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By Mason Stockstill

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

The Associated Students of UCLA are hoping the whopping changes it has planned for the coming year – including eliminating 44 positions – will return the troubled association to financial stability.

ASUCLA lost an estimated $1.9 million during the 1999-2000 school year, falling well below their previously projected loss of $83,000. This, combined with severe losses over the past few years, caused association officials to realize something drastic had to be done to patch up ASUCLA’s finances.

“This has been a difficult several months,” said ASUCLA Executive Director Patricia Eastman at an open forum meeting for employees on June 13.

“We were still working until the very last minute ... to minimize the impact of the layoffs,” she said. “Now, this week, we move on.”

As a result, officials unveiled a budget plan for the coming year that includes several significant changes to the way ASUCLA does business, culminating in a projected surplus of $2 million – a larger surplus than the association has had in 10 years.

The most substantial change between this year’s budget and last year’s is the elimination of 44 of the association’s 254 career positions, at a savings of $1.8 million.

“These changes are painful, but necessary for us to continue to serve the UCLA community,” Eastman said.

According to Eastman, 19 employees were laid off, as some employees were shuffled around to other positions and some of the positions eliminated were already vacant at the time of the restructuring.

“We believe we can handle the changes without disrupting the operations critical to providing the required level of service to the campus,” said Rich Delia, ASUCLA’s chief financial officer.

In addition to saving money through layoffs, ASUCLA looks to boost its bottom line with increased income from the ailing UCLA Store.

BearWear sales were close to $1 million under projections this year, making it one of the main culprits in the association’s monetary troubles. Next year, ASUCLA hopes to almost double its online BearWear sales and increase its in-store sales.

“This year, sales grew 50 percent online,” said Terence Hsiao, ASUCLA director of business development.

“We can expect that to continue for a year or so,” he said, adding that the association will begin to advertise the UCLA Store Web site more aggressively this year.

Additionally, ASUCLA hopes to save money by restructuring the UCLA Store floor plan and leasing out excess space.

In the new plan, Paper Cuts merchandise will be integrated into the Market and Essentials departments on the B level of Ackerman Union, leaving the 1,660-square-foot Paper Cuts location on A level available to lease to an outside vendor.

Also, the Fast Track apparel department will be moved to where children’s apparel is currently located, freeing up another 3,900 square feet for lease. The magazine section will no longer be a separate section of the store, but will be integrated into the main BookZone area, opening up 1,500 square feet for lease.

Some space in the back of the store currently being used for offices will be converted to retail space as well.

Also, plans are in the works to lease out a portion of the BookZone area to a CD retailer. According to Eastman, a CD store was rated the highest on the latest Student Union survey conducted in the spring.

ASUCLA officials are hoping to get a new/used CD retailer into Ackerman Union to help bring foot traffic into the store. Leasing the space to an outside vendor is safer for the association since the vendor would be the one who must deal with competition from Westwood Village merchants and online Mp3 distribution.

Also, the association will move its distribution center from its off-campus location in Pico Rivera to an on-campus location, saving money in rent and transportation.

“We had good results when we moved part of the distribution center back to campus,” said Keith Schoen, director of ASUCLA’s distribution center. “The warehousing will remain off-campus, but we’ll need to rent less space.”

Eastman emphasized that though the financial forecasts are rosy, the association will still have to weather some stormy conditions in the coming year.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do in the next six months,” Eastman said.

“We still have the same amount of output, but we have to get it done in a more efficient way,” she said.

FINANCIAL RESTRUCTURING The Associated Students of UCLA is looking to turn itself around by instituting several changes in the way it does business. Change Savings 44 positions eliminated $1,800,000 Increase Bearwear online sales $148,000 CD Store in Ackerman $50,000 Lease space in store $229,000 Move distribution center to campus $195,000 SOURCE: ASUCLA Original Graphic by JACOB LIAO/Daily Bruin Web Adaptation by ROBERT LIU/Daily Bruin Senior Staff

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