USAC candidates debate issues, qualifications amid slate politics

Undergraduate student government candidates debated Sunday about the merits of their previous experience and their relationships with University and student group leaders.

The debates, organized by the Undergraduate Students Association Council Election Board, took place on the Hill in front of a crowd generally split between the two dominant slates Bruins United and LET’S ACT!. For most typically contested positions in USAC elections, both slates are running candidates this year.

USAC presidential candidates Morris Sarafian, who is running with LET’S ACT!, and Heather Rosen, who is running with Bruins United, discussed issues such as food security, the affordability of student resources and UCLA’s campus climate during their debate.

In addition to talking about her platforms, such as creating a type of food closet on campus that would provide cheaper produce options, Rosen also discussed her response to the controversial questioning of a student this year based on her Jewish identity at a USAC meeting. She said she stood up against what she thinks was an anti-Semitic line of questioning at the meeting.

Sarafian talked about his goal to hold a conference that would help students talk about their backgrounds and share cultures with one another. He added that he has attended workshops for sensitivity training against anti-Semitism.

Some candidates with in-house experience stressed their knowledge of the positions they are running for during the debates.

Heather Hourdequin, who was appointed internal vice president this year about midway through the term, is running for the same position this year with the Bruins United slate. In the debate between her and Devyani Rana, the LET’S ACT! internal vice president candidate, Hourdequin said she would continue the process of creating a common funding application for student groups and would reach out to more student organizations.

Rana, however, criticized Hourdequin and the current office by saying she thinks the student group liaisons, who are tasked with connecting student groups to the office, have not done a sufficient job in recent years. She said she thinks this has hurt the office’s goal of serving student groups.

“I want to remind everyone that holding office does not mean you are qualified,” she said.

During the Academic Affairs Commission debate, Trent Kajikawa, a Bruins United candidate, said he planned to improve Wi-Fi across campus and introduce an online appointment scheduling process for the College of Letters and Sciences. The other candidate for the position from LET’S ACT!, Kevin Casasola, said he thinks improving Wi-Fi would be too logistically difficult and expensive in parts of South Campus.

Casasola also emphasized his goals of being a representative for South Campus students in USAC.

“There is a need to increase the presence of marginalized and STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) communities within AAC,” he said.

The external vice president’s office debate mainly focused on the controversial tuition hike proposal passed by the University of California Board of Regents this school year.

Both candidates, Denea Joseph, the LET’S ACT! candidate, and Zachary Helder, the Bruins United candidate, said they would want to advocate for a student regent to sit on the Board of Regents to give students more of a voice at the table. Helder, however, said that in the short term he would push for a student advisor to join the Board because a student regent would require state legislature.

The debate became heated when Helder said he thinks the current LET’S ACT!-run external vice president’s office had a bad relationship with UC President Janet Napolitano this year. He said he thinks that the relationship was harmful to student advocacy.

A recurring point of discussion was the creation of a transfer student resource center during the transfer student representative debates. All three candidates for the position, which was created last spring, said they would try to find additional sources of funding for the center if elected. Administrators have said the center’s creation would require a hike in mandatory student fees.

Julio Cesar Flores, the only independent candidate to run against slated candidates for a contested position, said at the debate that he thinks he is a good candidate because slate tensions would not affect his work.

“I am not here to win a popularity contest,” Flores said. “I am here to win your vote.”

Some general representative candidates talked about platforms that cater to specific groups on campus, such as students with substance abuse issues and international students.

Voting began Monday on MyUCLA at noon.