Newly elected USAC councilmembers should start now to fulfill campaign promises

Many students will be happy to hear that this year’s student government elections are finally over. No more election drama, silly exclamation marks, fill-in-the-blank tanks or fliering bordering on harassment. Bruin Walk will return to a more acceptable level of chaos once again.

But even though the newest members of the Undergraduate Students Association Council were just elected, it’s time for them to start working on fulfilling their campaign platforms. This would help avoid the issue of promised programs all happening right before elections the following year or falling through altogether because of bureaucratic hurdles. These larger, more challenging platforms are the ones that deserve immediate attention.

More importantly, the newly elected councilmembers should plan on continuing successful programs from this year, no matter which party spearheaded it. Bruins United’s council majority at 7-3 should not be reason for them to muffle the voice of Students First!, whose voice still represents nearly half of the student body.

Most of President-elect Emily Resnick’s ideas are ones she can make real progress on within the year. But instituting a four-year degree planner is something that will take computer programming specialists and the cooperation of the registrar’s office, which currently does not list which classes will be taught four years from now. Further, the registrar may not be able to predict classes four years from now because of unpredictable budget cuts, which may reduce offerings.

Internal Vice President-elect Kristina Sidrak’s idea to move UCLA mail to Gmail was considered in 2009 and didn’t work out. A strategy to retry that effort will have to overcome the issues that were faced two years ago. Starting now will give her office time to deal with unforeseen snags in the process.

General Representative-elect David Bocarsly’s headlining idea of providing a Den student bus pass will come with the issue of trying to change a system that has been a certain way for years.

Further, if students are buying a pass instead of individual tickets, how will the Athletic Department know how many buses to reserve for each game?

As election winners rejoice, and those less fortunate look to each other for shoulders, it’s important that the ideas of those who did not win are not lost, even with a clear Bruins United majority.

Students First! general representative candidate Donnaly Natividad proposed making MyUCLA more student friendly. This is something the office of any of the general representatives, internal vice president or president could engulf because it would definitely benefit students.

Additionally,new councilmembers should not let the hostilities of slate politics and campaigning get in the way of working together in the next year.

The more lofty ideas, such as increasing USAC visibility and unity, need to be worked on now since they will require council-wide cooperation.

Nearly all candidates who attended the debates last week talked about needing to increase USAC visibility, mentioning programs that the outgoing council has instituted to that end, such as the Ask USAC table. But even those did not lead to much of an increase in voter turnout, and they seem to be of little success.

The new council should be creative in solving the USAC visibility issue. Advertising at large events is a good start, but telling incoming students about USAC at orientation, as Resnick talked about, would help reach large numbers of students.

Something else that most candidates talked about during the campaign is unity among councilmembers. This may seem particularly difficult to achieve right after a very political campaign season and the Bruins United majority. But holding events that all councilmembers work on, like this year’s John Wooden Day, is a good start as it forces all 13 councilmembers to work together. But getting 13 officers on the same page regarding another program will involve much debate and discussion, which should start now.

John Wooden Day is a good example of a specific program, as opposed to a lofty idea, that the new council should aim to continue as students seem to enjoy celebrating Coach Wooden’s legacy. This event should be repeated annually instead of going the way of BruINTENT ““ a program that exposed students to the issues of people who are homeless and was seen as a success for two years, but fizzled out.

Strathmore Safe Rides, spearheaded by outgoing Internal Vice President Stephanie Lucas, should also be continued, and USAC should look to help UCLA Transportation and Evening Van Service internalize the program.

The advocating efforts of the outgoing council should be maintained as well. Pushing for increasing state funding and advocating for the DREAM Act are important causes that our student body needs to help lead in Sacramento.

The new USAC should learn from what the previous council was unable to accomplish and aim to build on its successes.

Wish the election calendar was longer?

Email Ramzanali at [email protected]. Send general comments to [email protected].