Council set to vote on SAG funding changes

By Scott B. Wong
Daily Bruin Staff

Student advocacy groups may be no more if some Undergraduate
Students Association Council members have their way in determining
how a sponsored group is defined.

The USAC ad hoc committee proposed amendments to its bylaws that
would repeal sponsorship status of SAGs and grant eligibility to
all university-registered student organizations. The proposed
amendments will be voted on at tonight’s meeting.

Because SAGs, such as the African Student Union, Asian Pacific
Coalition and the Gay and Lesbian Association, are sponsored by
USAC under current bylaws, they are entitled to receive resources
such as office space and base budget allocations from mandatory
student fees.

Bylaws also state that SAGs must have been historically and
currently disadvantaged, discriminated against and
underrepresented.

“Having that criteria stipulates that funding is
inherently content-driven,” Houston said.

But SAG leaders said the need for SAG status is rooted in the
history of underrepresented groups.

“Before USAC decides to vote on changes to its bylaws, it
needs to look at the history and the reasons why SAGs were
created,” said Kei Nagao, chair of APC.

“For the historically underrepresented student groups on
campus, it’s always been an unlevel playing field,” she
said.

Last summer, USAC Administrative Representative Lyle Timmerman
challenged the council’s current funding allocation
process.

Timmerman questioned why four SAGs ““ making up one fifth
of the student groups ““ received 40 percent of the
funding.

ASU, APC and Samahang Pilipino received the most funding of any
SAG, with each group allocated $8,990. MEChA also received $8,590.
In contrast, the five groups granted the lowest amount received a
total of $7,840 altogether.

“When I asked this question, there have been no good
answers forthcoming,” Timmerman said at the Aug. 15 USAC
meeting.

He said it was in direct violation of the Southworth v.
University of Wisconsin Supreme Court decision and University of
California policy, which stated mandatory student fees shall be
legal only if the money is distributed without regard to content or
viewpoint.

Timmerman also set a Feb. 27 deadline for council to pass
amendments to its funding allocation processes or else he would
freeze SAG accounts.

According to Campus Events Commissioner Jared Seltzer, the
pending freeze would affect both SAGs and USAC offices. Any funds
that student groups receive money from would be frozen, including
surplus, contingency and community service minifunds ““ the
same funds USAC officers turn to for money.

But Internal Vice President Elias Enciso said the freeze would
not directly affect USAC offices.

On Thursday, members of USAC sent two separate letters to
Chancellor Albert Carnesale ““ one urging him to uphold and
another to eliminate the Feb. 27 deadline.

In a letter addressed to USAC members dated Friday, Carnesale
stated that as administrative representative, Timmerman may make
policies regarding student government funds. He also stated that
while students may appeal Timmerman’s decisions to the
chancellor, he wished to meet with the council first.

“My concern stems from the fact that while the letters
clearly express the points of view of several individual council
members, they do not appear to represent an action on the part of
USAC as a governing body: e.g., a formal vote to appeal Mr.
Timmerman’s ruling,” Carnesale stated.

While Houston and Facilities Commissioner Steve Davey want the
administration to enforce the deadline, other council members
oppose it.

Seltzer, who signed the letter that asked for an elimination of
the deadline, said he believes freezing accounts would be part of
the administration’s attempt to protect itself from possible
lawsuits for not complying with federal funding guidelines.

But, he said, current drafts of revisions to the bylaws
aren’t ready to be approved and more discussion is
needed.

“There’s no question that the current draft is not
sufficient,” Seltzer said. “There are gaping holes
while there are also new additions that are really unrelated to
what we need to be discussing right now.”

Karren Lane, chair of ASU, said USAC is allowing the
administration to intercede before students are able to negotiate a
collective agreement.

“Two separate letters (show) USAC isn’t able to put
aside (its) political differences and compromise for the good of
the entire student body,” Lane said.

“The council has given up and run to the administration to
solve its problems,” she said.

Enciso said Monday he is not expecting the administration to
freeze student funds.

“I anticipate USAC will vote to reaffirm that our bylaws
are in compliance with Southworth,” he said.

According to the new revisions, student groups applying for
sponsorship shall not be discriminated against by the Undergraduate
Students Association on the basis of religion, race, creed, sex,
age, national origin, disability, socio-economic status or sexual
orientation.

But to become what the proposed amendments call a “USAC
Sponsored Student Group,” an organization must meet certain
criteria, such as being an officially registered student
organization and being consistent with the university’s
mission to increase and improve the recruitment and retention of
undergraduate and graduate students, staff, faculty and
administration.

If the council adopted the amendments, Houston said, it would
change things on paper, but not in the final distribution of
funds.

“When it’s all said and done, the groups with the
majority of programming will get the most funding because they will
have demonstrated the greatest need,” Houston said.

Jerry Mann, director of student union, said office space and
resources shall be allocated based on content-neutral items, like
good presentation and quality of the proposal. In the future, Mann
said, office space may be determined on a lottery basis, but that
has yet to be decided.

The threat of a freeze has come about because council has been
“dragging its feet” in revising the bylaws, Houston
said. In several of the ad hoc meetings, only a handful of council
members have shown up to go over USAC’s bylaws.

“We’ve known about this since last summer,”
she said. “We have had ample time.”

If a freeze occurs Tuesday, Houston said it won’t be her
fault.

“I have responded to the administration’s request
with revisions, changes and amendments; I’ve done what should
have been done,” Houston said.

“I’ve washed my hands of the whole thing,” she
said.