USAC votes on appointments

By Jenny Blake
DAILY BRUIN CONTRIBUTOR
[email protected]

The Undergraduate Students Association Council skated on thin
political ice as they voted on committee appointments Tuesday.

Throughout the night, appointments were made based on slate
voting blocs.

Three applicants were discussed at length among USAC, while the
council approved the remaining applicants with a bloc vote to
expedite the process.

The applicants discussed were former Students United for Reform
and Equality candidates Dria Fearn for the Associated Students of
UCLA Board of Directors and Justin Levi for budget review director,
as well as independent Hrug DerManuelian for finance committee
chair.

The Appointment Review Committee, comprised of internal vice
president T.J. Cordero, external vice president Chris Neal and
general representative Adam Harmetz, provided the council with
recommendations.

The primary purpose of ARC is to expedite the appointment
approval process by questioning and reviewing all applicants. The
committee then forwards recommendations to USAC for final approval,
according to the USAC bylaws.

Both Cordero and Neal, of the Student Empowerment! slate, did
not recommend the approval of the three applicants, while SURE
member Harmetz voted to approve them.

The recommendations were reflected in the final votes. Each of
the five Student Empowerment! council members voted not to appoint
DerManuelian, Fearn and Levi, in a 7-5-0, 7-5-0 and 5-5-2 vote,
respectively. President David Dahle ““ who can only vote in
tie breaking situations ““ cast the deciding vote for Levi in
the third appointment.

As the evening progressed, issues of partisanship voting became
a topic of heated discussion.

“Partisan politics are going to screw us over,” said
Financial Supports Commissioner Andrew LaFlamme. “I think its
going to cripple our ability to represent students.”

Neal said ARC’s recommendations were not based on
slate.

“I think it’s important that this isn’t seen
as a partisan issue,” Neal said. “Slate can be seen in
everything we do but I would hope council wouldn’t expect we
based our criteria on that.”

ARC criteria for candidates included knowledge of the position;
motivation, vision and goals for the position; ability to advocate
on behalf of students and experience that pertained to the
position.

Dahle said he used similar criteria to appoint committee
applicants, based on the strength of their application, relevant
experience and advocacy on behalf of students.

He also noted that discussions about committee appointments were
much longer than in previous years.

“I do think ARC needs to be critical, but they also have
to give me a certain degree of trust,” Dahle said. “I
believe the people I’ve forwarded are the most qualified for
the position.”

Fearn said she felt that the critical review of her application
was appropriate, but discussions about political ideology on USAC
were not.

“I didn’t mind the critical nature of the questions
or the criteria,” Fearn said. “What troubled me was
that the discussion became less about my qualifications, past
accomplishments and experiences and more about the greater issue of
political ideology on USAC as a whole.”

As a BOD member, Fearn will serve as a student link to ASUCLA.
The role of the BOD is to oversee ASUCLA’s mission, to
improve the quality of life on campus and to promote the general
welfare of the student body and the university.

As FCC, DerManuelian will oversee the annual budget of USAC and
ensure the council stays within the budget. He will also review,
analyze, investigate and receive all budget and financial requests
dealing with the appropriation of student funds.

Levi will chair the budget review committee as BRD to make sure
that USAC budgets are sufficiently documented. He will help
allocate funds for on-campus programs as part of the USAC
programming committee and verify that USAC base budgets are in
accordance with all ASUCLA and university regulations.

The council unanimously voted to appoint former elections board
chair Matthew Kaczmarek to the Student Fee Advisory Committee. The
committee which channels student input about student fee funds and
recommends funding priorities to the chancellor.

The council conducted a bloc vote to approve ARC’s
remaining unanimously recommended applicants in order to accelerate
the appointment process.

In the bloc vote, the council approved Bryant Tan for the
Student Initiated Outreach Committee, whose purpose is to increase
the eligibility of educationally disadvantaged students to the UC
system and to allocate funds to outreach projects.

Elizabeth Serna, Grace Gillespie and Andrea Arias were selected
for the Community Activities Committee, which oversees volunteer
work off-campus and makes allocation decisions for community
service projects. The CAC also acts as a forum for soliciting views
on the nature and goals of community service.

Three applicants withdrew from their recommended positions for
Student Fee Advisory Committee, the ASUCLA board and CAC. Dahle
withdrew one applicant from the SFAC.

The council will meet next week to vote on the remaining
positions.