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Editorial: 2014-2015 Councilwide evaluation

By Editorial Board

April 23, 2015 1:14 a.m.

This year’s Undergraduate Students Association Council ends its term with a concrete example of its ability to make national headlines and have a real effect on the reputation and standing of the university.

Unfortunately, that effect has been anything but positive.

The Rachel Beyda appointment incident – in which councilmembers questioned a Judicial Board candidate’s ability to remain unbiased because of her identity as a Jewish student – will remain a black mark on UCLA and its student body for years to come. It is a mark that cannot be easily erased by quick-trigger resolutions and half-apologies.

But while the events of Feb. 10 will undoubtedly overshadow the rest of the council’s tenure, the year as a whole was an exercise in political education full of positive and negative actions by our undergraduate representatives.

Oftentimes, these actions seemed as if they were in diametric opposition to each other.

We’ve seen a student government willing to reform campaign finance to make funding from outside sources more transparent. Yet we’ve also seen three elected officials resign with little or no explanation to the student body they are ultimately accountable to.

We’ve seen a student government handle the divisive issue of divestment from companies that some say profit from alleged human rights violations in Gaza and the West Bank with a higher level of maturity and poise than in prior years.

Yet we’ve also seen political infighting and petty rivalries, which led to an attempt by some councilmembers to block the line of succession outlined in the USAC bylaws after the resignation of the president.

We’ve seen a student government that was able to quickly mobilize and change focus when the critical issue of tuition increases was sprung on the student body in November. Yet we’ve also seen councilmembers that have used resolutions as a last-ditch attempt to fool the student body into believing they have made any tangible progress on the issues outlined in them.

We’ve seen a student government that was able to band together and successfully advocate faculty for the passage of a diversity requirement for the College of Letters and Science. Yet we’ve also seen events which lead us to believe that councilmembers themselves may be the ones most in need of it.

Council-wide efforts and campaigns were dedicated to important issues like mental health on campus but suffered under the weight of council resignations and frivolous factionalism. The All of Us campaign has started a real conversation about mental health on campus, but a concerted multipronged enterprise to tackle the issue through programming and advocacy has been replaced by piecemeal solutions through the Student Wellness Commission.

This year was not perfect, but mistakes by council are partially the student body’s responsibility to shoulder because of low voter turnout during USAC elections, political apathy and a general sentiment that what happens around the council table is meaningless.

With a new election comes a fresh chance for us as students to truly engage with USAC and work to keep them accountable.

This board’s sincere hope is that USAC as an institutional body can learn, move forward and continue to represent the best interest of students without making the same mistakes of the past.

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