ASUCD Commission Behavior

In the Associated Students of the University California Davis or ASUCD, there are 7 commissions with at least 11 members in each one. The legislative branch of ASUCD includes the Internal Affairs Commission, Academic Affairs Commission, Ethnic and Cultural Affairs Commission, Gender and Sexuality Commission, Business and Finance Commission, External Affairs Commission, and the Environmental Policy and Planning Commission. They all have 9 voting members and at least two alternates although occasionally one may have 1 alternate while another may have three alternates. Commissions that have more than two earn my compliments while those who have less earn my lawsuits.

In order to get on a commission you have to fill out an application form that has your contact information and a description of your experience and qualifications. You should fill out a paper form and an electronic form because either or both can be lost by the system. Granted the chair gives you a call for an interview, (not always the case), you can become interviewed for the positions.

Most of the questions for the interview are vague and thus you could talk forever on your life story before they stop you. Other questions are more specific as to whether you truly have any experience in the field you wish to be involved in. Some questions are stupid though like what is your favorite actor, color, sports team, etc. How you answer this question may establish how human you are.

The interviewing committee consists of two Senators, a commission chair of the commission the applicant is applying for, a commissioner from the commission the applicant is applying for, and another commission chair of another commission. Legally the interview team can be made up of four people but the absent one must be a Senator. If there is less than one Senator or less than four members the interview process is illegal and the Court could rule that the interview process is void. This happened for my interview and so my External Affairs Commission position was unconstitutional.

In most cases active students, even freshmen can get on commissions. I have seen myself passed over by freshmen who know zip about the system. Then there are those who are selected because they are well connected or friends with those in power. Those that rebel against the system tend not to do so well.

Then the Senate usually rubber stamps what the interview committee judges. There have been some small controversies but I have never seen someone not confirmed until just recently with the Gender and Sexuality Commission.

In the commissions as I have observed there are different groups of people. There are the conservative establishment people, the rebels, and the wise men. The Conservatives are not politically conservative; they support the status quo and their way of doing things. They tend to have more experience, have greater arrogance, and are usually promoted to chair or Senate later on. The Conservatives often need to know what they are doing so that the Rebels don’t get the upper hand.

The Rebels are those who introduce legislation on the idea that they are the minority on the commission. They hope for the rare chance that the wise men will side with them against the Conservatives. They often have more fun than the Conservatives because they don’t take the process as seriously. They are liberal only when it comes to what they want done which is a lot of different changes. They may also hope to regress ASUCD back to a more glorious state. The Rebels tend to not promote anywhere within the association but hope for the day when they will rule over the Conservatives. The Rebels and Conservatives are generally experts on ASUCD processes.

The Wise Men never speak during Commission meetings. If you look at the minutes they have zero quotes. They are generally hard working on projects and writing reports but they have little to nothing to say about legislation. They are unpredictable as far as determining how they will vote but they tend to vote with the Conservatives. The Wise Men may know a great deal but this can never be determined and as such people sometimes get the impression that they know nothing about the system. They prove that one can still contribute to a debate without saying a word. They tend to not have as much fun as the Rebels or the Conservatives. They also tend to never promote and are generally content with their position.

Every once in a while accusations of cronyism are thrown around. This accusation is hard to prove and hard to defend which makes it a convenient attack. The story of Greg Webb does not surprise me at all. I aimed him randomly about running for ASUCD Senate in the Fall of 2006 and he agreed but he didn’t collect enough signatures. He managed to secure enough in the Winter of 2007 and joined the Student Focus slate after briefly being with ACT. After his loss in the Winter of 2007, Greg visited the Internal Affairs Commission frequently, and would later comment to me on what he thought of the meeting. He even wrote a letter to the editor commenting on a piece of legislation from IAC and every so often went to Senate meetings. While this was going on Greg Webb and I discussed the possibility of an ASUCD radio talk show on KDVS for the Fall quarter. The idea that he isn’t qualified or that he deserves last place is not surprising to me concerning status quo but is somewhat appalling to me. I fully expect Mr. Webb to be involved in some interesting things on the start of the fall quarter. As said above, Greg made the mistake of being a rebel.