Put student government to work for you

Monday, September 22, 1997 Put student government to work for
you USAC: Students must get involved to ensure council addresses
issues of cost, diversity, racial harmony

By Ben Hofilena

Things are not always as they appear. UCLA is not the liberal
mecca of California. UCLA does not offer the luxuries associated
with a private education. This campus cannot offer you the
personalized service it may have promised you. UCLA does not have a
student government that functions to serve you.

How do I know this? My first-hand experience on this campus and
in the great halls of Kerckhoff has shown me that these truths are
self-evident. Not to get too philosophical, but we deserve better.
You deserve the luxuries of a private institution. You deserve
personalized service. You deserve access to all corners of the
campus. You deserve to have a student government that does what it
was intended to do.

The Undergraduate Students Association Council is seriously
flawed. You may hear grandiose promises of "fighting for access to
higher education" and "empowerment for all students." This is
simply not true. USAC is not the cure-all. In fact, it cannot, in
its current state, even begin to effectively address the issues at
hand.

Let me tell you what these issues are – and some solutions. I
challenge USAC President Kandea Mosley and her Students
First!-affiliated council members to address these issues in a
substantive way. I ask this on behalf of the many students who did
not support the election of these officials.

Question the information you receive. Not all leaders seek to
empower others. Many seek to empower only those who have been
"historically and systematically" disempowered by "the system." In
truth, as students – many of whom are working one or more job, or
scrounging from month to month to pay the bills, eat and have a
little fun now and again – we are all disempowered.

Let me give you my idea of what is most directly affecting us
here at UCLA (mind you, this is not in terms of the "real world,"
but in terms of campus issues): post-affirmative-action UCLA. How
do we keep this campus from losing the diversity we pride ourselves
on? We need to start by acting as mature, thoughtful participants
in the decision-making process. Once we do that, we will have the
power to change things. We will be the main parties to recruit and
retain the future students of this campus.

Look no further than the student-run and student-founded Campus
Retention Committee for ideas with which to achieve this goal. It
acts as a university unit in the academic and social-support
network for hundreds of underrepresented students. The truth is, we
need a much larger solution. Active involvement by you will make
the difference.

We can make the university a smaller and more positive
environment by giving all incoming students a similar outreach and
retention program. We demand from the university (and, in all
reality, our student leaders) a program geared to any student who
needs the help.

Coming from Harvard, UCLA must be a culture shock for Chancellor
Albert Carnesale. Soon enough, I fear it will be a culture shock
for us, too, unless we clearly communicate to him what it is that
makes UCLA a great place. It is not just the great education in the
best part of town that sets us apart. It is not just the awesome
tradition of athletics and fine arts. It is not even the fact that
we have beaten USC for the last six years in football (although
this is a plausible argument for some). No, it is the fact that we
have thrived as a place of intercultural exchange and debate. We
have succeeded because of Chancellor Charles Young’s commitment to
shared governance. We must maintain this environment for future
Bruins to come. I am sure that Chancellor Carnesale is sensitive to
this, but he may not see the deep emotional need and desire to
maintain this fine tradition.

More attention needs to be paid to the quality and relevancy of
our collective education. How can an "educated" individual get
through four, five or (yes, even) six years of college and never
take an ethnic or gender studies-related course? If you want to
talk about a "relevant" education, here is a start.

In a time of increased registration fees and diminishing
financial aid, what is being done to ensure that we are getting our
money’s worth? Once again, the university has implemented a
"pay-as-you-go" fee (e.g., the Ackerman Union fee) without showing
us the light at the end of the tunnel. Remember, the constitution
of the State of California is very clear that the University of
California exists as a public educational institution created to
provide a free education for its residents.

I ask this simple question: When did the university cease to be
public? Answer: the day it began to charge students for the cost of
an education. Bruins, you go to a semi-private institution – and do
not receive even a fraction of the services and benefits associated
with that. Your student government has the obligation to address
this – not through protests and rallies necessarily, but through
dialogue and participation in long-range planning. UCLA is already
one of the premier academic institutions in the world. The
absolutely unique thing about the Hills of Westwood is that you can
walk on our campus (at least for now) and see people from every
race, creed, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, academic
interest and background you can imagine. Let’s face it – if the
university charges more for an education, the doors will close for
many promising youths. That is a disgrace. What are we doing to
change that? What are your student leaders doing? It is easy to
talk a good game. The goal is to come up with a strategic game
plan.

The Racial Divide: It exists. You can’t ignore it. It has to be
addressed – not by "empowering" one group, but by lifting the
spirits and relations of all. You have a place here. Don’t let
anyone allow you to think differently. Become involved. Challenge
what you hear. Let’s be honest: once familiar with the campus, most
could probably identify where particular groups congregate and
appear to separate themselves on Bruin Walk. For those of you who
experienced the USAC elections last spring, was the racial tension
not clear? USAC is your tool to change things (or keep them the
same, if you’d prefer). Do not allow it to sit in the ivory tower
of Kerckhoff Hall and act in your "best interest."

Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Without this,
our democracy will tumble. For the last two years, USAC has not had
a minority-party voice. We have not been able to completely, fairly
and productively address the myriad of issues affecting us. If you
did not fit the political ideology of the majority council, you
were not included in the decision-making process. You deserve a
voice.

Student government should not be exclusive. It must not act in
the interests of a few. It cannot ethically continue to deny
representation to student groups that the Students First! machine
has decided to hate and use as scapegoats for all the world’s
injustices.

This is an important time in our university’s history. I call on
all students to work together. We need to put aside our differences
and act as a united student body.

Ultimately, with the way our student government is structured,
the decision to work together is yours. I challenge you and
Students First! supporters to listen to other students who might
not look, act or think like you. Do not merely respond by attacking
administrations of years past. Instead, "show us the money." (After
all, USAC did decide to give you and themselves a pay
increase.)

This year, the rules will change. Let’s get to work.

Ben Hofilena