Students praise, knock Carnesale

After eight years as chancellor, Albert Carnesale will leave
behind a legacy of successful fundraising and capital programs, but
he has garnered mixed reviews from some past and present student
leaders on his accessibility to students.

While some praised Carnesale’s attempts to be available to
students by holding office hours and felt he did an adequate job of
being open to them, others said he could have made more of an
effort to meet with student leaders and hear their concerns about a
variety of issues.

For his quarterly student office hour, instated upon his arrival
in 1997, Carnesale selects five applications from students who have
expressed their desire to meet, and gives each one a 10 minute time
slot during which they can express their concerns and get answers
from the chancellor himself.

“He was very personable and down-to-earth,” said
second-year business economics student Matt Atkin, who met with
Carnesale to discuss concerns of political bias among professors.
“(Meeting with him) was a very rewarding
experience.”

But Carnesale has drawn criticism for the limited number of
students who ultimately get to talk with him and the short amount
of time each student is given.

Brian Bilford, former president of the Regents Scholar Society,
said the process frustrated him.

“It would have taken a really important issue for me to
bother with (the process of applying),” he said.

Bilford, however, said he has had other occasions to meet with
Carnesale. The chancellor generally makes a speech at the annual
Regents’ Scholar Society Incoming Scholars Day, encouraging
prospective students to attend UCLA, and has occasionally made an
appearance at their annual dinner with the Regents.

Some student-leaders said that they found the chancellor to be
supportive of student events and causes.

Panhellenic Council president Sara Merar said Carnesale has been
a strong supporter of Greek events, and she has almost always seen
Carnesale’s support on sorority events ranging from the
social to the philanthropic.

“He has always been a great supporter … in everything
we’ve wanted to do,” Merar said, citing specifically
the charity fashion show to be put on in the fall.

Graduate Students Association President Jared Fox agreed that
Carnesale had generally been very helpful when sought out by
student leaders. The chancellor, he said, was good about returning
e-mails, had led a few question-and-answer forums, and helped raise
funds for financial aid, professorships and even the new Graduate
Student Resource Center set to open this fall.

Not everyone has been quite as pleased, however. Jenny Wood,
Undergraduate Students Association Council president, observed that
though Carnesale “has made more attempts to listen to
students than other chancellors,” he has not always listened
to what they had to say, especially with regards to Proposition
209, a ballot measure passed at the beginning of Carnesale’s
tenure, which prohibits affirmative action in California
schools.

The chancellor’s recent reaction to the state budget
crisis has also caused concerns, Wood said, because Carnesale seems
to want to privatize the university and raise fees. Students
weren’t adequately consulted on the matter, and it goes
against their interests, she said.

“I believe there can always be more effort made to connect
to the student body, especially in times when students are
suffering from fee increases and decreased financial aid,”
Wood said.

Echoing Wood’s sentiments, Andy Ramirez, former MEChA
chair said, “(Carnesale) was a figure at UCLA that we never
really had access to,” in reference to his attempts to
contact the chancellor about fundraising.

Others recognize that the chancellor has a busy schedule and
many responsibilities, and felt grateful in being given even a
small part of his time.

“As far as the way he dealt with (On Campus Housing
Council) throughout the year, we were very pleased,” said
former chair Brad Stauber.

Stauber said he wanted to get as much interaction between the
chancellor and OCHC as possible, and felt very pleased to have had
even the little interaction that they got.

Some leaders, like Ramirez, are interested to see who the new
chancellor will be and how he will interact with students.

“I’m more interested in (Carnesale’s)
replacement and whether or not that person is going to be
accountable to students,” he said.