Editorial: UCLA’s worst: 3.) USAC’s campaign against ECP

If there is one project that the Undergraduate Students
Association Council should stop pursuing, it is its campaign
against the Expected Cumulative Progress requirement.

The idea of students having a say in academic policies is a good
one and should be listened to by the administration. But last
year’s council devoted too much of its valuable resources
““ both time and money ““ to a cause that has essentially
failed. They also went about it in a fundamentally flawed way.
It’s time to let it go.

An online survey meant to show the dysfunctional nature of ECP
was itself dysfunctional, as it allowed voters to cast responses
multiple times. The results of the survey have been pointed to as
evidence of student sentiment against ECP, but the results prove
nothing of the sort.

Though some students are probably hurt by ECP, the so-called
“ECP task force” did not show that the majority of
students wanted the policy to go, or that the majority of students
at UCLA would even benefit if the policy was repealed.
Nevertheless, the task force plowed stubbornly forward.

The passion and resources invested in this hapless campaign
should have gone toward other projects that would better serve the
entire student body.

Next year’s council should get in touch with reality and
make sure that if it does tackle the issue of ECP again, it does so
in a more productive and thoughtful manner.