Budget cuts could hit student groups hard

By Karen Graulich
Daily Bruin Contributor
[email protected]

The Associated Students of UCLA budget proposal could have dire
effects on the funding of student organizations on campus.

The proposed budget, voted down by the Undergraduate Students
Association Council on Tuesday, entails a 55 percent funding cut
that affects not only USAC offices, but all student organizations
applying for USAC funding as well.

“(USAC budget cuts) impact all clubs, especially those
that put on large events,” said Shang Chuang, president of
Association of Chinese Americans, which currently receives Campus
Programming Commission and USAC funding. “More and more
organizations are being established; it doesn’t make sense to
cut funding when the population is growing.”

“Money that is paid by students should go to the students
by making use of that money in a way that is geared to the
students,” Chuang said.

In addition to large budget cuts, the Undergraduate Students
Association fee is decreasing from $51 to $7.50 next year ““ a
change which Kanani said is too drastic and that should be smaller
if a fee cut is necessary.

Next week, undergraduate students will vote on-line for a
referendum that, if passed, could increase the USA fee from $24.09
to $32.59. This would bring in more revenue for student
programming.

Raj Kanani, director of the Indian Student Union, fears his
group will be further hindered unless more money is made
available.

Though ISU receives funding from USAC, Kanani said the group
already must raise money externally to put on such programs as its
culture show. With the potential budget cuts, he believes ISU will
end up focusing on “raising money instead of putting on
events.”

The cuts will affect the money at the USAC officer level as
well.

Current general representative and 2002-03 USAC president-elect
David Dahle said such a large budget cut would mean a “USAC
without enough resources to be effective.”

When asked about alternatives for funding, he said the ASUCLA
Board of Directors is investigating those options. Until then, he
feels the referendum for increasing USA fees will help.

“If it passes it will inject more money into USAC,”
Dahle said.

Finance Commissioner-elect Andrew LaFlamme said USAC and ASUCLA
must find a way to allocate more money to the council and the
student groups it funds, adding that USAC needs to “explore
other resources.”

“The present (budget) cuts would be crippling,”
LaFlamme said.

He acknowledged that there needs to be a way to ensure this type
of budgeting problem will not occur again by improving
communication between USAC, ASUCLA and the administration.

“ASUCLA didn’t understand, now they realize what
(the budget cuts) will result in,” La Flamme said.

Adam Harmetz, general representative-elect, is disappointed by
the potential budget cuts.

ASUCLA’s budget proposal is not sufficient and would be
debilitating to student activities, he said. He is currently
putting his base budget together for his own office and said there
are many “options to explore.”

CORRECTION: The article “Budget cuts could hit student
groups hard” (Daily Bruin, News, May 23) inaccurately stated
that a referendum up for vote this week would increase the
Undergraduate Students Association Council fee from $7.50 to
$13.50, when in fact the increase would be from $24.09 to
$32.59.Correction posted 5/28/02