Six campus committees did not meet fall quarter, lack winter projections

This post was updated on Jan. 9 at 1:15 a.m.

Some campus committees will begin this quarter without projections for their winter accomplishments.

The USAC Office of the President released a transparency report that highlighted accomplishments and plans from its campus committees. The appointment directors reached their goal of appointing enough undergraduate students to fill all 30 committees. USAC appoints undergraduate student representative to the committees but does not directly oversee them. The committees sent in fall updates for the report, but six had no projections for winter because they were unable to meet in fall for various reasons.

The appointment directors said in a letter attached to the transparency report that the Advisory Board on Data and Protection, the Chancellor’s Intellectual Property and Industry Sponsored Research Oversight Committee, the Committee on LGBTQ Affairs, the Information Technology Planning Board, the Student Activities Center Board of Governors and the Student Conduct Committee did not meet in the fall.

“While many committees met and progressed on their goals for the year, we are concerned about how six committees did not even have a fall meeting,” the appointment directors said in the letter.

Appointment director Brian Kohaya said he is concerned because some of the student representatives were appointed but currently have no duties, since they cannot work on anything without having had a meeting first. He added he noticed that generally, the committees that have undergraduates appointed as chairs met at least once in the fall.

Kohaya said he is upset because he thinks every committee should have had at least one meeting. He added he thinks there may be internal problems with communication. For example, the undergraduate appointment for the Committee on LGBTQ Affairs had difficulty getting in touch with the chair, Kohaya said.

The undergraduate appointment of the Committee on LGBTQ Affairs could not be immediately reached for comment.

William Jones, the undergraduate appointment for the Chancellor’s Intellectual Property and Industry Sponsored Research Oversight Committee, said his committee usually meets only once every six months. He said that the lack of meeting could be because the faculty work on differing schedules.

Jones added his committee plans to have a January meeting, but he does not know what to expect because the committee has not held a meeting in a long time with the appointment of new leadership.

Kelly O’Malley, the undergraduate appointment for the Advisory Board on Privacy And Data Protection, said she thinks a fall meeting for her committee could have better publicized events for students during cybersecurity awareness month. O’Malley hopes to receive communications soon regarding a future meeting for winter quarter.

Dana Cuff, a professor and faculty chair who is in O’Malley’s committee said that they usually only meet in winter, and she thinks the fall inactivity is actually normal.

Jehan Kazi, the undergraduate representative for the Student Conduct Committee, said her committee did not meet because it is only asked to meet when there is a code of conduct case that needs to be reviewed.

The Student Activities Center Board of Governors did not meet because they need all board members to be appointed first, and the Graduate Students Association has not appointed a representative yet, according to the transparency report.

USAC President Danny Siegel said he is not sure why the committees have not been able to meet last quarter. He said he hopes to increase committee activity in the future but does not have an official policy yet.