By Melody Wang
Daily Bruin Reporter
Two months after its approval, administrators continue to
question the fairness of the Undergraduate Students Association
Council’s base budget.
Administrative Representative Lyle Timmerman froze the budget
shortly after USAC approved it this summer, citing that the Budget
Review Committee failed to provide sufficient evidence that it
allocated funding to student groups on a content-neutral basis.
Though the money has since been unfrozen, it is not clear how
council’s ongoing review of its budget may affect student
advocacy groups who are already using the money.
Xochitl Marquez, a member of La Familia, a Chicano lesbian, gay,
bisexual and transgender group, said the budget review has not
affected them so far, but members are still cautious about spending
money since the budget is not finalized.
“Most of our activities are in November and winter
quarter,” she said. “It could really hurt our large
conferences.”
External Vice President Portia Pedro said council members agreed
at the last ad hoc meeting to give the BRC two weeks to answer
remaining questions from administrators. Information presented will
be reviewed by the committee at that time.
Though some groups are aware of the situation, neither the
director of BRC nor other student groups realized what is
happening.
“I haven’t received any e-mails about it,”
said BRC Director Marykay Tsuji.
Tsuji said she was unable to attend the first ad hoc meeting
because of a previous engagement and was not informed of the last
meeting.
Nevertheless, USAC President Elizabeth Houston said all student
groups should be aware of what is going on since her office sent
out e-mails.
But because of possible computer problems, some groups may never
have received the e-mail, said Financial Supports Commissioner
Cynthia Rabuy.
“Not all groups know about it,” she said. “But
I think it’s also up to the group to find out.”
Timmerman said it is important for USAC to inform all its
constituents of the opportunities to apply for funding and the
allocations for each group.
“It seems to me that, when you’re using
people’s mandatorily collected fees, you need to tell them
how you’re spending it,” Timmerman said.
In 1995, in the case of Rosenberger v. University of Virginia,
the Supreme Court ruled that a public university must fund groups
regardless of their political, religious or ideological agenda.
Last March, in the case of the University of Wisconsin v.
Southworth, a judge confirmed this ruling by stating that a public
university can collect student fees to fund organizations only if
the fundings are content neutral.
A week after Timmerman froze the budget, the BRC submitted
evidence that it allocated funding properly and USAC members agreed
to examine the issue further. As a result, Timmerman unfroze the
budgets and said possible adjustments would be minor.
“Some groups might get a little less and some might get a
little more,” he said.
Though Timmerman has seen the allocating criteria used, he said
he wishes to see how those guidelines were applied.
Council members said administrators have already been provided
with a lot of information and need to focus more on making
improvements for next year’s budget allocation process.
“They see lots of problems and we don’t,”
Rabuy said.
“A reallocation of the base budget is almost impossible
just given the time constraint,” she said.
Marquez agreed the review process is unnecessary.
“It’s just saying that the work that (the BRC) has
done is bad,” she said. “Their authority is being
questioned.”
The purpose of the ad hoc meetings is not only to review this
year’s budget, but also to develop clearer funding guidelines
for future councils.
“This way, every BRD and BRC doesn’t make it up anew
every year,” Pedro said.
In the future, USAC must also decide how to define a student
advocacy group in its bylaws.
“This is something that will come up in awhile and we need
to do a lot of reading,” Pedro said. “We really need to
go through (our Constitution) and reread the language.”
USAC’S RESOURCES FOR STUDENT GROUPS The way
USAC distributes the following resources could change significantly
in order to implement recent US Supreme Court decisions
Base Budgets: Currently, USAC distributes base
budgets to student advocacy groups. The budgets pay for office
supplies and basic operations Contingency:
Throughout the year, the council funds individual student group
programs through what is known as contingency spending
Office Space: Most SAGs have offices on the third
and fourth floors of Kerckhoff Hall Other
resources: Currently, many SAGs also have access to USAC’s
computers, the ASUCLA Library and the services of Student
Government Accounting SOURCE: USAC, ASUCLA Student Support Services
Original Graphic by HARSHA RAO/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Web
Adaptation by ROBERT LIU/Daily Bruin Senior Staff