Student Director Endorsements 2014

Editor’s note: The Daily Bruin Editorial Board endorsed candidates for the student director seat in this weekend’s Westwood Neighborhood Council election.

The editorial board represents the official stance of the Daily Bruin and is composed of four standing members – the editor-in-chief, managing editor, news editor and opinion editor – in addition to six staff representatives.

The endorsement process took place the week before voting. Endorsements were primarily based on a 30-minute interview that two to three members of the editorial board conducted with each candidate. During these interviews, candidates were able to discuss their platforms, knowledge of the Westwood Neighborhood Council and prior experience.

The board selected endorsements for the seat after discussing each candidate and taking a vote. All endorsed candidates received a majority vote from the board.

We encourage students to do their own research into this year’s candidates – and to vote in the elections on Sunday.

Aurelia Friedman – Endorsed

Aurelia Friedman’s experience in local government and clear dedication to serving the student body has earned this board’s endorsement for the student director position on the Westwood Neighborhood Council.

With two years on the Pacific Palisades Community Council neighborhood council as a youth representative during high school, Friedman has experience navigating the bureaucracy of local government. As the student representative on the council she aims to foster a closer relationship between UCLA and the Westwood community. Although her opponent, Jin Ong, also has local government experience and similar outreach goals, Friedman has a much more realistic approach to achieving her goals.

But Friedman should concentrate on developing more concrete ideas for how to make the neighborhood council relevant to students. Her suggestion to increase the number of days that the council meets is a good start, but it is not enough to spark the interest of most students.

Friedman wants to address parking problems in Westwood, a valid goal. Though she demonstrated a good grasp of the main points of contention in Westwood, she posed no serious solutions for how to combat the issue. If elected, Friedman should make it a priority to work with local leaders, residents and business owners to come up with alternative parking options.

Friedman has proved that she is very qualified to fulfill her final platform: helping to register members of the Westwood community to vote. She was the head of a similar effort in the Undergraduate Students Association Council’s External Vice President office and helped campaign for mayoral candidate Wendy Greuel last year.

But while encouraging voter turnout is an important task, Friedman should additionally focus her efforts on endeavors that last beyond the November elections.

Although she should strive for more developed and lasting goals within the neighborhood council, Friedman is the clear choice for the student director position.

Jin Ong – No Endorsement

Jin Ong demonstrated a clear lack of understanding of what the role a representative on a local city council entails. His singular platform – “communication” – was both vague and underdeveloped.

When asked how exactly he would promote communication, Ong could not provide any method for increasing or improving the connection between the Westwood Neighborhood Council or other local governing bodies. He could not present any concrete goals to advocate for while serving on the board and did not have a clear sense of how he should represent students on the council.

Ultimately, Ong’s underwhelming grasp on the Westwood Neighborhood Council makes him an unfit choice for the student director seat on the local governing board.