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By Melody Wang

Daily Bruin Contributor

The Undergraduate Students Association Council recently appointed students to four committees, with 16 committee positions left to fill.

The council appointed students to the Campus Programs, Community Activities, Student-Initiated Outreach and Student Fee Advisory committees at its July 18 and 25 meetings.

The CPC allocates funds for on-campus events, while the CAC determines funding for community service related events. SIOC works with student advocacy groups to fund their outreach programs.

Merrick Pascual, president of Samahang Pilipino, and Vanessa Sifuentes, a third-year political science and Chicano/Chicana studies student, were appointed to the SFAC.

Pascual originally applied for a position on the Associated Students of UCLA Board of Directors, but, after he couldn’t attend an ASUCLA retreat in June, he was not brought to council for a vote.

The council will appoint one more student to SFAC Aug. 1 since the third applicant, Edgar Urrutia, was unanimously voted down.

USAC Internal Vice President Elias Enciso, who also chairs the Appointments Review Committee, said Urrutia did not understand what the job entailed.

“It worried us if he would have the drive and motivation for the job,” Enciso said.

He added that the job is important, since the position is a two-year term and that SFAC advises how much of student fees should be allocated to CAC and CPC.

Besides these recent appointments, the council must appoint a second representative to the ASUCLA Board of Directors. This student will participate in making financial decisions involving ASUCLA.

USAC unanimously appointed Phyllis Feng, a former director of Project Literacy and once involved with on-campus housing government as one of the BOD representatives at their June 9 meeting, but the council still cannot agree who to appoint as the second undergraduate student on the BOD.

Enciso said the second BOD representative will be appointed Aug. 1.

“We’re all going to sit down and try to find the best qualified candidate,” he said.

To appoint someone, the USAC president first recommends a student for the ARC to interview, then she brings the applicant to the table. The ARC advises council members how to vote.

USAC President Elizabeth Houston asked council to vote on Joseph Manko, a fourth-year political science and history student who was also on the Assistant Vice Chancellor’s Leadership Advisory Board, for the BOD position June 9, but the council voted him down. Houston then brought Jason Lin, a third-year political science and business/economics student to the table, but he was voted down as well.

The majority of council wanted to appoint Pascual as a BOD representative because of his experience as a member of the ASUCLA Communications Board.

Council decided to send both Manko and Pascual to ASUCLA’s June 19-21 retreat, to be trained for the BOD position. But, Pascual could not go on the retreat because he was attending a fellowship at UC Berkeley, which granted him a scholarship for graduate school.

Because only Manko attended the retreat, Houston brought him to the table to be voted on July 5. Again, he was voted down 4-6.

Pedro said she did not vote for Manko because she felt no new information had been presented to council since the last time Manko was brought to the table.

“It was just because there was no discussion and we didn’t have time to find out how he did on the retreat,” Pedro said.

At the July 5 USAC meeting,

ASUCLA Executive Director Patricia Eastman said the fact that Manko was the only one to attend the retreat was enough reason to reconsider him.

“If the other candidate had attended the retreat, then we’d have choices,” Eastman said. “It wasn’t a social affair. It was about 16 hours of intense education.”

Houston said Manko would be good for the position because he can serve the full two-year term, while Pascual will be graduating at the end of the school year.

“If we appointed someone who could only serve one year, then that would mean that all of the (undergraduate BOD members) would graduate at the same time, leaving BOD with no continuity,” Houston said to council at the July 5 meeting.

Further discussion of the BOD appointment was postponed until the July 25 meeting, where council voted down another student.

Council members then said they would further discuss the candidates and possibly revisit previous ones. Enciso said while it is unfortunate that it is taking such a long time to fill the second BOD position, it is crucial that council members find the best possible candidate.

Both USAC and the Graduate Student Association appoint two student representatives to the BOD.

GSA appointed both members June 7. GSA President Martin Griffin said it was not a simple task because there were so many qualified candidates.

“We had to weigh a number of considerations – experience versus enthusiasm, commitment to student services versus capacity for objective analysis and so on,” he said. “We had to strike a balance.”

USAC COMMITTEE APPOINTMENTS USAC appoints students to various committees that oversee or offer advice on funding for UCLA programs. COMMITTEE APPOINTEES COMMITTEE DESCRIPTION Community Activities Commitee Karen Datugan Elizabeth Delgado Ann Shioji Allocates funding for community service related programs; members serve one-year terms. Campus Programming Committee Celia Lacayo Rowena Ocampo Mediget Teshome Katrina Eiland (CPC alternate) Allocates funding for all events that occur on the UCLA campus; members serve one-year terms. Student Fee Advisory Committee Merrick Pascual Vanessa Sifuentes (3rd seat yet to be filled) Provides advice and student input regarding the use of student fees; members serve two-year terms. Student Initiated Outreach Committee Erika Ramirez Allocates funding for outreach programs put on by student groups; members serve on-year terms. ASUCLA Board of Directors Phyllis Feng (2nd seat yet to be filled) Votes on decisions about the student stores and restaurants; members serve two-year terms. SOURCE: USAC Appointments Review Committee Original Graphic by JACOB LIAO/Daily Bruin. Web Adaptation by AVISHAI SHRAGA/Daily Bruin Senior Staff.

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