Dahle’s memo biased against Iranian group
By Daily Bruin Staff
April 20, 2003 9:00 p.m.
The UCLA Iranian Student Group would like to respond to
Undergraduate Students Association Council President David
Dahle’s irresponsible memo, where Babak Khamsi of the ISG is
labeled an “enemy” (“”˜Manipulation is the
key,'” News, April 9).
Unlike our fellow student groups in this precarious position, we
feel that our lack of involvement in electoral campaigns and
ridiculously low budget allocation make for a special case. In
fact, we can only conclude that Dahle’s actions constitute a
biased approach toward student politics and show how policies are
based upon assumptions, not actions.
First, our organization has experienced restructuring since fall
quarter. Babak Khamsi is no longer the ISG’s representative.
Dahle, as USAC president, is supposed to be in touch with our
organization and its developments. Aside from the fact that he
never even met Khamsi, his placement of Khamsi on the
“enemies” list was based upon outdated information.
While Dahle should have established regular communication with our
group, he could have easily discovered the changes on our Web
site.
Even more disturbing than this misinformation are Dahle’s
reasons for isolating particular groups as “enemies.”
He claims to have divided groups into two camps based on those who
have “actively campaigned against” him in the past and
those who have “campaigned in support” of him
(“Politics necessary part of USAC presidency,” April
14).
Further, Dahle claims his friends include those who have acted
in what he “perceives” to be an “unbiased manner
when it comes to elections.” The memo goes to show that
Dahle’s perceptions are misguided.
The ISG did not support any slate in last year’s
elections. Nor did the ISG actively oppose any slate. In fact, we
encouraged all of our members to vote according to their own wills.
A student group could not act in a more unbiased manner.
Therefore, Dahle’s reasons for placing our group upon his
“enemies” list are questionable at best. Furthermore,
if Dahle was serious about working with all student groups, he
wouldn’t have created an inherently divisive
“enemies” list.
Our USAC president claims that his “political
opponents” have made him a “target.” The ISG
humbly attempts to provide programming and educational activities
every year for the Iranian constituency and general student body at
UCLA. We have made Dahle neither a target, nor a friend. Instead,
Dahle has made us a target of his political tactics. We are left to
wonder why a USAC president would consider an unbiased student
group a political opponent.
Finally, Dahle claims to have implemented a “fairer”
system of budget allocations during his administration. He claims
that the Daily Bruin’s article regarding biased budget
allocations “insinuated something that is undeniably
false.” On the contrary, Dahle’s assertion that
“non-S.U.R.E. groups still received the highest allocations
overall” proves untrue in regard to the ISG. After reading
Dahle’s memo, we can assume that our group was labeled as
“non-S.U.R.E.” We must combine this conclusion with the
fact that the ISG received the lowest budget allocation out of all
student groups.
Our organization has existed over twenty years and represents
over 700 members, yet we received a budget that only covered our
phone bill. While we appreciate our telephone, it is hard to
believe that these funding allocations are fair. Although our group
has moved forward in organizing events throughout the year, it is
difficult for any cultural group to survive with such insufficient
funds.
While Dahle defends his funding system, how can he expect a
so-called “enemy” to refrain from justifiable
suspicion?
In the end, we can only assume that Dahle’s actions derive
from biased perceptions of our community on campus. The only
information Dahle could have utilized was the name of the student
group and the outdated listing of our representative.
As such, we feel obliged to express our shame regarding the
current administration and our hope for better representation on
the UCLA campus in the future. Further, we demand an apology to the
Iranian student community and a personal apology to the ISG
leadership. A true leader owns up to his mistakes.
Davari is chair of the Iranian Student Group.
