ASUCLA Board of Directors recap – April 27

Associated Students UCLA is a multimillion-dollar organization that provides student services and activities the university does not fund. It oversees the Undergraduate Students Association Council, Graduate Students Association, Communications Board, campus services and enterprises. Board of Directors meetings are monthly and open to the public.

Executive director’s reports:

• ASUCLA Executive Director Pouria Abbassi said the association has been working on the 2018 to 2019 fiscal budget, and will preview it with the board next week.
• Abbassi said the association will hold the Art in the Union’s reception in the Kerckhoff Art Gallery on May 2 from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.
• Abbassi said the annual Bruin Transfer Day is on May 12 and added that Bruin Day for incoming first-years, which took place earlier this month, was successful because of student engagement.
• Abbassi said ASUCLA will be launching email campaigns to publicize various activities going on in the association.
• Abbassi said ASUCLA has completed the Ackerman Union dining room furniture upgrade and replacement.
• Abbassi added that Blaze Pizza opened earlier this month and is currently selling 570 to 600 pizzas per day.
• Abbassi said ASUCLA plans to open the Veggie Grill project by mid-May.
• Abbassi said ASUCLA has completed its agreements and contract negotiations with Intelligentsia Coffee & Tea, and the project is on track to be completed by the end of the quarter.
• Abbassi stated ASUCLA is now offering nitro coffee, a cold brewed coffee that is infused with nitrogen in its keg to give it a foamy head similar to that of many beers, at the Kerckhoff Coffee House. He added it will be introduced at Northern Lights as well.
• Abbassi said ASUCLA is working with UCLA Facilities to remedy the issues caused by the dead tree next to LuValle Commons. Construction relating to that will be completed by the end of May, he added.
• Abbassi said ASUCLA is looking into expanding its licensing at both the international and national level, and is hoping to accomplish this through a website it launched last week.
• Abbassi said the university is moving away from switch-type telecommunications systems to voice-over IP address systems, which will require new equipment, wiring, and cabling.

Committee reports:

• Graduate Student Representative Lena Riess said the executive committee has begun to plan its annual ASUCLA board retreat.
• Undergraduate Student Representative Navi Sidhu said the finance committee has discussed campus partnerships and how campus partnerships could be leveraged to increase revenue streams
• Sidhu also added that the ASUCLA has noticed a drop in traffic in its north campus stores, which he said is likely due to ongoing construction.
• Undergraduate representative Michaela Boster said students from Fair Trade UCLA attended the services committee’s meeting to present suggestions to improve ASUCLA’s fair trade branding.
• Representatives of ASUCLA’s ad-hoc committee said Clever Creative, a company that gathered data on graduate and undergraduate students demographics, gave suggestions to the committee on how to improve branding on campus to cater to students needs and desires.

Financial statements:

• Abbassi said ASUCLA earned $5.4 million of gross income this March, $150,000 more than March of last year.
• Abbassi added that all operation divisions, except restaurants, exceeded their budget targets compared to last year.
• Abbassi said ASUCLA’s accumulated gross margin was ahead of the fiscal plan, and ahead of last year.
• Abbassi said the restaurant division’s income stream continued to be impacted by the delayed opening of both Blaze Pizza and Veggie Grill along with an overall drop in customer count.
• Abbassi added the net income for the March is $143,000 better than budget and $146,000 better than last year.
• Finance Director Donna Baker said the cash position for March is at $14.4 million due to the timing of payments of wages and benefits to UCPath. She added that taking into account the association’s payables, ASUCLA’s cash position is $11.9 million, higher than the $10 million last year.