Members of A.S. Council passed a resolution by consensus during its March 10 meeting in support of a statement by the UC Student Association that urges the university to maintain an open student fee policy that would allow student governments to use funds in campaigning on public policy issues.
UCSA’s statement of principles was created in response to the university’s efforts to revise its guidelines, the latest of which was first released Feb. 4, prohibiting student governments from funding “non-university political” campaigns using student fees. According to the University of California’s proposed changes, campaigns for ballot initiatives are included in the restrictions.
For A.S. Vice President External Harish Nandagopal, who submitted the legislation, supporting UCSA means allowing students to have more control on how student fees are spent.
“It’s important to support the statement because it gives students more autonomy over how to use their fees,” Nandagopal said. “It will also give us more lobbying power when we lobby the state to pursue the education mission of the university.”
In addition to supporting the UCSA, the A.S. resolution states that the proposed changes would limit student governments “from engaging in political activities necessary to represent the student body’s interests statewide and in their local communities.”
Current university revisions to the policy would not allow funding to be allocated to student organizations and programs by means of campus referenda. According to Nandagopal, a referendum allows students to find out more about where money is allocated.
“Right now, when A.S. passes a referendum, we can basically say that we want to put this much money to this, but with the current fee policies they’re proposing, we could not do that,” Nandagopal said.
According to the UCSA Statement of Principles, the UC policies should allow for funding that includes “activities occurring both on- and off-campus” as well as “activities that engage in public policy matters.”
A.S. President Jeremy Paul Gallagher argued that the A.S. Constitution should mandate how money is spent, not the university.
“Basically, the students should have the freedom to spend our money in the manner that we want,” Gallagher said. “It is a free speech issue. Our [A.S.] Constitution defines how we should and shouldn’t do it — we need to follow that and nothing else.”
In a statement released in February, the UC Office of the President argues that the proposed changes were made in order to comply with California law restricting public agencies, including the university, from using public funds “to promote a partisan position in a state election campaign.”
However, the UCSA statement cites the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System v. Southworth case, arguing that the March 2000 U.S. Supreme Court decision reaffirmed the importance of mandatory fee funding for a variety of student activities promoting the educational mission of a university.
“We shouldn’t be regulated in any manner in how we want to spend our money,” Gallagher said. “And for the university to do so is against court decisions that have already been passed.”
However, some councilmembers also expressed caution and sentiment that the A.S. Council should maintain equal funding in terms of proposition campaigns.
“I don’t think it’s right for A.S. or the university to favor a particular proposition — if they are willing to fund a proposition, then they should also equally fund another proposition,” Revelle College Sophomore Senator Ashley Aluisi said.
Student organizations were given until March 26 for input and comments on the proposed revisions. The UCSA statement, which includes guidelines for appropriate student fee policies, will then be submitted to UCOP. The A.S. resolution will be forwarded to UCOP along with ASUCSD comments on the changes.
According to Nandagopal, the issue will continue to be discussed with UCSD administration and among other student governments.
Nandagopal said he will be meeting with Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Joseph W. Watson to discuss the issues at stake, as well as continuing to work with UCSA and other UC campuses. He also plans to send letters to state senators to ask for their support in lobbying UCOP.
