Editorial: UCLA issues should be USAC’s priority
By Daily Bruin Staff
March 1, 2010 7:56 p.m.
On Feb. 8, 11 students were arrested at UC Irvine for repeatedly interrupting a speech given by the Israeli ambassador.
In return, the undergraduate student government at UCLA passed a resolution reiterating students’ constitutional rights to free speech and assembly.
This board can appreciate that the UCLA Undergraduate Students Association Council wanted to show solidarity with the student protesters who were removed from the event and may face dismissal or expulsion from the university.
We agree that punishing the students for exercising their rights to free speech and assembly would be wrong, but was it necessary for USAC to devote more than an hour of their meeting last week to deliberate on this issue?
We agree that the student protesters from UCI and UC Riverside should not face expulsion for making their views heard.
If the student protesters were to face dismissal for their behavior, it would not be a far step to see how hundreds of students at UCLA could have faced repercussions for marching against the budget cuts in September and rallying outside the UC Board of Regents meeting in November.
Just as USAC’s resolution says, “No student should have to fear academic consequences for protesting on an issue of which they hold strong convictions.”
Rights to free speech and assembly should be defended and upheld.
We just don’t know if it was necessary or efficient for USAC to adopt this issue and spend more than an hour on it at the expense of other items on their agenda.
Instead of deliberating over something that happened at another campus and issuing what amounts to a formal statement outlining their position on free speech, the council should remember its primary duty: to serve UCLA undergraduates.
It is not necessary or possible for USAC to try and regulate student rights, and while supporting other UC student bodies in times like these is the sensible and supportive thing to do, the incident at UCI should not have been given as much priority and urgency in the council’s meeting as it was.
This incident is reminiscent of a resolution passed in January 2009, in which USAC called for a cease-fire in the Gaza conflict. It is admirable to stand behind a cause and represent student voices, but the council should give the bulk of their attention to campus issues before they deem it necessary to issue an opinion on state or global problems.
The councilmembers, many of whom probably want to pursue political careers after college, should get in the habit of remembering that UCLA students are their primary constituents and cater to their needs first.
