Several former councilmembers have filed a grievance against A.S. Council over six years of withheld funding they say is owed to each of the six college councils.
The complaint report — filed last week by students Leonard Bobbitt, Travis Miller and Sammy Chang — alleges that UCSD’s Associated Students violated their own constitution as well as UCSD and UC Office of the President policy by failing to allocate the mandated funding of 65 cents per student per quarter to college councils since 2006.
“This grievance was a culmination of more than three years and four A.S. presidential administrations, including the [Andy] Buselt administration, who has stated that they are committed to college council funding but made no indication — especially in the budget allocation — that this will be happening,” former Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs Chang said. “It’s time for Associated Students to be actually representing students and their wishes via referendums.”
According to Chang — who also ran for A.S. president earlier this quarter — and former Associate Vice President of College Affairs Bobbitt, council has an obligation to fund the college councils due to referenda passed in 1985 and 1987 supporting a locked-in allocation of 50 cents (increased to 65 cents in 1987) to college councils. Language in the A.S. constitution also states that should council wish to eliminate such fees, changes must be initiated by a student referendum. Without any fee reductions, however, A.S. Council becomes legally responsible for allocating the 65 cents collected from each student each quarter to the college councils — funding that has not been provided to college councils since the 2006–2007 school year.
“Technically, the fee is still being collected,” Bobbitt said, “meaning that the money is there. It’s not a lack of funds that’s the problem in this situation — it’s the lack of oversight and all of the over-spending. A.S. should’ve never been touching this money to begin with. It started expanding its own programs with money that didn’t belong to it.”
Bobbitt explained that paying the fee is essential due to the precedent it creates, saying that if A.S. Council does not have to fund this referendum, it would have a basis from which to stop funding all referenda, including protected parts of its constitution, such as SPACES and the Student Sustainability Collective.
As a result, A.S. Council now owes a total of $248,144.85 in retroactive funding to the six college councils, according to Bobbitt’s report. Following the mandated minimum allocation, A.S. Council would provide $44,070 in college council funding for the 2013–2014 year alone.
“A.S. [Council] should be willing to compromise and be willing to fund the 65 cents for the college councils,” Warren College Student Council Judicial Board Chair Peter Buchowiecki said.
Former Eleanor Roosevelt College Student Council President Aaron Tumamao also expressed displeasure at funding cuts, saying that with the introduction of new student organizations, the current college council would benefit from funding.
“This year, our council really wished that we received A.S. funding, especially with our new student organizations,” Tumamao said.
Chang, Bobbitt and Miller are proposing either a transparent elimination of the fee through a student referendum — in order to legally reduce obligations to fund college councils — or a reinstitution of funding in accordance with the 1987 referendum.
A.S. President Andy Buselt — who did not respond to a Guardian request for an interview by press time — addressed the grievance during an open forum as part of the weekly A.S. Council meeting on May 22.
“We’re trying to find a solution that’ll work for us and for the councils,” Buselt said. “But be ready that this isn’t something that’s going to go away by fall quarter.”
Vice President of Finance Sean O’Neal recently included an amount of $7,345 in funding toward the college councils in A.S. Council’s projected 2013–2014 summer budget once he learned about the grievances — the first time since 2006 that the budget has included such an allocation. According to Chang, the addition came after A.S. Council learned about the grievances that were filed.
“I hope that this [grievance] opens the eyes of the Associated Students that it is essential [that] any and all referendums passed by students — no matter the era — is adhered,” Chang said. “It’s completely inappropriate for any A.S. to ignore historical precedents and favor their own agenda.”
A formal hearing presided over by the A.S. Judicial Board is scheduled to take place on June 5.
O’Neal and representatives from UCOP did not respond to interview requests by press time.
