Letters

Council should serve students, not claim
credit

Cindy Mosqueda’s assertion that I am taking credit for
Student Empowerment! work (“Dahle takes credit for
Empowerment!’s work,” Letters, May 21) was misinformed,
and I will not lob back insults because they are only divisive. I
never stated that the argument I put forth (“55 percent slash
of USAC’s student funds unacceptable,” Viewpoint, May
20) was originally mine. Other members of USAC made the issue
clearer to me last week at council ““ this is true.

Over the past week I have spoken to council members, members of
the ASUCLA board of directors and ASUCLA executives in order to
more thoroughly evaluate the situation. After taking everything
into account I agree with Student Empowerment! council
members’ analysis of the budget situation. It is ironic to me
that Student Empowerment! members blame me for taking a stand on
issues that they actively try to persuade me to advocate. The
submission that was printed yesterday was an accurate reflection of
what I believe council should be doing and I give Student
Empowerment! members credit for their work.

I wrote the submission to educate students on what is happening
right now in USAC, because this is the most serious problem that we
have had to face all year. As president-elect I will have to
shoulder the burden of whatever decision this current council
decides is the right course of action. The problem is that USAC
members, for whatever reason, do not often make public things that
are affecting USAC, which keeps students in the dark about
important issues. This is why I promised in my campaign to actively
bring topics of concern to campus when they arise, and I will
continue to do this.

Serving USAC is not about getting credit or recognition. As all
council members know, it is a privilege.

David Dahle 2002-03 USAC president-elect Fourth-year
Sociology and political science

Editorial content fails to match new
design

Congratulations to the UCLA women’s track and field team
for winning the Pac-10 Championship, and the softball team for
qualifying for the World Series … although I wouldn’t have
easily known by reading Monday’s Daily Bruin.

Why? Because the two articles pertaining to these events were
buried inside the Sports section. Instead, the new full-color back
page of The Bruin contained articles about the men’s and
women’s tennis teams during the NCAA Championships (which is
fine), the baseball team’s defeat by Stanford, the
men’s track and field sixth place finish in the Pac-10, and a
half-page article on stretching, featuring pictures of someone who
isn’t even a current UCLA student!

I do not understand why an article on stretching is more
important than the accomplishments of the women’s track and
field and softball teams. My guess is the layout of the page
wouldn’t allow the articles to be placed there so they were
moved to the interior, and the pointless filler piece made the
front page.

Then I opened Tuesday’s Daily Bruin and noticed Bonnie
Chau’s column regarding procrastination
(“Procrastination is a necessary evil,” News, May 21)
on page 2. No offense to Chau, but her poor study habits are not
headline news. I wondered why her column (clearly something that
belongs in Viewpoint) was placed along with the rest of the news
that is happening across the country. To find my answer I turned to
the Viewpoint section. Lo and behold, the Daily Bruin decided to
run an column from the Oregon Daily Emerald. Why? Is The Bruin that
strapped for poorly written articles that it must now include
columns from other universities? Chau’s column could have
easily fit into this space allowing for another article of
newsworthy material to be placed on page 2.

While I appreciate the attempt to present the Daily Bruin in a
more professional manner, The Bruin must still make good decisions
regarding article placement. Other members of the student body have
also noticed these changes and prefer the previous format as well.
We would be grateful for your time and attention to this matter,
for the Daily Bruin is an integral part of our day.

Jesse Carrasco Student affairs officer UCLA Orientation
Program