Students association steeped in disorder

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 Michael Falcone

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 Edward Chiao
 Kelly Rayburn

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 Maegan Carberry
 Edward Chiao

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With both the Undergraduate Students Association Council and the
Associated Students of UCLA butting heads these past few weeks over
workers’ rights and financial issues, the status of next
year’s budget ““ and thus USAC’s ability to
provide programs and advocate on behalf of students ““ is in
question. There’s no doubt USAC will have to compromise and
take a cut in its budget ““ the real question is whether or
not that cut will be reasonable. And if students are going to come
out of the negotiations with any sort of programming next year,
both USAC and ASUCLA will have to be more cooperative.

Last year, USAC’s discretionary funds totaled $131,082.
This year that amount is being cut by 55 percent because the
association is struggling to pay for the cost of living wages and
benefits to non-student workers the union has been exploiting for
the past five years. This cost, which will likely total between
$500,000 to more than $1 million, is compounded by a loss of more
than $1 million when a student fee that goes to the association
will end this year.

While USAC must find a way to compromise with the association
over the cuts, and ASUCLA must look more closely at its budget, it
will be imperative for undergraduate students to pass an
entertainment referendum next week that would add $300,000 to
student programming funds. The benefits of student programming like
noontime concerts or the JazzReggae Festival more than make up for
the minimal cost of this fee per student.

These dire financial constraints are partly a result of
USAC’s participation in the recent labor movement on campus.
While USAC wholeheartedly rallied and protested on behalf of the
workers’ rights to living wages and benefits, now that the
time has come to pay the bill, the council isn’t ready to
take the hit it requires. If they’re going to talk, they must
back it up. The student body must also realize that despite the
rhetoric of protesters who say ASUCLA isn’t looking out for
student needs, this association is meant to serve students and its
board of directors has a student majority.

These issues only bring up larger looming problems within
ASUCLA. The association is structured around a model where the
stores and restaurants in Ackerman and throughout campus run by
ASUCLA are meant to provide money for student government and
programming. By creating this subsidy, student fees that go to the
union are far less than at other UC campuses.

Sadly, given the financial management of the organization over
the past decade, the association is at a point where that flow of
money is reversing itself and student money is going to pay for the
store. While students are right to seek higher wages and benefits
for these workers, the management of the association as it stands
has left few alternatives but massive cuts lest ASUCLA risk
financial ruin and lose the student majority on its board to a
university takeover.

Students must make a choice now between workers’ rights
and student autonomy, but it’s a choice that’s forced
on them due to the structure of their ASUCLA. Perhaps it’s
time to start reconsidering the financial model that has led us
down this path. That doesn’t mean giving up autonomy, but it
may necessitate changes in how the association is run or higher
student fees.

But at least then, students would be paying for student
services.