Monday, September 28, 1998
ASUCLA searches for balance between business, service
STUDENTS: Association hopes to serve campus needs, yet be
profitable
By Michael Weiner
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
The Associated Students of UCLA’s recent history might be
described as a corporate CEO’s worst nightmare, an ugly political
dogfight or the end of an organization’s innocence.
As ASUCLA stabilizes after a turbulent period of financial
disaster, organizational restructuring and bad publicity, the
association is struggling to redefine its identity.
Is it a business that brings in sacks of money and makes sure
the UCLA emblem is on every sweatshirt west of the Mississippi? Or
is it a group of students providing services for other students,
with little regard for the financial consequences? Or is it a
little of both?
"It has to be a profitable business to deliver on its goals,"
said alumni board Representative Douglas Drew.
ASUCLA formed at the same time as UCLA itself in 1919. Students
wanted to provide for each other the services and activities that
the university felt was not its role to provide.
When Kerckhoff Hall, the original student union building, opened
in 1931, it housed a book store, cafeteria, snack shop, lounges and
office space. The association continued to grow in the middle part
of the century as an entity completely independent from the
university.
During the past five years, the students’ association has
endured a still-lingering financial crisis, which resulted in the
placement of long-serving Executive Director Jason Reed on
"administrative leave" in April 1995.
Because of years of financial mismanagement, ASUCLA was forced
to take a $20 million loan from the university in June 1996. In
return for bailing the association out, then-Chancellor Charles
Young required that undergraduate and graduate elected officers no
longer be allowed to serve on ASUCLA’s governing Board of
Directors, spurring a contentious power struggle between student
government and the administration. Now, student representatives are
appointed to the board by the undergraduate and graduate student
presidents.
Some of those elected officials said that this action would
weaken the voice of students in the organization that was
established to be for and by them.
But 1998 alumnus Hugo Maldonado, a former undergraduate
representative to the board, said that the change helped relieve
political pressure on board members to make popular decisions
rather than those in the best interests of the association. He
cited the 1997 student union fee increase as an example of making
necessary decisions over popular ones.
"A lot of students will disagree with me," Maldonado said. "I
can tell you that I strongly believe that (the removal of elected
officers) really did help to strengthen the board."
Also, the members of the board – the majority of whom were
appointed by elected student representatives – have in recent years
ceded many duties to the association’s professional management
staff.
The board, which was formed in 1933, is ASUCLA’s primary
governing structure. It is ultimately responsible for everything
the association does.
ASUCLA maintains a staff of about 300 career employees who are
responsible for day-to-day operations.
Although student representatives continue to assert the board’s
relevance, many of the association’s major operations have been
shifted to management’s jurisdiction and away from the
student-majority board in the years since the financial crisis
began.
In the past, the board set food prices and maintained influence
over the store’s prices. Now, ASUCLA management only needs to seek
board review on such issues if it so chooses.
ASUCLA Executive Director Patricia Eastman, who joined the
organization in August 1996, contends that the board still has
"ultimate decision-making authority" despite its recent distance
from what both Eastman and several board members call
"micromanagement."
Board members say that they are confident in the management
staff’s ability to maintain open lines of communication with the
board and to heed the board’s advice on issues that may not fall
directly under its control.
"We don’t rubber stamp what management does," said graduate
student board representative Tim Beasley. "We don’t let them run
(ASUCLA) purely as a business. If it were up to the students, it
would be more like a co-op or student aid organization. The board
and management try to find a balance."
"Management has been empowered by the board," Beasley
continued.
Eastman said she agrees.
"I have to be mindful of the perspective, mission and values of
the Board of Directors as I make my daily decisions," she said.
Some say that the changes have helped to alleviate the
association’s financial woes. And recent numbers show that the
organization is slowly but surely heading back toward financial
viability, under the leadership of Eastman and Chief Financial
Officer Rich Delia.
But, for many of the 2,000 students who work for ASUCLA,
primarily in the UCLA Store and UCLA Restaurants, the association
is little more than an employer. Many of these students, busy with
school, work and trying to maintain a social life, don’t have time
to concern themselves with ASUCLA’s politics.
"I worked here two years and I didn’t even know that there was a
board," said Jennifer Scheinost, a fourth-year economics and French
student who has worked for ASUCLA for two and a half years.
"There’s not a whole lot of awareness about the board among the
employees," Scheinost continued. "Most (students) don’t work here
longer than six months."
Gil Gatchalian, a second-year psychology student who just began
working in the UCLA Store during the summer, said that the inner
workings of the association would not be important to him "unless
there was some kind of drastic change."
Gatchalian appreciates the working environment that ASUCLA
provides.
"I can get along with the people really easily since they’re all
students too," he said.
But, Scheinost, who used to work for UCLA Restaurants, had a
different take on the working environment in ASUCLA’s food services
division.
"There’s very little respect coming from the customers and
management," she said. "People assume that you’re a moron because
you’re working in food services."
Other student employees emphasize the convenience of working for
an employer that understands college students’ schedules.
"It’s right here on campus, and they’re flexible about your
schedule," said Jason Morales, a fourth-year English student who
has worked for ASUCLA for a year.
During their time here, many students will look at the
association as just a workplace. Others will know it as just
another acronym they read about in the newspaper. Some will look at
ASUCLA as something to get involved with and learn about.
No matter what students think of the students’ association, it
is a part of the university that is difficult to avoid
encountering.
"ASUCLA is extremely important on campus and its role should
definitely not be taken lightly," said undergraduate student board
member Ahmed Shama.
But, the jury is still out on just what that role will be in the
future.
With reports from Neal Narahara, Daily Bruin Contributor.
CHARLES KUO
Banners advertising lowered pizza prices at the Cooperage
reflect efforts by ASUCLA to attract more business to campus
eateries.
Related sites:
“¢bull;ASUCLA Homepage
“¢bull;Daily Bruin (5/5/98): Role of ASUCLA changes over
time
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