USAC is tardyin making key appointments

Tuesday, November 4, 1997

USAC is tardy

in making key appointments

J-Board, E-Board and Financial Committee still have important
positions to fill

By Stefanie Wong

Daily Bruin Staff

With approximately 80 committee appointments that need to be
made each year, the undergraduate student government (USAC) has its
hands full.

And while USAC can function without all the appointments being
made, delays can cause problems and questions.

Members of the Finance Committee were supposed to be appointed
before the start of the new school year, but none were made until
last week.

The responsibility for the search of Finance Committee members
is completely in the hands of the chairperson; this year that
person was returning chair Robert Rhoan.

The search for committee members was held until the beginning of
fall quarter because there is "no one on campus" during the summer
and it would be an unfair application process, Rhoan said.

The committee appointments were the delayed even further because
Rhoan was seriously ill, but were finally made during last week’s
USAC meeting — a month into the school year

During the month where Rhoan was the only member of the Finance
Committee, he still made contingency recommendations and budget
allocations, but with the advisement of several USAC members.

"The function of the chair as stated in the bylaws is that it
serves as the chief financial adviser," Rhoan said.

"By consent of USAC, the chair can make allocations and
recommendations but the final approval is made by USAC," he
added.

But another standing USAC committee where no appointments have
been yet made is the Election Board.

As stated in the USAC bylaws, "the Chair of the Election Board
shall be appointed by the USAC before the first week of Fall
quarter."

Other members of the E-Board are brought for approval of USAC by
the E-Board Chair, but as of now, no chair has been appointed.

According to last year’s internal vice president (IVP) Glenn
Inanaga, if bylaw procedures are not followed, the spring elections
can be nullified by petitioning students.

However, members of USAC feel that the elections would not be
able to be overturned because they believe proper procedures have
been followed.

Before the end of the last school year, advertisements were
placed in the Daily Bruin for the various USAC appointed positions.
The position for E-Board Chair was included in these ads.

Of the approximately 75 applications received because of the
advertisements, none were for the E-Board chair.

Because USAC did make the position available, they feel that
they did follow procedures.

"All the procedures were followed because we opened up the
positions to everyone before school even ended, but the fact is
that we didn’t get any applicants," said this year’s IVP Carol
Lee.

"So we need to re-open the process again officially just to be
fair and we have to wait until a qualified appointee is found," she
added.

But USAC is not fearful, because when a similar situation arose
with the E-Board last year, students didn’t raise a fuss.

Last year’s chairperson resigned during Winter quarter and a new
person was not appointed until the first week of spring.

The working E-Board chair was appointed two quarters after the
bylaws stipulate, but there were no concerns voiced by the general
student body.

And while the Finance Committee and Election Board are two
standing committees where students are concerned with appointments,
the Judicial Board (J-Board), a branch of the student government,
is missing two justices.

The J-Board consists of seven justices and currently there are
five, assuming that all the justices will be returning from last
year.

Chief Justice Eric Mah is not extremely concerned over the issue
but has notified USAC President Kandea Mosley about the
situation.

As long as the J-Board has quorum — four of seven members —
then the board can meet and complete any official duties it may
have.

"Assuming we have (the returning) five members, then quorum
isn’t an issue," Mah said.

"But with that said, if two of them are unavailable to meet due
to schedule conflicts, then the board wouldn’t be able to meet in
any official capacity," he added.

Mah would like to see the two positions filled, believing that
now is the best time to start the process of finding the remaining
justices, but he feels that there is no real urgency.

"There is some urgency, but it’s not as major of a problem as
last spring quarter, when there were only three members on the
board," Mah said.

"That was more significant than right now when we’re only
missing two members," he added.