Editorial

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GSA wrong to return funds to ASUCLA

In returning about $10,000 to the Associated Students of UCLA
last week, the Graduate Student Association showed more concern for
the financial distress of the organization than for its own
members.

GSA was set to receive about $10,000 less in the original ASUCLA
budget until the Undergraduate Students Association Council
insisted on the inclusion of a maintenance and utilities
subsidy.

While it is resourceful for GSA to come up with a solution to
the budget crisis, it should not feel obligated to bail ASUCLA out
of its financial straits in the first place. ASUCLA was established
to serve the students ““ having students return money out of
concern for its welfare is a contradiction of ASUCLA’s
mission. GSA’s most important commitment is to its students
““ thus, when it begins charging higher fees, it should not be
refusing money from a funding organization.

GSA has provided sparse student services in recent years, and
could have used this money to expand its programming. There is no
such thing as too much money when it comes to student groups.

There is always a need for more student services and programs
benefiting the members, especially among UCLA graduate students who
already have very little sense of interdepartmental community at
this large university.

RPI only masks UC’s diversity problem

Regent Ward Connerly believes in racial equality, but he wants
to arrive at it somewhat oddly: by eliminating race itself. This is
the motive behind his Racial Privacy Initiative, which will outlaw
the collection of racial data for most public records if it passes
on the 2004 ballot.

If the measure passes, it may pose a threat to University of
California’s ability to conduct race-related academic
research. As such, Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante is asking the UC to
find out the potential ramifications of the RPI on the
university’s research capabilities. Since professors would
have to apply for permission to use racial statistics, this could
impede or discourage the research process because of the increased
time and cost it would require scholars to accumulate the data
themselves. The RPI’s potential negative effects will extend
beyond research: the initiative will also help hide the diversity
problem currently faced by the UC. It will remove any race-related
items from the admissions and hiring processes. This is problematic
because diversity has steadily decreased at the UC since
Connerly’s Proposition 209, which eliminated affirmative
action in California in 1996.

It’s unfortunate Connerly, who as a university leader is
supposed to help expand the UC’s potential, is limiting it by
using his position to advance his own political agenda. As much as
anyone would want to eliminate racial inequality, stamping out race
won’t help at all: if you have no information about where
racial problems exist, there is no way you can fix them.