Editorial: USAC council members must lay clearer timeline for platform projects

Whenever an Undergraduate Students Association Council member completes a platform in the final stages of their term, or even later, it’s often accompanied by a excuse about tedious logistics planning. This year is no exception.

Just last week, nearly two weeks after formally leaving office, Ariel Rafalian, former Financial Supports commissioner, launched a service for students to rent portable phone chargers. The program’s scope is limited – spreading 50 chargers across Powell Library and Young Research Library – and the fact that it took nearly an entire year to implement diminishes its usefulness to current students who could have used the service this academic year.

Spring platform completion is nothing new, but delayed projects do little to help students who voted the council members into office – even if the platforms are later institutionalized.

As such, current council members need to lay the framework for their goals during summer, so they can roll them out earlier in the academic year. This planning can help students truly reap the benefits of USAC’s initiatives.

Rafalian isn’t the only one to implement a project in the latter half of spring quarter. Last week, Zoe Borden, a former USAC general representative, opened a minimalistic scholarship page on MyUCLA, consisting of 11 links to existing scholarship pages. The service came a week after Borden’s term ended. Inan Chowdhury, also a former general representative, will aim to complete his Bruin Games platform later this month.

Some platforms, by necessity, may not be achievable until spring, but had these council members laid the framework for their platforms earlier in their terms, their initiatives might have been meaningful services to the student body.

Some council members do institutionalize their projects, which is an important step and is commendable. However, when council members leave their offices, some of these projects lack a face and a voice to advertise their presence, thus reducing their visibility, and consequently, their benefits.

The reasons for delays have been unconvincing. Borden’s office said that visiting different campus organizations to search for scholarships was time-consuming. Rafalian said that finding a company that would sell chargers at a low enough price was the reason for his delay. Chowdhury said his Bruin Games platform was pending approval from fire marshals as recently as the middle of April.

Considering the quality of the end products in some of these cases versus the amount of effort put in, it’s clear these shouldn’t have taken as long as they did.

The newly sworn-in council members must ensure they implement their plans closer to the beginning of the academic year, or at least propose a clear timeline ahead. Planning needs to take place during summer. While it is hard to coordinate logistics when people might not be on campus, members can use this time to lay out the framework and timeframe for their projects, and execute them at the beginning of fall quarter. This can guarantee early completion so the student body can make use of the project for a larger portion of the academic year.

It’s in the best interest of the students that council members offer fewer excuses about what could be and instead bring earlier results – or a transparent timeline – to campus.