Despite conflicts, president’s office works for inclusion

Houston is a fourth-year political science student and president
of USAC.

By Elizabeth Houston

Hypocrisy. Boycotts. Intolerance. Cowardice. Discrimination.
Yes, this quarter the Undergraduate Student Association Council
members have, once again, demonstrated some of their signature
characteristics. Fortunately, pouting and pitching fits neither
impress nor persuade the UCLA administration.

Despite biased reporting in the Daily Bruin and outright
boycotting of ad hoc funding committee meetings, the effort to
reform the USAC’s governing documents in the area of
sponsorship for student groups has continued, spearheaded by the
administration and administered primarily by my office. As I
explained in my last letter (“Students encouraged to get
involved in campus community,” Daily Bruin, Viewpoint, Jan.
17), the Ad Hoc Funding Committee meetings were set up in October
for council members to evaluate changes for our non-compliant
bylaws.

There has been a lack of accurate information published
regarding the full extent of the actions surrounding this
issue. In the interest of time, I won’t go into
detail. Instead, I will inform you of the actions of council
and the reasoning behind the prevailing solution.

The issue of sponsorship of student groups is quite simply one
of access. Under the current system, the only groups which can be
sponsored by USAC, according to our bylaws, are those that promote
“cultural heritage” and have been “historically
discriminated against” because they are an underrepresented
people. Our bylaws are discriminatory, exclusionary, biased and
ultimately problematic.

Though council members boycotted the ad hoc funding committee
meetings in an attempt to resist reform of our biased documents,
the chancellor ultimately was forced to step in and place a
deadline of April 13 for these reforms to take place. It is an
embarrassment to the student body that the men and women that they
elected as their representatives have behaved in such an
unprofessional and juvenile way.

Why would any elected officer refuse to comply with the law of
their institution? The answer to this question was quite evident at
our Feb. 27 council meeting. Around 100 student advocacy group
representatives filed the council meeting. The majority of these
groups associate themselves with Praxis, the political slate that
holds the majority of seats on our council.

One can easily conclude that the council that supposedly
represents the entire student body of UCLA has allowed its actions
to be dictated by political pressure from a few student groups.
Yet, the “coincidences” don’t stop
there. These groups also happen to be groups which, under the
current system of sponsorship, receive and have access to benefits
that the rest of the 400 groups on this campus do not.

It is all clear now. Too bad the Daily Bruin hasn’t yet
picked up on the Praxis machine that controls USAC. What an expose
that would be! And this is only the tip of the iceberg.

Although political resistance remained as the backdrop, winter
quarter was a success for the office of the president of the
Undergraduate Student’s Association, UCLA’s student
government. I have seen many of the goals I set during my campaign
come to fruition with the help of my staff and the UCLA
community.

The four events that the president’s office produced this
quarter addressed a broad range of needs on this campus all while
working toward the goal of a more accessible USAC.

The first event was our student group mixers, to which we
invited every student group on campus to participate in a
discussion with other groups on campus. These two nights were
extremely productive as groups from all parts of the campus met
each other, some for the first time, and discussed their plans,
mission and programs for the year. The groups expressed their
enthusiasm for the mixers and were excited about having mixers
during spring quarter.

Many of these groups were encouraged by the steps being made
within USAC to grant them access to the many benefits and funding
that only sponsored groups receive.

Overall, the student group mixers helped to unify our campus.
The president’s office will be hosting more of these in
spring quarter for any group that would like to increase their
participation in the UCLA community.

The People’s Jam 3-v-3 Basketball Tournament was a huge
success. With over 22 teams from many parts of the campus
participating in the tournament, we raised $1000 for the
President’s Student Retention Scholarship. The K-Phi-O
step-dance team was phenomenal and brought 60 inner city junior
high and high school students to the event.

The president’s office staff took them on a tour of our
campus, and gave the team an honorarium to help further their
efforts to encourage inner city youth to attend college. With over
$800 worth of prizes donated from Nike and many Westwood
businesses, the participants said that the event was well-organized
and fun. All of the proceeds from the event are being used to
support student retention efforts on campus through a $500
scholarship awarded to one male and one female applicant from the
Student Retention Center or the Academic Advancement Program.

Thank you to everyone who helped to make this event a great
success and a unifying event for the UCLA campus.

In honor of Black History Month, the office hosted Brett Fuller,
the president and co-founder of the African American Resource
Ministry in Washington, D.C. Eighty people showed up for the event,
titled “Racial Reconciliation.” Fuller spoke about
racial reparations, a controversial topic in our generation.

When asked how this message could be spread so that we could
heal the wounds of racism in our country, Fuller answered that it
was going to have to be a grassroots effort to silence the bitter
accusations and foster racial reparations to the African American
communities of our nation. This event was sobering and yet ignited
a flame of hope that our country could one day be a land where
equality applies to everyone.

Our last event this quarter was the Women’s Forum 2001
addressing the role of women in a cross-cultural perspective. Women
from Ghana, Singapore, Egypt, India and Switzerland spoke from
their own personal experiences as women in their respective
cultures. The feelings and perspectives these women shared from
their personal experiences with their cultural norms enlightened
and inspired dialogue with the members of the audience. I believe
that everyone who attended the event felt their world view
challenged in one way or another.

As finals week looms ahead, and winter quarter draws to a close,
I want to remind you that my office is always open to you. I
consider it an honor to serve UCLA and will continue to work to
make the environment of our campus one which enriches and supports
the life of every Bruin. Good luck on finals and God bless you!