The UCLA Faculty Center finishes its annual Board of Governors election this month. However, given the fact that the center has decided not to allow anyone to oppose the incumbents for the top executive positions, this board has felt compelled to ask: Why call this an election at all?
In order to force this consistency, the six-person Nominations and Election Committee, which also happens to include the incoming and current presidents themselves, denied the petitions of two faculty members who wished to run for the president-elect position. Claudia Mitchell-Kernan, president of the board, defended the actions, claiming that re-electing the current presidents is necessary for improving the Faculty Center’s poor financial state.
The move doesn’t technically violate the center’s bylaws. However, calling this an election does violate the innate standards of common sense. At the very least, the Faculty Center should stop pretending that this is anything less than a direct appointment of the people in charge.
There is no reason the current presidential officers can’t aid in any financial planning for the center in the future, whether they retain their current positions or not. The center’s officers should have applauded the two faculty members for their enthusiasm and willingness to contribute to the center, not barred them from the positions they wanted to run for.
Both interested faculty members were later offered positions as general board members, which is a small consolation considering the circumstances.
Voters are left with virtually no choice but to elect this slate of incumbents. When asked what would happen if faculty center members voted not to approve this slate, Mitchell-Kernan said the center would hold another election, but did not know who would be on the ballot or how it would be decided. The center’s officers are not anticipating voters will reject the slate simply because they claimed it’s never happened before.
It goes without saying that an election is not an election if the only people allowed to run are the same people already on the board; by then it is merely an appointment. Elections are supposed to be based on the idea that everybody regardless of status or power should be allowed a chance to run for office.
The Faculty Center’s leaders have turned its annual election into a hypocritical and intransparent affair and offended several of its members. No matter the need for financial stability, it should not come at the cost of basic democracy.