Jasmine Hill elected USAC president as Students First!, Bruins United split council seats 6-4
USAC President-elect Jasmine Hill of Students First! celebrates minutes after her victory on the steps of Kerckhoff Hall Thursday evening. Hill was one of six Students First! candidates to win positions for the upcoming academic year.
Students First! captured a majority at the Undergraduate Student Government elections Thursday night, taking six of the 10 competitive seats.
With 51.4 percent of student votes, Students First! candidate Jasmine Hill was elected president.
Chris Santos of Students First! was elected external vice president and Bruins United candidate Stephanie Lucas was elected as internal vice president.
Of a total 24,892 eligible voters, 35 percent of students cast votes. This was a lower turnout than the 38.9 percent of students who participated in the 2009 Undergraduate Student Association Council elections.
Bruins United, which took four seats, felt the near-even split was an improvement from the year before, said Luz Maria Kumpel, presidential candidate for Bruins United.
“I’m glad there was almost equal representation,” Kumpel said. “The issues on this campus is about being UCLA students, not about not about Bruins United or Students First!.”
However, the Students First! majority cannot be ignored, Kumpel said.
“I would hope that their values are reflective of both slates, and will help with making UCLA as good as it can be,” she said.
President-elect Hill said she felt her victory was a joint effort of a dedicated group of people coming together to achieve a common goal.
“Unity is what this campus needs,” she said, her voice trailing off as she was pulled down Bruin Walk amid a sea of supporters. “We are going to bring this campus together.”
Hill’s platform includes plans to push to increase community service efforts on campus, improve student safety and appeal to the state to work more with students.
After the results were announced, many students chanted “The Bruins, United, will never be defeated!.” Current General Representative Addison Huddy said he hopes the council will continue to work together to serve the students next year.
“Despite who won, I hope (they) will do the best for the university ”“ better than we did,” Huddy said.
Student supporters on all sides realized the need to unite, said Dante Cruz, a fifth-year history and Chicano studies student, who supported Students First!.
“I hope that everyone, regardless of their slates, takes the interest of students as their primary goal,” Cruz said.
Because the winning candidates mostly won by a small margin, students said they feel optimistic about the incoming council.
“It’s shocking how close the margins are, and it shows how much everyone’s vote counts,” said Nadia Frances, a second-year history student.
Nora Cisneros, a Defend Affirmative Action Party candidate for general representative, said the slate was successful despite its failure to gain an elected representative.
“We drafted a joint statement about the regents’ proposal in July to open institutional aid to AB 540 students. There was a lot of solidarity,” Cisneros said.
Luis Limon, incoming Graduate Students Association internal vice president of the Public Education Party, expressed excitement over the results.
“I came out here to show support for the new USAC. We’re really excited for the new leadership to work with next year. We want to build bridges,” Limon said.
