Thursday, May 14, 1998
Major source for student programming threatened
ASUCLA: Interaction fund ends; association refuses to reinstate
until ’99-2000
By Michael Weiner
Daily Bruin Staff
At ASUCLA’s last board meeting on April 24, students questioned
the management’s intent to delay reinstating funding for the
interaction fund, which has been a source of money for student
programming for many years.
Money for the interaction fund currently comes from the
chancellor, but student board members want ASUCLA to resume
contributing to the fund once the association becomes profitable in
fiscal year 1999-2000.
Funding student programming is an essential part of ASUCLA’s
mission, according to many of the association’s student board
members.
The interaction fund is the main source for student programming
money, according to Alina Tso, the Undergraduate Students
Association Budget Review Director.
Money from the interaction fund has been used to fund such
events as the Jazz/Reggae Festival and various cultural nights.
Historically, the money for the fund was provided by the
students’ association, but when ASUCLA ran into financial troubles
in the mid-1990s and was forced to take a loan from the university
in 1996, it was prohibited from funding the interaction fund by the
chancellor.
In 1996, ASUCLA entered into the advance agreement with the
university. The agreement stated that as a condition of the
university’s $20 million loan, ASUCLA would not be able to
contribute money to student programming through the interaction
fund until the association turned a profit.
"We had to agree that we would not fund the interaction fund
unless we met certain financial conditions," said Jerry Mann,
ASUCLA student support services director.
At that time, then-Chancellor Charles Young offered to subsidize
the interaction fund in the place of ASUCLA at the rate of $100,000
per year for five years. The chancellor’s funding runs out after
fiscal year 1999-2000.
At the April board meeting, ASUCLA management staff members
submitted a preliminary five-year forecast for next year’s budget
to the board. Debate arose when student board members saw that the
association’s management was not planning to subsidize the
interaction fund until fiscal year 2000-2001, after the association
had already been profitable for a year.
Graduate student representative Jim Friedman said that the
association should begin subsidizing the interaction fund as soon
as it becomes profitable in fiscal year 1999-2000.
"I want us to be funding (the interaction fund) the very minute
we can," Friedman said.
The board asked the management staff to revise the forecast so
that ASUCLA starts funding the interaction fund at $100,000 per
year in fiscal year 1999-2000.
But, Mann said that the association needs to be careful when
deciding how much to give to the interaction fund.
In the past, he said, the fund rose to the level of $400,000 in
one year. While this is good for student programming, it is not
good for the association’s long-term finances, Mann said.
"When ASUCLA was making money, no one realized that you had to
have a reserve fund for when things go bad," Mann said. "We weren’t
taking care of the long-term health of the organization."
Friedman agrees that it is necessary to keep the interaction
fund at a constant level, probably $100,000, in order to preserve
the financial health of ASUCLA in the long run. However, he does
not see the contribution to student programming as giving away
money.
"I saw it as our responsibility," he said.
"I have no doubt that the majority of the board feels that we
should fund the interaction fund the minute we can do that," he
continued.
The disbursement of interaction fund money has been delegated to
the student governments for about the last 10 to 20 years,
according to Mann.
For undergraduates, that responsibility falls to a committee
headed by Tso.
Tso emphasized the difference between the interaction fund and
USAC funding, which is for last minute funds only.
"My committee is autonomous from USAC," Tso said.
Ultimately, Friedman said that if the association is profitable,
it should be contributing to the interaction fund.
"If we’re making money and we’re not doing things for students,
I don’t know what our point is," Friedman said.