USAC considers new position after overlooking rules

BY JOSEPH VESCERA

Bruin contributor

[email protected]

Undergraduate student government leaders are considering creating a new council position for an expert on the governing body’s bylaws and meeting procedures.

In March, the Undergraduate Students Association Council formed a debriefing committee in response to a large council meeting where councilmembers voted on a controversial divestment resolution. After the meeting in February, councilmembers said they thought it was “sloppily” run and expressed frustrations with the different procedures USAC chose to follow.

At the committee meeting held during spring break, three USAC officers discussed procedures used to conduct large scale and controversial meetings in an effort to make similar meetings run more smoothly and efficiently in the future. USAC President John Joanino, External Vice President Maryssa Hall and Cultural Affairs Commissioner Jessica Trumble sat on the committee.

Joanino, Trumble and Hall are currently working on language for the creation of the position. Joanino said the group has plans to bring the bylaws amendment to council within the next few weeks, which are also the last weeks of this council’s term.

While committee members talked about public comment time limits, secret ballots and regulating external media outlet access, they largely focused on the idea of creating a parliamentarian role as a non-voting, ex-officio position of USAC. The council would appoint the student.

The individual in the new position would serve as an expert on the parliamentary procedure followed by the council, or Robert’s Rules of Order, Joanino said.

Robert’s Rules of Order are guidelines on parliamentary procedure that are widely used by all types of assemblies, including many student governments. The rules comprise almost 700 pages and detail all aspects of a deliberative meeting, providing rules and suggestions for meeting leaders.

Joanino said the council has discussed the idea of a similar position before, but the controversy surrounding the handling of the divestment resolution meeting brought the topic to the forefront of the committee’s discussion.

In February, councilmembers voted on a resolution calling for UCLA and the University of California to divest from several specific companies that profit from the occupation of Gaza and the West Bank. The resolution did not pass and USAC voted using a secret ballot after taking two straw votes. All councilmembers voted the same way during each straw vote.

Although voting via secret ballot is allowed under Robert’s Rules of Order, straw votes are not.

Joanino said he took the straw votes to gauge councilmembers’ willingness to discuss the resolution in its original form and see if they would consider proposing amendments.

He said he thinks the straw votes may have put councilmembers in a position where they revealed their true voting intentions, but did not realize this until after he called them.

While she said she thinks councilmembers have a good understanding of Robert’s Rules of Order, Trumble said the council could benefit from a member specifically tasked with making sure USAC follows proper parliamentary procedures.

“These are incredibly complex rules and many councilmembers have prior experience working with them,” Trumble said. “But when it comes to really specific things, it’s important that there is one person who is a complete expert.”

Roy Champawat, director of the UCLA Student Union, said he thinks the creation of a USAC parliamentarian is an “over solution” to the issue.

“In almost every situation, the collective body has been able to come up with a solution (without a parliamentary expert),” Champawat said.

He said he thinks the divestment resolution meeting put council in an unusual situation and that the creation of an entirely new position is unnecessary.

During the committee meeting, Joanino, Hall and Trumble also discussed the public comments portion of the February divestment meeting and what it means for similar events in the future.

Both Joanino and Trumble said they do not regret allowing the hundreds of students present at the divestment meeting to share their opinions for nine hours. By doing this, however, councilmembers strayed from the USAC bylaws, which only allow for 30 minutes of public comments.

Joanino said current, as well as past councils, have made the decision to ignore the 30-minute limit for public comments to allow students to speak their minds on any issue.

The committee discussed the possibility of structuring public comments in a debate format, Trumble said.

In addition to issues surrounding public comment time limits, Joanino said the committee considered alternative ways of handling and increasing restrictions on outside media coverage of USAC meetings.

Joanino said the media check-in process at the divestment meeting was ineffective in regulating which outside media outlets entered.

USAC General Representatives Sunny Singh and Sam Haws volunteered to be on the committee, but could not attend because of scheduling conflicts.