Letters

Elections miss out on law students

The people currently wringing their hands about low voter
turnout in Graduate Student Association elections would do well to
make a note of the fact that the elections are regularly scheduled
when the law students ““ who comprise 10 percent of the
graduate population on this campus ““ are in the middle of
their spring semester final exams.

Voting in a campus election is the furthest thing from their
minds at that time, if they even happen to be on campus during the
election (and many actually study at home). That’s almost
1,000 potential votes lost, not to mention the fact the the law
students end up having no political voice in the process.

If GSA is really looking for ways to increase voter turnout, it
should hold the elections by the end of April. Law students may
surprise the rest of the graduate student body with their level of
interest and participation, and GSA might actually achieve the
threshold of votes necessary to pass important referenda.

Liz Cheadle

Dean of Students

School of Law

Spring Sing lacks diversity

I went to Spring Sing again this year. And again, I enjoyed it
““ but only to a certain extent. I’ve never been able to
fully get into the show. Before this year, I never knew why. Now, I
do. It’s because of the diversity in the program, or
actually, the lack thereof.

It’s as if those enormously diverse fraternities and
sororities still organized Spring Sing. Yes, there’s some
great singing, some great dancing, some great humor, but is there
any diversity in the participants?

Well, there’s some in the stands: the audience looks
pretty representative of UCLA. But down on the stage, and
especially behind the judges’ table, that doesn’t seem
to be the case.

Twelve of the 19 acts had all-white or majority-white casts. All
but maybe one or two of the 14 people in the famous Spring Sing
Company (the skit performers between the acts) were white. And most
glaringly, nine of the 10 celebrity judges were white as well (the
lone “other” was Lena Caldwell, an African
American).

Are whites really the only good singers, dancers and celebrities
out there? For next year, I hope the Spring Sing Executive
Committee adds a little more “color.” Or else, I say we
just hand the show back over to the fraternities and sororities.
That way, we wouldn’t be fooling ourselves.

And last but not least, in addition to adding
“color,” I’d hope the Executive Committee also
adds a little “culture.” Most of the acts smack of
*NSync, the Backstreet Boys or Broadway musicals. How about some
jazz, rap, salsa, powwow or Tinikling (Pilipino dance). And
here’s a radical idea: how about something in a language
other than English?

This year, even saying “Happy Cinco de Mayo”
would’ve been nice, since after all, Spring Sing did land on
the fifth of May.

Paul Padilla

Third-year

English and ethnic studies