Entertainment referendum dies

By Marcelle Richards
Daily Bruin Senior Staff

Students won’t get to take a stance on student fees this
election “”mdash; the Undergraduate Students Association Council
already put a lid on the subject.

At the April 16 meeting, the Student Empowerment! slate voted
down putting a proposed entertainment referendum on the agenda.

The proposal would have raised student fees by $5 to compensate
for inflation, advertising and the rising costs of artists.

The fee is being proposed now since student fees will be reduced
from $51 to $7.50 next year.

The money would be dispersed among the Campus Events, Cultural
Affairs, Community Service and Student Welfare Commissions.

“It was pretty much voted down on partisan lines,”
said Ryan Wilson, campus events commissioner on the independent
slate. “It seems ridiculous they’re scared of having
that passed “”mdash; if you’re pro-students you should be
pro-student programming.”

Because the proposal never made it on the agenda, it could not
be approved as a referendum on the ballot. This means a discussion
about the proposal did not even take place before it was barred
from the ballot “”mdash; a decision made by a handful of members in
place of tens of thousands of constituents.

“Anytime you keep students from having a choice, you do
something that goes against the very nature of student
government,” Wilson said.

Academic Affairs commissioner Bryant Tan, a Student Empowerment!
member, said the council voted down the item because it was not
submitted by the Thursday deadline.

“It was irresponsible of them to bring it up five minutes
before (the meeting),” he said. “They’re the ones
who slighted students. They had plenty of time to put this on the
agenda.”

Curiously, the fee issue itself did not play a role in his
decision: “I haven’t thought through the issue enough
to take a stance,” he said.

The primary concern for opponents, Tan said, was that students
did not have enough time to review the item before the meeting.

Student attendance at USAC meetings is rare, especially in
response to an agenda item.

A general body meeting was cancelled, for example, because no
one attended.

Tan was not able to cite a specific instance, but said students
have been known to show up occasionally.

Despite varying rationale, some are worried about the financial
future of their commissions, which now don’t have the chance
to get more funding through the proposal.

Community service commissioner Sunny Sanchez is doubtful next
year’s staff will be able to expand the 20 projects it helps
sponsor. The commission already dealt with transportation increases
winter quarter.

“I’ve tried hard to accommodate their transportation
requests,” Sanchez said. “Next year, they would not
have as much freedom to do site visits to meet their
goals.”

The USAC meeting will be held today in Kerckhoff 417 at 7
p.m.

Correction: The proposed student fee
mentioned in the article “Entertainment referendum
dies,” (News, April 23) was not strictly an entertainment
fee, it was also a programming fee. In addition, the date of the
USAC meeting at which the fee vote took place was April 9, not
April 16. –Correction posted 4/25/02