Now what?

Tuesday, May 7, 1996

By Patrick Kerkstra

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

"Euphoria."

That’s the word president-elect John Du chose to describe the
feeling that hit him immediately after the Students First! slate’s
landslide victory in last Thursday’s undergraduate council
elections was announced.

Du, who defeated United Students candidate Brad Miller and Bruin
Vision candidate J.D. Tovar by a large margin, was joined by other
leaders of the Students First! slate in a clean sweep of the
council’s positions. Most won their offices by a 60-40 percent
margin.

Such thorough single-party domination is analogous to a U.S.
President who serves with a House and Senate entirely composed of
members from his or her own party.

But while election results were definitive, their implications
for next year are less so.

Members of both slates are questioning their roles, campaign
techniques and the future of undergraduate politics in wake of this
year’s stunning election results.

Du viewed the election results as the voters’ mandate for the
Students First! agenda and approach.

"This was a clear message by the student body that its student
government must be more vocal," Du said.

Du plans to continue many of the projects begun by this year’s
council, such as voter registration drives and anti-fee hike
campaigns.

But Matt Shapiro, Miller’s campaign manager, said the Students
First! perception of widespread campus approval is false.

"They can claim a political mandate, but legitimately, no, they
don’t have one," Shapiro said. "They have 3,500 students out of
25,000. Do they have a mandate from their constituency? Yes. Do
they have a mandate from the campus? No."

However no one disputed that with a purely Students First!
council, Du will have little trouble getting his agenda
approved.

As for the greek-supported United Students, their role in
undergraduate government next year will be reduced from that of a
participant to watchdog.

"Our job will be to keep an eye on them and make sure they don’t
overstep their bounds," Shapiro said.

Hoping to maintain high voter approval, members of Students
First! said they have learned not only from the successes of this
year’s council, but its mistakes as well.

Vocal critics of this year’s council have complained that the
student government focused on issues outside of UCLA, such as
affirmative action and fee hikes, at the expense of more
UCLA-oriented concerns.

In response to these challenges, Du said next year’s council
would pay more attention to administrative concerns like
appointments and bylaw interpretation. But it appears that Students
First! will again allocate most of its resources and time to issues
such as national elections, affirmative action and defeating the
California Civil Rights Initiative.

Despite the success this platform generated in this year’s
elections, some United Students members argued the largely
off-campus agenda will eventually lead to Students First!
demise.

"Affirmative action is dying, and unless they find something
else, they’re going to have difficulty holding their coalition
together," Shapiro said.

But until then, United Students is left examining its own
techniques, platform and approach ­ including the close,
historical affiliation with UCLA’s greek population.

"I see a further move away from the greek slate ­ that’s
why we’re United Students," Shapiro said. "Our point is not just to
represent United Students, our point is to get all students
involved."

Brett Bouttier, the United Student Financial Supports
Commissioner candidate was even more emphatic.

"The greek slate does not exist anymore. We want to develop that
further," Bouttier said.

Both said future plans include branching the slate out to
include other like-minded student organizations ­ a strategy
that has worked exceedingly well for Students First!

Several campus community groups, such as the African Student
Union and Samahang Pilipino, encouraged their members to support
the Students First! slate.

"Our supporters were very organized and did well in outreach and
bringing out the vote," said Alberto Retana, the newly elected
external vice-president.

"A lot of it just came down to talking to people. We were down
to earth and talked about results we had this last year, and plans
for next year — not just spouting empty rhetoric but giving
concrete plans," Retana continued.

In reviewing their campaign, United Students members attributed
their loss to the opposition’s effectiveness ­ not internal
failures.

"Our numbers would have won elections for us in previous years.
Each side was mobilizing people, but Students First! really showed
some community support," Bouttier said.

With reports from Kimberly Mackesy and Rachanee Srisavasdi,
Daily Bruin Senior Staff.

SUSIE CHU/Daily Bruin

Undergraduate president-elect John Du celebrates with fellow
Students First! members after hearing the election results.PATRICK
LAM/Daily Bruin

Undergraduate presidential candidate Brad Miller (center) and
Financial Supports Commissioner candidate Brett Bouttier were
present when their slate’s defeat was announced last Thursday.