By Arj Arjunan
Daily Bruin Contributor
The Undergraduate Students Association Council passed a
resolution Tuesday that states it will continue funding student
groups based on the organizations’ size and quality of
programs.
The resolution ““ which USAC will submit to the University
of California Office of the President this week ““ also
stipulates that the responsibility for funding allocation should
remain in the hands of student governments.
USAC’s position on preserving student governments’
fee-allocating powers follows a similar proposal the UC Student
Association submitted to UCOP on Oct. 19.
Council members say they fear a review of the student fees
policy by UCOP, following a recent Supreme Court decision, will
remove the responsibility of student fee allocations from student
governments.
In Southworth v. the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents,
the Supreme Court held that student fees must be distributed
without regard to a recipient group’s viewpoint.
The court ruled that “viewpoint-neutrality” in
student fee allocations ensures a “marketplace of
ideas” for students. In that case, Scott Southworth, a former
law student at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, along with two
other plaintiffs, sought redress against perceived First Amendment
violations resulting from the university’s use of student
fees to fund student groups they opposed.
After the court’s decision, a lower court in Wisconsin
ruled that “viewpoint-neutrality” requires equal
funding for student groups.
UCSA chair Kenny Burch said interpretations of
viewpoint-neutrality vary among student governments and UC lawyers,
who follow the lower court’s interpretation.
“The decision by the Federal District Court in Wisconsin
is not “˜binding authority’ in California courts,”
Clint Haden, associate director of Student Affairs in UCOP, stated
in an e-mail.
“But, it would be considered “˜persuasive
authority,'” he said.
With the prospect that California courts will adopt similar
reasoning, UCOP is tailoring a policy consistent with the decision
of the lower court in Wisconsin, he said.
Before UCOP finalizes the plan, USAC passed its resolution to
safeguard its interpretation of viewpoint neutrality.
USAC currently allows for unequal funding by considering the
number of participants in a student group and the group’s
relationship to the general student body, said external vice
president Evan Okamura.
“It would be a huge disservice for all campus
organizations to be funded on an equal level,” he said.
With more than 500 officially recognized student organizations,
funding student groups equally would leave little money for groups
to organize programs and events, he said. For the university to
recognize student groups, the organizations must consist of at
least three full-time members of the UCLA community, seek out an
advisor and register with the Center for Student Programming.
Debate at Tuesday’s USAC meeting revealed how
interpretations of viewpoint-neutrality vary markedly.
Student groups with popular viewpoints on campus attract more
student participation. Thus, the number of students in an
organization often correlates with the prevalence of their
viewpoint on campus, said Facilities Commissioner Jeremy
McKenzie.
Allocating funds according to majority support would violate the
viewpoint-neutral standard set forth by the court, he said.
Making unequal funding consistent with viewpoint-neutrality will
require finding similarities between groups with seemingly
incomparable viewpoints, administrative representative Lyle
Timmerman said at the meeting.