Editorial: Councilmembers should heed letter on stipends, amend bylaws

The original version of this article contained an error and has been changed. See the bottom of the article for additional information.

Several student leaders took the laudable step last week of urging their undergraduate student government to pass a bylaws change that would bring its guiding document into compliance with the principles of good government.

A growing number of groups have signed a letter drafted by members of the Bruin Alliance slate, asking to ban the Undergraduate Students Association Council from approving stipend increases for councilmembers during their term in office.

USAC President John Joanino told the editorial board on Thursday the bylaws amendment would make sense, but said he views it as the council’s collective responsibility and would not bring it forward himself. On Sunday, however, he confirmed in an email that his office was working with Cultural Affairs Commissioner Jessica Trumble to draft an amendment to the bylaws.

It’s encouraging that Trumble and Joanino are making the effort to push through an amendment to the bylaws, and they should do so with haste and diligence. While it appears reform efforts are underway, it is truly worrisome that it took such great lengths to move the council to action.

Some councilmembers continue to display ambivalence on the necessity of changing USAC’s bylaws.

When asked whether he would vote in favor of changing the bylaws to prevent council from increasing its own stipend, Community Service Commisioner Omar Arce declined to comment.

Internal Vice President Avi Oved said he would discuss the idea with students in a town hall meeting before taking action on an amendment.

That these members of council don’t unflinchingly recognize the need for this amendment is an unacceptable state of affairs.

It should not take organized, independent action from student groups to urge USAC to act ethically. But given the wide range of groups represented in the letter’s signatories – including both Bruin Democrats and Bruin Republicans as well as Hillel at UCLA and the Afrikan Student Union – the council should act with all due expedience to approve an amendment to the bylaws before the end of fall quarter.

Otherwise, this change is in danger of falling through the cracks as other transparency measures have.

Early in their tenure, the councilmembers looked into amending their bylaws to create greater transparency in fund distribution by stipulating that general representatives should sit on the finance committee.

The council tabled that measure and has not returned to it since. On the issue of self-approved stipend raises, councilmembers again ignored the issue and deferred judgment.

The letter calling for amending the bylaws has not yet been presented to the council. But councilmembers should look to preempt the letter, and be ready to pull the trigger on an amendment when student leaders formally make their demands.

Until such a bylaws amendment is enacted, the council continues to overlook a serious impediment to its legitimacy as a governing body. Starting at Tuesday’s meeting, the council must demonstrate its willingness to put good governance and the demands of its constituency at the top of its schedule.

Correction: USAC President John Joanino spoke to the editorial board on Thursday and Sunday.