Bruins United abuses appointments process

While students are away from campus this summer, Bruins
United’s abuse of the student government appointment process
in appointing unqualified individuals to represent the entire
undergraduate student body is going unnoticed.

This past Wednesday, the Undergraduate Students Association
president and the Academic Affairs commissioner forwarded 30 names
to place in high-level campus positions, all of which were
unabashedly used to fulfill personal and political obligations to
their Bruins United campaign supporters.

After three months of one-on-one meetings to discuss the
appointments, many Students First! members had hoped that slate
affiliations would not be the deciding factor in presidential and
Academic Senate appointments. We see that the discussions and
negotiations fell flat, however, because Bruins United continues to
base its decisions on slate affiliation rather than on a
student’s relevant qualifications and experience.

The walk-out was a culmination of Students First! frustration at
seeing three months of dialogue go nowhere because of Bruins
United’s single-mindedness in giving positions to supporters
and friends.

Bruins United council members are trying to frame the Students
First! walk-out as a dramatic display of slate politics, but they
are misdirecting the campus’s attention from their own
actions. Our walk-out was a last resort, prompted by Bruins
United’s complete disregard for the appointments process, set
in place to avoid irresponsible decisions.

By forwarding inexperienced people to committees of substance
and power, Bruins United is destroying a student government that
has the potential to serve the student body. By arguing to lower
expectations and standards for student appointees in order to
approve their group of appointees, Bruins United is limiting strong
and effective voices in the decision-making processes of this
campus.

The undergraduates deserve representatives who are experienced
in their committee’s issues ““ representatives who will
bring both short-term and long-term benefits to the committees.

Bruins United is burning bridges with other parts of campus as
well. When the president ignores key campus partners ““ such
as the Student Initiated Access Committee and the Campus
Sustainability Committee ““ in the joint appointments process,
and gives important seats to her campaign supporters, she is
simultaneously ruining relationships with important campus bodies
and shutting out real student voices and the opportunity for
change.

Until Bruins United is willing to work to restore the integrity
of this council by forwarding the most qualified students to campus
and faculty committees, the work of this now-five-person council
will be a mockery and a display of bad leadership.

A full academic year lies ahead of us. We can still come
together to tackle the issues impacting students at UCLA. Until
collaboration occurs, Students First! is committed to stopping
Bruins United as it stifles student voice and its members abuse
their roles as campus leaders.

Park is the 2006-2007 external vice president of the
Undergraduate Students Association Council.