Diaz vs. Fearn for Academic Affairs

Chris Diaz

By Jeyling Chou
Daily Bruin Contributor When the Academic Affairs commissioner for
the upcoming school year is instated, they will hold influence on
many of the issues which most closely affect current and future
UCLA students. Dria Fearn and Chris Diaz, the two candidates vying
for this position in the approaching Undergraduate Student
Association Council elections have voiced their position on some of
these prevalent issues and proposed courses of action. With
applicants to the UCs at an all-time high, there has been a trend
of increased selectivity in the admissions process.

Gaining access to UCLA In the fall of 2001,
UCLA admitted 9,609 California freshman applicants, while this
year, the number decreased to 9,350.

Dria "A" Fearn

Following this trend, outreach and the accessibility to the UC
system has become an issue of increasing concern for the 2002-2003
school year. “For outreach, you have to turn to the
community,” said Fearn, a third-year political science
student. She hopes to expand student initiated outreach that bring
high school students to tour the UCLA campus. Fearn, who is running
under the Students United for Reform and Equality slate, believes
programs directed toward high school students of lower
socioeconomic backgrounds will make UCLA more of a tangible
reality. This can be done, Fearn said, by educating prospective
students on the requirements necessary for applying to the UC and
the possibilities of gaining admission as a transfer student. Fearn
hopes to increase funding for outreach programs and places a focus
on making these programs student-initiated. She feels it should be
easier for student advocacy groups to start their own programs in
order to make an impact on the outreach forefront. She did not
provide a specific course of action other than working through the
“bureaucracy and administration.” Diaz, a third-year
political science and American literature and culture student with
a minor in Asian American studies, focuses instead on the larger
scale. He believes more attention should be placed on outreach
efforts state-wide. “The efforts are in existence, but it
would be great to expand them and expand the support,” he
said. By working with the external vice president, he projects
holding a state-wide student-initiated outreach convention to come
to a consensus on outreach issues across the UC system. He also did
not have concrete ways to accomplish this.

Evaluating new admissions criteria Another
important issue for next year is the comprehensive review. This
recently implemented admissions policy places emphasis on the
personal statement and life challenges of every applicant to UC.
Fearn is impressed with the way admissions has handled the newly
implemented methods with the incoming freshman class. “It is
a way to measure students and their achievements in terms of their
station, and not based solely on GPA and SATs,” she said. She
believes that action need not be taken by Academic Affairs. Diaz
questions the approach. “I think the university needs to be
constantly critical of its own admissions policy and whether that
policy is achieving its basic goal,” he said. “It is in
our power as students to effect this,” said Diaz, who
doesn’t feel as if comprehensive review is making a
difference in the ethnic makeup of UC campuses or achieving the
goals it initially set out to achieve. He wants to increase
awareness about the implications of comprehensive review through
workshops and seminars. Diaz, running on the Student Empowerment!
slate, hopes to address what he sees as a problem of diversity by
bringing in speakers from the community and working with ethnic
groups on campus. Diaz also plans to hold workshops and
debates.

“Diversity” as curriculum Still in
the stages of formulation, the diversity requirement is also a
proposed effort. The idea was turned down in the Academic Senate
earlier this year when a diversity requirement proposed general
education changes. Diaz hopes to come up with a more solid
definition of exactly what a diversity requirement would entail. He
plans to talk to faculty who support the requirement to begin
proceedings on this issue.

Student input in decision making Both
candidates agree on the importance of the student voice in the
possible switch to the semester system. This proposed switch has
been a major subject of debate and is scheduled to be resolved next
year. With access to the committees in direct relation to this
issue of semester versus quarter, the academic affairs commissioner
upholds a critical role in the final decision. In order to get a
more complete picture of student opinion, Diaz hopes to establish a
student committee with the purpose of researching this issue and
how it will impact the student retention rate. He has suggested
one-on-one interactions with members of certain programs on campus,
such as the Academic Advancement Program. Diaz advocates consistent
workshops or dorm dinners to teach students how to develop
student-initiated classes that are directly connected to an
increased awareness of the community. He places priority on
challenging students to realize the relevance and impact of the
outside world on their education. “We can’t just live
in our educational bubble,” he said. He stresses the linking
of education to “not just the state or local community, but
the global community.” He wants to make sure that students
are educated in current issues and the availability of resources.
Fearn plans to increase the utilization of polls to survey the
opinion of the student population. Fearn also placed emphasis on
the modification of the USAC Web site to increase student
accessibility “so that they will have a better idea of what
USAC does for them and how they can be a part of it.” Fearn
proposes quarterly USAC meetings on the hill and open mic nights to
establish a forum where students can express their concerns.
“It must be about catering to the constituents and not to
everyone’s political agenda,” she said. “It has
to be what the students want.” This year, a USAC meeting was
held on the hill in the hopes of dorm resident participation. No
one showed up. Fearn believes that the simple addition of pizza and
soft drinks at these meetings will be the answer to the lack of
student concern and involvement.