and USAC leaders should focus more on the research that goes into important budgetary decisions, Jasso said. She also thinks USAC spending and budgetary decisions would be more informed if they were backed up by more comprehensive research about their consequences.

Joanino said he was not aware Jasso would not finish her term when he appointed her as chair last year.

But chairs of the Finance Committee have resigned early in the past.

In 2011, former Finance Committee Chair Isaac Rose resigned a quarter early after graduating early. Arreujo was appointed interim chair for the remainder of Rose’s term, and was later appointed chair for his own full term.

The next USAC president will likely appoint next year’s Finance Committee chair in June.