Tuesday, May 28, 1996
Capitulation to Young’s demands bars elected officials from
service
By Michael Angell
Daily Bruin Contributor
After months of words like "accountability," "financial
responsibility" and "politicization," the only words spoken by
board members last Friday was either "yes" or "abstain."
With these two little words, the students’ association (ASUCLA)
Board of Directors finally decided to prevent elected officials
from serving on the board in their last meeting of the year.
While earlier board meetings had turned into rancorous arguments
over this issue, the final vote to eliminate elected officials was
done quickly and quietly at the beginning of the meeting.
Seven members voted for the bylaw change, while three
abstained.
"It seems anticlimactic that we vote on this now," said Dan Ryu,
an undergraduate student board member. "I think the discussions
have been very helpful, instead of any threat that has been hanging
over our heads."
The decision ends a months-long struggle between Kerckhoff and
Murphy Halls over the structure of the Board of Directors.
The new amendment not only prevents undergraduate and graduate
elected officials from serving on the board but also prevents
faculty and alumni elected officials from serving as well.
This proposal has been backed by Chancellor Charles Young, who
has personally lobbied for the change. Young wanted the removal of
elected officials prior to giving a much-needed loan to the
student’s association.
Yet student board members had felt that Young was trying to
exercise undue influence over the association, which operates
independently from the university. The removal of elected officials
and other changes were necessary to satisfy Young before he could
finalize the $3.6 million loan, which would cover construction
costs as well as offset financial losses.
Since February, Young has been advocating for the removal of
elected officials from the board. Young was present at the last
meeting, in which he lobbied the board to pass his proposal or else
face a possible takeover by the administration.
Basing his stance on the recommendation of outside consulting
firms, Young believed the association’s financial difficulties are
related to the "politicization" of the board. He also contended
that elected board members may put their constituents wishes ahead
of the board’s business decisions.
"The Council of Economic Advisers or the Federal Reserve Board
would be a very different institution if the President of the
United States appointed himself to the board," Young said at the
last meeting. "(The council) would not … be viewed as independent
agencies that are exercising their judgement as trustees.
"And the people on this board ought to be here as trustees," he
added.
Despite Young’s arguments, student board members have adamantly
fought his proposal. They argued that elected officials should
serve on the board because they would be "accountable" to students,
and elected officials would ensure the association stuck to its
mission of serving students.
"We’ve had an elected officer on the board this year and the
(undergraduate) president on the board this year," said Dan Ryu,
undergraduate board member, at the last meeting. "I would challenge
anyone to point to a fiscally irresponsible or political decision
made by the board because of their influence."
Even with this defeat, undergraduate board members partly
succeeded in getting their constituents’ demands recognized by the
administration.
The board approved a letter, proposed by undergraduate board
member York Chang, that asks Young to provide $100,000 for the
Student Interaction Fund, which provides money for campus cultural
events and student groups.
"I’m asking the board to protect (this fund)," Chang addressed
the board. "I just haven’t seen a way to protect these programs, to
make sure they stick around."
The fund  and more than 50 other student advocacy groups
 faces a loss because of the association’s continuing
financial difficulties. But other board members were worried that
Young may see Chang’s request as another impediment to the loan’s
final approval.
Dorothy Webster, a board member representing the administration,
questioned why students’ association was responsible for these
funds.
"Why does ASUCLA become the funnel for these funds?" Webster
countered.
Chang responded that the money would not go through ASUCLA, but
would be given directly to the Center for Student Programming,
which will be responsible for disbursement of the funds.
Also at Friday’s meeting, the board received good news about the
association’s financial future because actual losses for the fiscal
year are lower than originally projected. While the association had
expected to lose about $2 million this year, actual losses are
closer to $1.2 million.
Even though such losses still hurt the organization, Executive
Director Charles Mack was relieved by the new projections.
"We have a lot of room because the (university) loan is based on
a $2 million loss," Mack said.
* * *
In other ASUCLA news, fiscal year sales in the computer store
were down because of a recall of Apple laptops. Bearwear sales were
also down because the mens basketball team’s loss in the first
round of the NCAA championships.
Book lovers, though, gave the association a boost at the L.A.
Book Festival. The association made more than $50,000 from
concession sales at the event.