Letter to the Editor: USAC confident that budget review will be unbiased

Thank you for featuring the Undergraduate Students Association Council Internal Vice President’s Quarterly Budget Review initiative in Natalie Delgadillo’s column, “USAC budget reporting should be inclusive process” on Oct. 16.

We welcome thorough discussion of our initiatives to make USAC more transparent to its constituents. However, I’d like to address a couple of the issues in the column.

Firstly, the Quarterly Budget Review will feature no editorializing or passing of judgements on behalf of the editors of the report. They will simply report both the amount of money spent on different initiatives, retreats and stipends and direct quotes from the reasoning the council member or officer provides for why such money was spent. Furthermore, the Daily Bruin itself has been invited to, and sat in on, these budget interviews as a neutral third party to ensure these reviews are conducted in a slate-neutral and professional manner.

Secondly, as mentioned by Delgadillo herself, Ken Myers is undoubtedly qualified for this position. Having performed audits and gained financial expertise at Fortune 500 companies, he stood out above all other applicants in the selection process. We have absolute faith in Ken’s ability to manage the Quarterly Budget Review effectively.

Thirdly, regarding Delgadillo’s suggestion that the finance committee take on this project – Cynthia Jasso, the finance committee chair, has already approached IVP and has stated she does not have the time and is not interested in pursuing the project.

We believe that USAC transparency is an issue that pertains to all students as every student on this campus pays fees that financially support USAC and therefore has the right to know how their money is being spent. We will continue to work to further this goal and to eventually institutionalize budget review as the year progresses.

Avinoam Baral

Chief of staff, USAC Internal Vice President’s office