By Mason Stockstill
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
The Associated Students of UCLA are hoping the whopping changes
it has planned for the coming year ““ including eliminating 44
positions ““ will return the troubled association to financial
stability.
ASUCLA lost an estimated $1.9 million during the 1999-2000
school year, falling well below their previously projected loss of
$83,000. This, combined with severe losses over the past few years,
caused association officials to realize something drastic had to be
done to patch up ASUCLA’s finances.
“This has been a difficult several months,” said
ASUCLA Executive Director Patricia Eastman at an open forum meeting
for employees on June 13.
“We were still working until the very last minute … to
minimize the impact of the layoffs,” she said. “Now,
this week, we move on.”
As a result, officials unveiled a budget plan for the coming
year that includes several significant changes to the way ASUCLA
does business, culminating in a projected surplus of $2 million
““ a larger surplus than the association has had in 10
years.
The most substantial change between this year’s budget and
last year’s is the elimination of 44 of the
association’s 254 career positions, at a savings of $1.8
million.
“These changes are painful, but necessary for us to
continue to serve the UCLA community,” Eastman said.
According to Eastman, 19 employees were laid off, as some
employees were shuffled around to other positions and some of the
positions eliminated were already vacant at the time of the
restructuring.
“We believe we can handle the changes without disrupting
the operations critical to providing the required level of service
to the campus,” said Rich Delia, ASUCLA’s chief
financial officer.
In addition to saving money through layoffs, ASUCLA looks to
boost its bottom line with increased income from the ailing UCLA
Store.
BearWear sales were close to $1 million under projections this
year, making it one of the main culprits in the association’s
monetary troubles. Next year, ASUCLA hopes to almost double its
online BearWear sales and increase its in-store sales.
“This year, sales grew 50 percent online,” said
Terence Hsiao, ASUCLA director of business development.
“We can expect that to continue for a year or so,”
he said, adding that the association will begin to advertise the
UCLA Store Web site more aggressively this year.
Additionally, ASUCLA hopes to save money by restructuring the
UCLA Store floor plan and leasing out excess space.
In the new plan, Paper Cuts merchandise will be integrated into
the Market and Essentials departments on the B level of Ackerman
Union, leaving the 1,660-square-foot Paper Cuts location on A level
available to lease to an outside vendor.
Also, the Fast Track apparel department will be moved to where
children’s apparel is currently located, freeing up another
3,900 square feet for lease. The magazine section will no longer be
a separate section of the store, but will be integrated into the
main BookZone area, opening up 1,500 square feet for lease.
Some space in the back of the store currently being used for
offices will be converted to retail space as well.
Also, plans are in the works to lease out a portion of the
BookZone area to a CD retailer. According to Eastman, a CD store
was rated the highest on the latest Student Union survey conducted
in the spring.
ASUCLA officials are hoping to get a new/used CD retailer into
Ackerman Union to help bring foot traffic into the store. Leasing
the space to an outside vendor is safer for the association since
the vendor would be the one who must deal with competition from
Westwood Village merchants and online Mp3 distribution.
Also, the association will move its distribution center from its
off-campus location in Pico Rivera to an on-campus location, saving
money in rent and transportation.
“We had good results when we moved part of the
distribution center back to campus,” said Keith Schoen,
director of ASUCLA’s distribution center. “The
warehousing will remain off-campus, but we’ll need to rent
less space.”
Eastman emphasized that though the financial forecasts are rosy,
the association will still have to weather some stormy conditions
in the coming year.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do in the next six
months,” Eastman said.
“We still have the same amount of output, but we have to
get it done in a more efficient way,” she said.
FINANCIAL RESTRUCTURING The Associated Students
of UCLA is looking to turn itself around by instituting several
changes in the way it does business. Change Savings 44 positions
eliminated $1,800,000 Increase Bearwear online sales $148,000 CD
Store in Ackerman $50,000 Lease space in store $229,000 Move
distribution center to campus $195,000 SOURCE: ASUCLA Original
Graphic by JACOB LIAO/Daily Bruin Web Adaptation by ROBERT
LIU/Daily Bruin Senior Staff