Letter to the editor: _Vote to remove Birdie not political_
By Daily Bruin Staff
April 15, 2011 12:49 a.m.
In the article “Rustom Z. Birdie resigns from USAC after months of controversy” (News, April 13), it is stated that “General Representative Matt Spring called for a vote to remove Birdie from the council and Cultural Affairs Commissioner Kinnery Shah supported him.”
This is followed by the statement, “Spring and Shah are both from Students First! while Birdie is a member of Bruins United.”
After reading these statements, I felt like the article implied that the decisions and opinions made during our past council meeting were political and slate-based. Whether this implication was intentional or not, I just wanted to make a clarification in order to prevent any misinterpretations or unintentional implications that may arise from this article.
The decisions and opinions expressed during this past council meeting wasn’t a reflection of the rivalry present between Students First! and Bruins United but was a response to the incident with the Financial Supports commissioner and his wrongdoings and mistakes.
Given the circumstances at hand, with the Judicial Board’s recommendations and with the voices of countless UCLA students, Spring’s decision to make a motion to remove Birdie did not emanate from his involvement with Students First! and the same circumstances apply with Shah’s decision to second the motion at hand.
I am involved in neither Students First! nor Bruins United, so my opinions expressed during this past USAC meeting were neither swayed nor influenced by these two slates. I knew what the situation was, and I knew Rustom’s faults. As an independent commissioner, I, too, had to take into consideration the recommendations of the Judicial Board, of the administrative representatives and of the UCLA student body.
With that said, I truly hope that the readers of the Daily Bruin do not infer from this article that Spring’s and Shah’s actions were a political decision based on their affiliation with Students First! They were made with the voice of their constituents in mind.
Linda Phi, USAC Student Welfare commissioner
