Exclusive Students First! taints facts to further agenda

As the Equal Access Coalition candidate for Undergraduate
Students Association Council president, I must respond to some
issues in the Daily Bruin editorial “Only one presidential
candidate has power to unite” (May 17).

The Students First! slate, led by Allende Palma/Saracho, has
falsely claimed to be responsible “for the implementation of
the diversity requirement.” On May 12, The Bruin reported SF!
claims were “exaggerated” (News, “The lowdown on
USAC campaign fliers”).

SF! claims it led USAC to fund the most student groups ever, but
this was made possible because, in 2001, the council expanded
funding eligibility to hundreds of groups. In 2002, a non-SF!
council passed a funding referendum. Before those changes, funding
had been restricted to roughly 20 groups ““ almost all of
which were aligned with SF! As The Bruin reported on May 12,
“Traditionally, (SF!) has been opposed to opening funding to
more groups. … It seems that after the administration stepped in,
a change was forced to be made.” This kind of manipulation of
facts is a common SF! tactic.

The evidence is clear. Manipulation is key with the SF! slate.
This is just further evidence of the kind of agenda SF! is forcing
upon those students who are not part of their 20-group
collective.

The majority of UCLA students should rise up and end this biased
agenda which disproportionately distributes student funds to their
own, small support group. Could it be that it is this funding which
SF! uses to hold its groups together?

There is another kind of unity, though, which the Equal Access
Coalition and I seek to bring to UCLA. It is not that we have
failed to create unity, it is that we have united the campus
against the inequality of SF! I have united students around issues
that are important to them: equal access funding, education,
governance and voting rights. In fact, I had over 2,500 students
sign my Student Voter Rights Initiative ““ meant to secure
equality for each voter ““ yet the SF! leadership refused to
work with me or the expressed desire of these students. SF! leaders
refused to co-program with my office, leaving me no choice but to
go it alone with an SF!-dominated USAC.

Equality is the issue around which I will build unity among the
students on campus and on council. There are those who assert I am
not a “uniter.” Yet the proof that I can and will unite
most students is in the diversity of those that have endorsed my
presidency: Bruin Democrats, Bruin Republicans, Jewish Student
Union, Panhellenic Council, Bruins for Israel, Nation 2 Nation, the
Interfraternity Council, Project Literacy, and the list goes on.
These students do not find me alienated from their causes.

If SF! manipulation leaves you miffed, it should. More than
ever, you should vote for a slate to break the SF! monopoly on USAC
and its $2.3 million. Two of the Equal Access Coalition candidates
have been elected to USAC. With a strong EAC presence on USAC, I
will make structural changes to open council to a broader diversity
of student representation.

Lawson is currently a USAC general representative and a
presidential candidate.