Student Judicial Board out for justices

Wednesday, October 28, 1998

Student Judicial Board out for justices

VOTES: More appointees needed to make quorum, rulings on USAC
actions

By Barbara Ortutay

Daily Bruin Staff

While the Undergraduate Students Association (USA) Student
Judicial Board is an integral part of student government, the board
now is inactive because there are not enough justices to make
quorum.

"The J-Board is very important to have," said Lyle Timmerman,
judicial board advisor and Undergraduate Student Association
Council (USAC) administrative representative.

The responsibility of the J-Board is to rule on the
constitutionality of legislation and actions of USAC, according to
the USA constitution.

Out of the seven justices who are supposed to compose the board,
four are needed to make quorum. Currently, there are only three
justices.

Justices are usually appointed during the fall or spring
quarters of their first year by the USAC president, and most of
them serve on the board for four years.

According to USAC President Stacy Lee, appointments for the
remaining four voting positions will be within the next two
weeks.

"It’s the next item on our appointment agenda," Lee said.

Lee said students will first be appointed to committees that
need a quorum to make decisions right away. One such group is the
Student Conduct Committee, which rules on cases of student
misconduct that are not resolved by the dean of students.

While matters of student conduct are decided based on UCLA’s
code of conduct, the guiding document of the J-Board is the USA
constitution.

For example, some students who applied for J-Board positions as
well as for the Student Conduct Committee will be appointed to the
latter.

USAC advisor Patricia McLaren said the J-Board doesn’t meet more
than a few times a year, mostly just when they have a case. Last
year, there were no cases brought to the board.

Timmerman added that the J-Board meets occasionally outside of
their cases.

Timmerman’s role as J-Board advisor is to assist the judicial
process and make sure the board looks at all sides of an issue. The
advisor is a non-voting member of the board.

In addition, the J-Board may rule on matters brought to it by
USAC or any student regarding the conduct of USAC.

"In the past, most cases have been about the actions and
activities of student government," Timmerman said.

However, USAC may overrule decisions of the board with a
three-fourths majority ruling, according to the USA Constitution –
a provision that has caused much concern over USAC’s breadth of
power in recent history.

In January 1997, USAC overruled a J-board decision that had
ruled the council’s use a political slate’s logo on official USAC
documents violated university policy. This prompted many students
to claim that the J-board was merely a facade and that the council
held too much power.

"The Supreme Court doesn’t ask the president if they can hear a
case, and Congress can’t overrule a Supreme Court ruling," said
then-Chief Justice Eric Mah, after the council voted to overrule
the J-board’s ruling.

The board’s most recent case dealt with campaign funds. In May
1997, members of the Bruin Democrats filed a petition to
investigate where money for a full-page ad placed in the Daily
Bruin during USAC elections came from. Justices this time denied a
formal hearing of the petition.

According to Timmerman, appointments for new justices should
ideally be made as soon as there are vacancies and applicants for
the position.

Timmerman was not sure what would be the procedure if a case
comes up before the appointments are made.

Since USAC has not yet reviewed the applications for the
J-Board, Manalang said that they do not know how many people
applied for the positions. But by the end of this week they should
have more information, he said.

Lee said that many people have applied to serve as J-Board
justices.

The main criteria for J-Board justices, in addition to being a
full-time student in good standing, is that he or she may not be a
part of student government while serving on the board.

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