Editorial
Something’s Rotten in The State of the ASUC

Tucked into the ASUC Senate’s normally dull consent calendar Wednesday night was a bill to pay the association president’s legal fees using an obscure emergency fund. Administrators should be alarmed, senators should be ashamed and students—the ones whose fees would end up covering Gabriel’s tab—should be outraged.

To ask so brazenly for more than $20,000 to cover personal legal fees takes a level of brashness beyond even the presumptious ASUC.

The funds would cover Gabriel’s legal expenses in the case Gabriel v. Associated Students of the University of California, in which Gabriel hired outside counsel and brought Student Action complaints to the Alameda County Superior Court. He said that as ASUC president, he is entitled to the assistance offered by the ASUC Legal Defense Fund.

But Gabriel was no longer an ASUC senator, much less president. He was clearly acting in his personal interest, not on behalf of the ASUC.

And when acting on his own behalf, there is no reason that he would merit coverage by the ASUC’s defense fund. It’s like Al Gore bringing his case before the Supreme Court after the 2000 election and, if he were declared the victor, asking Congress to foot the legal bill.

There would be outrage in American political circles, and rightly so. But when a corresponding situation occurs in the ASUC, the measure was passed on to committee without a hint of debate or a murmur of reaction.

Where is the ASUC’s system of checks and balances? This should leave everyone worried about the leadership capacity of the president and the level of cronyism in the senate.

And all of this is even taking into account the fact that Gabriel should never have incurred the expenses at all. The lawsuit, presented July 10 before Alameda County Superior Court Judge Winifred Smith, was dismissed a mere three days later because Student Action’s appeal had not yet been heard by the Judicial Council. If Gabriel had exhausted procedural avenues before hiring outside counsel, this wouldn’t have happened in the first place.

It would be nice to encourage senators to take a close look at the appropriation and seriously reconsider the merits of the bill. But unfortunately, such urging would fall on deaf ears: Gabriel has frustrated efforts to view a receipt of the attorney’s charges, refusing requests on the night of the meeting and dodging attempts to obtain it the following day. Does he expect students and administrators to dole out $20,000 without documentation?

This looks like an attempt to try to quietly push through a bill he knows will reflect badly on him and his party. CalSERVE and senators from the other side of the chamber should be up in arms and voicing dissent, not passively sitting in their chairs. They must galvanize student opposition and kill this bill where it stands.

And who above all must act? Student Action-affiliated senators. The only way they can redeem themselves and demonstrate true leadership is not by toeing the party line, but by breaking ranks for the sake of responsible and honest student government.

But the obligation shouldn’t end with just senators: Any student worried over the use of their money, any administrator worried about UC Berkeley’s reputation and any citizen concerned about governmental integrity should do everything they can to stop this bill.

How should everyone respond? Gabriel’s e-mail address is

president@asuc.org—tell him what you think of this bill. After all, it’s your money.

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