The undergraduate student government approved the office space allocations Tuesday for next year, giving six groups office space and removing the Disabled Students Union and Rally Committee from their offices in Kerckhoff Hall.
The Undergraduate Students Association Council voted to approve General Representative Michelle Lyon’s proposal to follow the recommendations of the Office Space Allocation Committee, which had already evaluated the applications from the various groups.
The committee’s recommendations were developed using a point system based on guidelines set by the 2005-2006 council.
During last week’s meeting, council delayed this decision a week to give it more time to consider the recommendations and develop a plan. Council decided to allow the Afrikan Student Union, Samahang Pilipino and the Vietnamese Student Union to remain in their current offices in Kerckhoff. Council also decided to give office space to the Bruin Democrats, Model United Nations and the Indian Student Union, groups which did not previously have offices in Kerckhoff.
Suhn Rhie, president of the Disabled Students Union, said she was disappointed with the decision but hopes her group will receive storage space.
Lyon’s proposal also included the creation of an ad hoc committee to review the use of office space. The committee will be comprised of Internal Vice President Dianne Tanjuaquio, Facilities Commissioner Sherlyn Mossahebfar, Cultural Affairs Commissioner Bernice Shaw and Student Welfare Commissioner Jonathan Pham.
The new committee will examine where lockers can be put in Kerckhoff and will make recommendations about which specific offices groups should be housed in. These recommendations will then be voted on by council.
“The purpose of this ad hoc committee was to … move toward making this reallocation a reality by figuring out what walls we need to break down, what rooms we can make into locker space and figuring out the logistics of reallocating space,” Tanjuaquio said.
Shaw was not part of the committee in Lyon’s original proposal, but after a lengthy debate in which she said she had not been contacted about the committee and was concerned about the diversity of opinion represented, council voted to add her.
Tanjuaquio said that while a three-person committee might have been more efficient and would have avoided the possibility of a stalemate, the compromise was to add Shaw, the only Students First! councilmember on the committee, to ensure a diversity of opinion.
Lyon said the groups that are not receiving office space will hopefully be able to receive either a mailbox or storage space in the lockers that council plans to build this summer.
“Though nothing is guaranteed, we’re going to work our hardest to ensure that the groups that did not receive office space will have at least locker space,” she said.
OSAC Chairman Jason Mizzell said that despite difficulties recruiting for his committee, he thought the allocation process had gone quite well.
USAC also approved a resolution in support of UCLA holding a Democratic presidential candidate debate.
Bruin Democrats President Kyle Kleckner spoke to council about the resolution, saying that hosting a Democratic presidential candidate debate would help raise the political awareness of students and give them a stronger political voice.