SURE candidates take on three-part mission

By Marcelle Richards
Daily Bruin Senior Staff The Students Uniting for Reform and
Equality slate features three general representative candidates.
SURE is up against two Student Empowerment! candidates. The lone
independent, Nealy Farshadi, withdrew from the race. The SURE
threesome is dividing their mission into three parts: council
visibility, community and housing. Overlapping goals with other
offices, namely the internal vice president, include staging
student leader nights on subjects such as how to apply for USAC
funding. Quarterly online student surveys will also be conducted if
they are elected. Though the candidates present concrete goals, the
feasibility of attaining them is often dependent on cooperation
from administrators and other decision-making bodies.

Maggy Athanasious

Bringing USAC to the students Maggy
Athanasious, current chief of staff for general representative
David Dahle, is heading the publicity effort. “Students
don’t know what their government is doing,” she said.
She has already contacted the administration to put a USAC link on
the MyUCLA Web page. The Internet, she said, is an untapped
resource she wants to open up. Athanasious wants to allot a student
speak-out time in each USAC meeting. As a frequent attendee at the
meetings, she said students may not know they are able to speak up
during the discussion. Also in the works is the creation of
internships for all six USAC offices, which would give students
course credit for their work ““ a goal that will need to get
approval at various levels in the administration. Athanasious is
currently securing professors who are interested in the program and
is working with administrators to plan the logistics of
sponsorship. For off-campus students, she is working with
Associated Students of UCLA food services and Board of Directors to
implement a meal plan that will let students swipe for food with
their Bruin IDs, as they do in the dorms. As a side point, she says
she wants to use surveys and student feedback to give
administrators alternatives to raising student fees. She did not
have any further comment on how to realistically prevent rises in
tuition or the cost of campus services.

Michelle Styczynski

Making Westwood more than retail Michelle
Styczynski, On Campus Housing Council representative, is heading
the hefty challenge to revive Westwood as a college town. “I
don’t feel that a lot of students feel Westwood is a good
place to be a part of,” she said. Her biggest problem with
the status quo is that students are restricted to one-hour noon
concerts and events in Royce for a limited time at night on-campus.
Off-campus, permits are required for entertainment in Westwood
““ the discontinuation of belly dancing at Gypsy Cafe is an
example of something students should watch for and try to prevent,
she said. Styczynski cited a goal of bringing back festivals, like
those that were present in the 1990s. The success of her goals to
revitalize Westwood are dependent, however, on nods of approval
from homeowners who often attend public hearings that make or break
business owners’ chances of obtaining an entertainment
permit. She plans to talk to various Westwood and Bel Air homeowner
alliances, possibly by reinstating a committee of homeowners and
UCLA students. She said she doesn’t think such a committee
exists anymore and did not say how she should would go about
re-establishing one. Styczynski is also soliciting alumni and
homeowners to call the chancellor about saving BruinGo!, the
program that provides free Big Blue Bus rides to UCLA students.
Playing almost a spin doctor role, she said the homeowners may be
willing to speak to the chancellor if it means BruinGo! will lessen
traffic and student parking near their residences. One of her sole
on-campus goals is to use athletic events to revive school spirit.
Noticing a decrease in student attendance, Styczynski said she
would like to meet with the Bruin Athletic Council and marketing
department to find ways to get more people to games, possibly
lowering ticket prices or expanding the student sections. Whether
this happens or not is largely up to administrative
higher-ups.

Adam Harmetz

Damming the Tidal Wave Adam Harmetz, chair of
the On Campus Housing Council, is taking on quite the pet project
““ dealing with Tidal Wave II, the expected flow of 60,000
students into the UC over the next several years. It’s
something top university officials haven’t figured out.
“That’s not something the Hill can solve,” he
said. “It’s about time USAC got involved.” The
viable solution is to increase triples, he said, which OCHC already
plans to do next year. Harmetz will be conducting research next
year on the problems students face due to overcrowding. He intends
to conduct most of it online, where students will be able to post
problems and solutions regarding over-crowding. Once information is
gathered, it can eventually be used to address the issue at the
regent or state level, he said, though he said lobbying at that
level has only been “considered.” “I would
consider it a success even if I were to just conduct
research,” he said. Ideally, he would like to see state
supported housing but was not clear as to how he would access that
money.