Editorial: Students must ensure USAC fulfills promises

With the large summer gap between last spring quarter and now,
it’s easy to forget the events of the last Undergraduate
Student Association Council election ““ but students cannot
afford to do this.

Their elected officials now hold office, and it’s up to
the student body to hold them accountable for all they promised in
order to get a seat on council.

Incoming freshmen are likely unaware of the recent USAC history:
the past couple of years have been marked with bitter rivalry on
the council between slates ““ which are political coalitions
among groups or people on campus.

Most notably, the divide has occurred between the Student
Empowerment! slate ““ composed of race, gender and identity
based student advocacy groups ““ and other reactionary slates
that have tried to oust them from power. Last spring, one
succeeded. The Students United for Reform and Equality slate
managed to tie them in numbers on this year’s council,
resulting in the unique situation where no slate holds a majority
““ this makes cooperation a requisite for productivity on
Council.

Last year’s president, Karren Lane, did a good job of
maintaining order in USAC ““ a stark contrast from the
childish bickering that characterized the council before her. This
year’s president, David Dahle of the SURE slate, will need to
ensure this continues.

The most important reason why Council should continue their
recent trend toward achieving a cooperative nature is to secure an
environment where they can work toward achieving what they promised
students.

Regardless of slate affiliation, almost every candidate last
year stressed the need for USAC to be representative of all
students, not just the select groups Council members belong to.
Undergraduate students should take advantage of this by taking
their concerns to their general representatives: Adam Harmetz,
Michelle Styczynski and Jenny Lam. Continually reminding your
representatives of the issues students face is the best way to
ensure they will be taken to the administrators on campus, and
consequently, ensure change.

The importance of keeping USAC accountable is so students
don’t get short-changed. After all, USAC is funded with your
money.

What follows is a description of some of the key projects your
representatives said they would work on:

In terms of the general representatives, Adam Harmetz said he
and his staff will formulate a report on university overcrowding
““ among other things, it will cover housing and classroom
overcrowding. Harmetz said he will take this report to the
administration. He believes in capping enrollment, and hopes this
information will make a case for why the administration should
advocate for this.

Styczynski said she will build a relationship with Westwood
homeowner leaders to revitalize the Village. She believes ““
as do all ““ that Westwood is sorely lacking in avenues for
entertainment, especially in the live form. While her goals are a
bit ambitious for the scope of authority afforded to her by her
office, the student body should nonetheless make sure she
tries.

Lam promised to develop a “hate crime kit” that
provides information on preventing and protecting yourself from
hate crimes; she also promised to lobby UCLA for more child care
services for undergraduates with children. Her goals may be a
little to narrow for a general rep, but now that she’s in
office, she needs to make sure she gets this done.

Robbie Clark, cultural affairs commissioner, promised she would
orient her campus event planning so it can be simultaneously
educational and entertaining. It remains somewhat ambiguous as to
how she plans on doing this, but keep it in mind next time you
attend one of her events. Suzanne Yu said her top goals for the
Community Service Commission are increasing the programming
budgets, initiating outreach efforts, and strengthening the
commission internally ““ it may be difficult to accomplish
some of these during a year USAC is experiencing huge budget
cuts.

Ryan Wilson, Campus Event Commissioner, is a strong leader in
his second year in office; he plans to bolster the CEC by trying to
bring in such things as well-known bands, speakers, and movies.

Annie McElwain, head of the Facilities Commission, and Crisette
Leyco, Student Welfare Commissioner, had no new ideas, so whatever
they do will be progress.

Andrew LaFlamme, Financial Supports Commissioner, plans to
assemble a book for students which compares rent prices, hoping
this will instigate competition among landlords to cheapen their
rent. Christopher Diaz, Academic Affairs Commissioner, has pledged
his services to fight for a diversity requirement and for a
moratorium on the minimum progress requirement.

T.J. Cordero, internal vice president, has promised a
“Know Your Rights” series of programs to educate
students of their rights as employees, renters, etc. He also wants
to educate students about Regent Ward Connerly’s Racial
Privacy Initiative, which seeks to eliminate racial categorization
in public documents and information gathering. External Vice
President Christopher Neal said he will advocate for increased
student initiated outreach and for changing the status of on-campus
housing so it’s university-supported, financially
speaking.

Lastly, Dahle promised to support a diversity requirement
specific to ethnicity and identity. Dahle also vowed to pioneer
USAC’s outreach efforts to groups traditionally overlooked by
the council ““ such as the Disabled Students Union and the
Indian Student Union. He also said he would reach out to the larger
student body, mainly through surveys and by improving the USAC Web
site. But most importantly, he promised to continue propagating
cooperation among USAC officers for the overall good of the student
body.

Now it is your responsibility to make sure they do this for
you.