Letters to the editor

Representation, student government need closer
look

I am writing in response to last Thursday’s article
“Slate calls for USAC senate” (News, Jan. 27).

The complexity of the issue of student government structure
warrants more than a correction to the article’s
misrepresentation of my comments.

The article quotes me as stating that the three-branch form of
government that UC Berkeley’s Associated Students of the
University of California employs is “more
representative.”

It is not the ASUC’s structure that is particularly
representative of the diversity of experiences of Berkeley
students, but rather the voting system utilized in our elections.
ASUC representatives are elected through a system called
instant-runoff voting, which allows voters to cast ranked votes as
opposed to single votes.

It was that system that I characterized as “more
representative,” not the organizational structure of the
ASUC.

As external affairs vice president of the ASUC at UC Berkeley, I
have regular interactions with student government representatives
from all nine University of California campuses, each of which has
a unique student government structure.

UCLA’s Undergraduate Students Association Council
representatives, with whom I have had the most interaction, have
consistently represented both their campus and the UC system as a
whole very well.

In fact, because the USAC structure facilitates consensus
building, UCLA representatives have a clearer, deeper understanding
of their organization’s position and can better articulate it
when representing UCLA undergraduates.

In my opinion, the most important factor in evaluating the
quality of any elected body is the demonstrated ability of
one’s representatives to advocate on behalf of their
constituents and empower them to make positive change in their
community ““ in this case, the UCLA campus.

Liz Hall UC Berkeley ASUC external affairs vice
president