Defeated candidates to keep fighting

JONATHAN YOUNG/Daily Bruin Student Empowerment! supporters raise
their fists in the air, silent for minutes after hearing the
election results.

By Kelly Rayburn
DAILY BRUIN SENIOR STAFF
[email protected]

Andrew LaFlamme has some advice for those who lost at the
Undergraduate Students Association elections: don’t give up,
stay involved. He knows what it feels like to lose.

LaFlamme ““ who will serve as next year’s financial
supports commissioner and is on the Students United for Reform and
Equality slate ““ ran for the same office as an independent
last year and garnered only 13.6 percent of the vote.

He lends a hand to all who lost, but want to stay involved to
serve students.

“My office is open,” he said. “Anyone
dedicated can work for me. We’re going to get some things
done … regardless of preference, slate or stance.”

Only minutes after next year’s USAC winners were
announced, many who did not win were visibly saddened, but already
expressing a will to find another way to work for the goals they
had hoped to achieve as USAC officers.

“UCLA better believe that I’ll be a factor in
working for social justice here on campus,” said Student
Empowerment! candidate Allende Palma-Saracho, who lost in a bid for
a general election seat.

During his campaign, Palma-Saracho said he would help students
“know their rights” and work to address worker
conditions on campus.

Just after it was announced that he did not win, Palma-Saracho
said the experience running for office was one of the most
“empowering” of his life.

“People don’t know what Student Empowerment! is …
well I’m living proof (of what it is),” he said.

Dria Fearn, who was unsuccessful in her bid to serve as academic
affairs commissioner, said she will continue working with disabled
students to address their needs.

“It’s one of my passions,” she said.

Fearn would like to work with USAC in some capacity, and told
Chris Diaz, the Student Empowerment! candidate who defeated her,
that she was available to help him with his job next year.

SURE candidate Maggie Athanasious, who lost in a quest for a
general representative position and served as David Dahle’s
chief of staff this year, said she would be working closely with
Dahle again next year, when he is president.

The theme was consistent, across slates: one election loss would
not deter anyone from their campaigns to change UCLA for the
better.

“The work we do is something that cannot be stopped by one
election,” said Bryant Tan, who lost in one of the closest
presidential elections in USAC history.

“Realize this is why we call it a struggle,” said
current USAC President Karren Lane, who fought back tears as she
tried to rally people for next weeks runoff between SURE’s
Justin Levi and Student Empowerment’s! T.J. Cordero for the
office of internal vice president.

“Good job everybody,” she said. “We got to be
out here Monday. Got to get T.J. in, got to get pumped.”

Even for those defeated, the elections ended hardly
anything.