Campus should be the focus

This week, the Bruins United majority of the Undergraduate
Students Association Council was falsely accused of attacking
students. This accusation comes in the middle of a debate among
councilmembers over three resolutions that would declare
USAC’s opposition to state Propositions 74, 75 and 76.
Proponents of these resolutions have ignored several key reasons
why passing certain kinds of resolutions harms our student
body.

A few students have encouraged USAC to voice an opinion on these
propositions. It’s easy for certain members of our campus
community to demand we take a stance on these issues, but this
demand is unrealistic.

The council cannot merely pass these resolutions on to the
chancellor or state legislators. To pass these resolutions and thus
throw USAC’s support behind the fight against the
propositions would mean allocating time, money and energy to
running this campaign on our campus.

These resources are better spent educating UCLA students about
both sides of the issue, encouraging dialogue on our campus, and
empowering students to make their own informed decisions on
election day. The On-Campus Housing Council has already approached
us about educating students on the Hill through town halls and
presentations.

Furthermore, USAC recently implemented a Get Out the Vote
campaign as an internal focus this year. Should council vote to
pass the resolutions, it would be misleading to encourage students
to vote in the special election without mentioning the resolutions
at the same time. On the other hand, including a resolution when
suggesting students vote immediately alienates potential voters who
feel differently on the issue and thus detracts from the success of
the Get Out the Vote focus. We cannot simultaneously conduct an
impartial Get Out the Vote campaign and encourage students to vote
a certain way.

The main reason this debate has stirred such arguments, however,
is not from passion over these specific propositions but a
disagreement over both the ethics and practicality of passing
certain resolutions.

This is the first time USAC faces passing any resolutions since
the majority of the council changed hands during last
spring’s elections. We’re seeing the uprooting of past
protocol for resolutions that Bruins United feels is a disservice
to UCLA students.

Past councils have thrown away thousands of dollars publishing
advertisements of their resolutions. This money could have gone to
programs to educate the students on these issues or to better fund
our thriving student organizations.

Moreover, many past resolutions blatantly ignored the UC Office
of the President guidelines, namely that “university funds
cannot be used to make a contribution to any political campaign or
… any attempt to influence the general public with respect to
legislative matters.”

Student government’s main job is to appeal on behalf of
the students to our university’s administration, not to our
state legislators. If we directly oppose the university’s
stated policies, we automatically alienate potential allies in the
administration.

We councilmembers are not only speaking up against past
practices, but are currently establishing guidelines to filter
future resolutions and ensure their usefulness to the student body.
In short, Bruins United is willing to deal with the ramifications
of changing a flawed system if that means breaking detrimental
precedents.

Marwa Kaisey, Brian Neesby, Kristina Doan, Joseph Vardner,
Michelle Sassounian, PC Zai and Ryan Smeets contributed to this
submission.