Sunday, July 21, 1996
ASUCLA faces similar problems, remains optimisticBy Scott P. Stimson
Summer Bruin Contributor
The beginning of Fall quarter may find UCLA alone as the only UC campus with a student-owned and controlled bookstore, as UC Berkeley's bookstore and student store face a university takeover, ending more than a century of student control.
Like the Associated Students of the University of California (ASUC) at Berkeley, the students association at UCLA (ASUCLA) recently emerged from a financial crisis that began in spring 1995. Despite its troubles, ASUCLA has maintained control over both the student store and the bookstore.
But many wonder if ASUCLA could follow its older sister into a takeover by the university.
"UCLA and Berkeley are the only two UC campuses that have bookstores controlled by student-majority boards," said students' association Assistant Director Jerry Mann.
ASUCLA differs from the Berkeley board in that it has a "student majority" board in conjunction with faculty and administrative members. But the ASUC board, by comparison, consists completely of student members, said newly elected ASUC President Grant Harris.
"Berkeley is unique among all U.S. universities in that it is the only one to have a bookstore controlled by a board consisting entirely of students," Harris said.
ASUC did not arrive at its current position overnight. The association has been losing money for the last few years, with losses accelerating during the current fiscal year.
It posted a $670,000 loss for the entire '94-'95 fiscal year, said Stanley Korwin, Berkeley director of accounting services.
In all, "the ASUC has lost more than $900,000 since this past January and the loss is expected to top $1 million before summer ends," he added.
Harris acknowledges the accelerating losses, but points out that these stem from the university's attempts to thwart ASUC's plans for survival independent of the university.
Built entirely with student funds to house the students' association back in 1961, Eshleman Hall has been used as collateral by the students' association in securing loans, a precedent that the university hopes to change, Harris said.
"The university has actively obstructed the use of the student store building and the ASUC headquarters (Eshleman Hall) as collateral" in securing a loan from outside sources to keep the association out of the university's hands, Harris said.
By comparison, former undergraduate President York Chang notes that during the most recent ASUCLA financial crisis, student board members considered using Kerckhoff Hall and Ackerman Union as collateral on a loan, but "We didn't think that we could challenge the university on who owns the actual (building)," he said.
While July 19 was the deadline for the university takeover, it was temporarily averted by resumed negotiations between the board and the university, Harris said. Though Berkeley Chancellor Chang-Lin Tien has approved the takeover plan, a final decision has yet to be reached.
As things stand now, some feel that a crisis similar to Berkeley's may be waiting around the bend for an unsuspecting ASUCLA.
With new Executive Director Patricia Eastman at the helm, ASUCLA's work is cut out for them after eliminating student elected officials from the board.
Since the end of the immediate financial crisis, much has been done to reorganize ASUCLA. The biggest component of the restructuring has been a $ 20 million loan from the university to pay for the Ackerman Union remodel and expansion.
But Chang said that the loan did not come without strings attached. "The positive side of the loan was that it would ensure that the ASUCLA becomes a viable organization with some level of autonomy, but the negative side is that the university is able to dictate to the ASUCLA how they pay back the loan."
Over the next few years, ASUCLA will spend more than $11 million on capital improvements and infrastructure. When compared to the ASUC situation, the ASUCLA student store appears to have begun its recovery while its board members look with "guarded optimism" toward the future.
"There is no interest on anybody's part to take it over. (University officials) don't want it," former board Administrative Representative Dorothy Webster said.