USAC external vice president office ineffectively unites students against fee hikes

By Jarrod Goldberg

On Jan. 5, during a general meeting of the Undergraduate Students Association Council, an important discussion regarding California’s disappointing new budget and its lack of support for students brought up many pressing issues in our student government.

Three representatives drafted a “Call to Action” resolution, urging the student body to “direct their energies upon the State Capitol” and “take a proactive and forward-looking approach to state spending on education in order to prevent another education funding crisis.” This resolution was meant as a unifying message to the students and to the state legislature that we as a body were not going to stand for the injustices of the previous year.

These sentiments closely regarded those of Susan Li, the external vice president of USAC, who has claimed to play a large role in the fight to reduce fee hikes and combat the governor’s new budget. However, at the moment of this resolution’s presenting, Li was one of the first to decry the unifying statement. Her issue with the assertion, which was clearly a “call to action,” as it says in the title, was that it was “vague” and that the council should focus more on “individual students” attending lobby visits. Of course the “individual students” in this case referred to the small liberal, closed-door group of students known as the Bruin Lobby Corps. These students, who claim to focus on the rights and fair representation of students, in reality have a very poor track record of standing up for this student body, and those who don’t share their extremely liberal views aren’t welcome.

One political point they focus on, and one that Li backs whole-heartedly, is the California Democracy Act. This piece of legislation aims to change the California Constitution from being a two-thirds majority rule to pass legislation to a simple majority, or 50 percent plus one. The claim is that Democrats in California government can’t get things done because there are enough Republicans to block their initiatives.

The EVP, among other student groups, claims that this will be beneficial for students, yet it provides no details as to how or why. It assumes that the passing of this bill would immediately result in the balancing of our budget and the allocation of funds to the schools.

Unfortunately, reality paints a different picture. Our budget cannot be fixed by the majority party nor by the minority party taking control ““ it requires cooperation by everyone. The EVP office has also failed to show that Democrats will make education the top priority if the California Democracy Act is passed, and furthermore, if the budget cuts are entirely the fault of Republicans, what happens if the California Democracy Act is passed and the Republicans win a majority?

The California Democracy Act is a cop out, an attempt to turn the focus from the real issues of increased student fees and budget cuts. I believe that it is time for the individuals who are currently representing our student body as a whole to step up and aim for a unifying solution for our problems instead of one that only focuses on dividing.

To achieve lasting change in Sacramento and in our university system, it will require the cooperation of all student groups and all political affiliations. I urge the EVP office and its leader, Susan Li, to consider a message of unity against fee hikes and budget cuts, and for a chance for all students, regardless of whether they voted for McCain or Obama or Paul, to get a fair say in student government.

Goldberg is a fourth-year history student.