In stark contrast to previous near-empty A.S. Council gatherings, upward of 50 students from various campus organizations appeared en masse during public input this week, with the usual 20-minute allotment more than doubled to accommodate the influx of passionate speeches for council aid.
The students implored the council to reconsider funding denied to cultural events and show support for the Office of Academic Support and Instructional Services, which is scheduled for severe funding cuts this year. Among the organizations present in support of O.A.S.I.S. were the Thurgood Marshall College Student Council, Students Take Action Now, Student-Run Television, Student Affirmative Action Committee, Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan, Student Initiated Outreach and Recruitment Commission and fraternity Sigma Phi Epsilon.
“UCSD’s focus is academics,” said MEChA Chair Miguel Torres, speaking in defense of O.A.S.I.S. and its work on campus.
Torres went on to cite what he deemed inconsistencies in a letter written by Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Joseph W. Watson, in which Watson said that state cuts were the only reason behind the decrease in O.A.S.I.S. funding. However, Torres also referenced the administration’s promise to help fund the athletics department, currently in debt, and rhetorically questioned where that money would be coming from.
Along with supporters, student representatives from O.A.S.I.S. also spoke to field questions and explain their program, highlighting the numerous ways in which they said it benefits the student population as a whole.
“If we do not have the support service on the campus, we will have a lack of academic diversity,” O.A.S.I.S. Program Leader Jeffrey Montojo said.
Along the same vein of spreading diversity at UCSD, members from Sangam, the South Asian Awareness organization, and Kaibigang Pilipino urged the council reconsider upcoming events, which were not funded by the Student Organization Funding Advisory Board due to their off-campus locations. But just when some spectators started thinking the A.S. Council is all funding appeals and bureaucracy, the two-hour recess for the Finance Committee to consider the SOFAB appeals was an unusually lively period, marked by a karaoke sing-off between Vice President of Academic Affairs Harry Khanna and John Muir Freshman Senator Jonathan Hicken.
Returning to business, Earl Warren College Sophomore Senator Daniel Palay addressed the comments implying that the athletics program benefits from the cuts in funding to O.A.S.I.S.
“I want to dispel the myth that it’s athletics versus O.A.S.I.S.,” Palay said.
Vice President Finance Greg Murphy spoke to the tired, yet still passionate crowd, explaining that SOFAB wanted to fund the cultural events, but members did not feel it was within the board’s boundaries to violate A.S. bylaws, which prohibit funds for most off-campus events. However, Murphy said the committee left sufficient funds for the programs in the event of successful appeals. Ultimately, the council made good on this offer, and funded the cultural events in full.
