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USAC’s request to ASUCLA for additional funds for student programs reduced by 25 percent

By James Barragan

Jan. 23, 2012 1:20 a.m.

In a tense meeting Friday, an Associated Students UCLA committee reduced the undergraduate student government’s $100,000 request to help supplement student programming by 25 percent.

“This has to be a one-time deal,” Bob Williams, executive director of ASUCLA, said to representatives of the Undergraduate Students Association Council. “If we give you guys (this money), we need you to fix the problems because we don’t want you guys coming back.”

After a 3-1 vote, the committee forwarded a $75,000 funding request to the ASUCLA Board of Directors. The board’s vote, requested by USAC to speed up the process, is expected to happen at the end of the week.

Ryan Roberts, a graduate representative on the ASUCLA Board of Directors and a member of the Finance Committee, was the sole vote against the motion.

He said the deficit was a result of poor fiscal decisions in the fall.

“This year (USAC) chose to allocate in a certain way based on the numbers that weren’t concrete,” Roberts told the USAC representatives at the meeting. “You chose to do this and now you’re putting us in a very difficult situation.”

Roberts added that he was concerned about the precedent the decision would set, and the possibility of other student entities asking for similar financial help in the future.

“I’m very uncomfortable allocating this,” Roberts said at the meeting. “What keeps them from coming back next year?”

USAC cut the budget for student programming in half in November in response to a steep budget shortfall, when surplus funds were much lower than expected.

While the request was reduced, $75,000 in aid to USAC would still significantly lessen the impact to student programming the deficit has created, Ronald Arruejo, chair of the USAC Finance Committee, said at the Friday meeting.

If the Board of Directors does not approve the request, student programming will see funding drop further, Arruejo said.

Traditionally, more funds are requested in spring quarter because many student groups host their end-of-the-year events during that time, Arruejo said. This places a heavier weight on ASUCLA’s decision this week, because those events would be underfunded this year if the request is not approved.

USAC’s recent changes to their Finance Committee Guidelines eased some of the committee members’ worries about moving the request forward. ASUCLA had previously asked the student government to show their commitment to fixing the deficit problem and ensuring the problem does not happen in the future.

The new guidelines limit the quarterly allocations to 33 percent of the total budget until the amount of leftover funds is finalized. This ensures that weekly allocations to student programming are not affected by potential shortages of resources.

“Should we get zero in surplus funding, we have a mechanism in place so we can equally allocate per quarter,” said David Bocarsly, USAC general representative at the meeting.

The ASUCLA Finance Committee also recommended that their personnel work with USAC to help the student government know the amount of leftover funds earlier in the fiscal year.

“You need to understand much earlier what your surplus is,” said David Lowenstein, administrative representative on the ASUCLA Board of Directors, to USAC representatives at the meeting. “I’m boldfacing “˜much earlier’ and capitalizing it.”

USAC currently learns this number in November, by which point it has already begun funding student programming, including large scale events like Bruin Bash and Homecoming. This makes it difficult for the council to allocate consistently throughout the year if a deficit in leftover funds occurs, Arruejo said.

“There’s a realization among this group to get you a number earlier than you have ever had. That needs to be done,” Lowenstein said. “You can’t spend more than you have.”

The council may need to cut back on some student programs in order to allocate sufficient money to more important programs, while still staying within their budget, he added.

Members of the ASUCLA finance committee were aware of the potential impact for student programming their decision would have.

“We have the wherewithal to keep student groups from being impacted in the spring,” Williams said. “I’d hate to see these students hit by this.”

The decision to have a tighter connection between ASUCLA and USAC could lead the two entities to work together and improve the help given to student groups, he added.

“Maybe this is a way to pull this team together,” Williams said. “Maybe this is the first step to do that.”

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