It took an additional two weeks, but UCLA’s undergraduate
student government appointed five students to its judicial board
Tuesday night in an overwhelmingly affirmative vote.
During its Sept. 24 meeting, the Undergraduate Students
Association Council did not approve President David Dahle’s
four nominees for the seven-member J-board, which hears grievances
and appeals involving USAC policy and decisions.
Several council members cited at the time that the nominees
Dahle chose were not reflective of campus diversity ““ all
four were white ““ and suggested he go back and choose from a
more diverse pool of applicants.
One of the applicants, fifth-year European studies student Owen
Paun, opted after the meeting to apply for the Student Conduct
Committee, which has similar duties to the J-board but with a
broader campus scope.
The other three applicants ““Â Mark Belgen, Maegan
Clark and Michael Filipiak ““ were resubmitted by Dahle for
reconsideration by USAC.
In addition, he went back to the original applicant pool and
forwarded two more applicants, third-year psychology student Hannah
Olade and Lisa Shirachi, a third-year computer science and
engineering student.
Dahle said even after the two showed sufficient qualifications,
they also had the “aspect council was looking for.”
“The board makeup now is a little more diversified,”
he said.
All five applicants were approved with no objections by council,
and USAC members said race and ethnicity ““ Olade is black and
Shirachi is of Asian descent ““ were never explicitly
considered in the process.
“(Council) was focused on diversity of mind,” said
Andrew LaFlamme, USAC financial supports commissioner.
The other J-board members are Jonathan Hurst and Jason Lin,
appointed two years ago by the 2000-2001 council.
Now that they have been appointed, some of the new board members
said they hope to give the J-board a larger presence than it has
had in the past when it dealt largely with election
procedure-related issues.
Belgen, a fourth-year political science student who served in a
similar post at Saddleback College, said he wants to make the board
more proactive.