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USAC expected to decide on how it will spend the $76,000 allocated from ASUCLA in meeting

USAC Meeting Agenda

These are the major topics USAC will discuss at tonight's meeting.
"¢bull; How to spend $76,000 allocation from ASUCLA
"¢bull; Possible $3 increase per student to quarterly fees
"¢bull; USAC Code of Ethics

SOURCE: USAC Agenda for Feb. 7
Compiled by Jillian Beck, Bruin contributor.

By Jillian Beck

Feb. 7, 2012 1:29 a.m.

The undergraduate student government is expected to decide how to spend a recent $76,000 increase in funding from Associated Students UCLA at its weekly meeting tonight.

The Undergraduate Students Association Council discussed at length how to sustain student programming funds for the rest of the year last week, but decided to wait until this week to vote on any specific action.

There are two issues at stake. If the council doesn’t spend the money from

ASUCLA, student groups will see even further cutbacks this year, student government officials say.

If they choose to spend it, next year’s council could potentially face the same problem with funding student groups.

“To be blunt, it’s up to USAC to determine how much to hurt student groups now and how much to hurt student groups next year,” said Ronald Arruejo, the USAC finance committee chair.

UCLA students may also be asked to vote on a $3 fee increase to provide more funding for student programming in future years, USAC President Emily Resnick said.

But she added she doesn’t expect the council to decide on the specific amount of the possible fee increase tonight.

The proposed referendum would need to be passed by the council and approved by UCLA administrators before it can be voted on by students in the spring. The council can also decide to hold a special election in the fall, Resnick said.

Some student government members said a fee increase poses other issues, however.

“The referendum is a solution to this problem, but it poses a different problem when we are advocating for a fee increase while also advocating against them,” said David Bocarsly, a USAC general representative.

He added that he doesn’t think the proposal will pass, and he would not support a referendum without unanimous support from the council.

The main focus of the meeting will be how exactly to spend the extra money awarded by

ASUCLA about a week ago.

USAC can use up to $76,000 of the additional funds ASUCLA allocated to the council on Jan. 27 to fund student programming for the remainder of this year. Any amount spent will be taken out of next year’s surplus by ASUCLA.

Some student groups don’t use all of their money during the year. The USAC finance committee has started moving those funds into the pool that other student groups can apply for to put on events.

This transfer of funds will leave about $66,000 available for groups for the rest of the year. By contrast, student groups are expected to request about $150,000, based on data from last year.

And Arruejo said he anticipates even more requests for programming money this year because of an increase in student groups.

If USAC chooses to use the new funds from

ASUCLA, Arruejo said funding for student programming could increase by about 15 percent from current funding levels. If USAC doesn’t use the money, student group programming would be cut by another 15 percent ““ bringing the total reduction to student group funding for this year to 65 percent.

The shortfall in student group funding this year has caused USAC to re-evaluate how it manages its funds.

“The most important thing we have all discovered is we can’t rely on surplus,” Resnick said. “It’s not a safe way to budget money.”

Roman Nguyen, the USAC budget review director, will present data to the council tonight to illustrate how the additional funds from ASUCLA could affect the Undergraduate Student Association Board of Directors Programming fund.

Nguyen said he will use projections from last year to show how using different amounts of the ASUCLA funding will affect the programming fund he oversees. The council will then decide whether or not to allocate any additional funding, Nguyen said.

The council will also discuss how to implement a new USAC Code of Ethics drafted by Resnick’s office, part of Resnick’s campaign platform.

The code details a conflict of interest policy and calls for councilmembers to act with “integrity and respect,” according to the language of the document.

USAC will meet today in Kerckhoff 417 at 7 p.m.

Meetings are open to the public.

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