USAC Endorsement: Sahil Seth for Financial Supports Commissioner
Endorsed
Sahil Seth
Financial Supports Commissioner Candidate
Bruins United
The endorsement process
The Daily Bruin Editorial Board has endorsed candidates for nine of 13 offices in this week’s undergraduate student government elections.
Between two and four board members met with each candidate to discuss his or her platform, goals and evaluation of the current council and knowledge of USAC.
We also considered how the candidates would interact with the rest of the council and represent a diversity of student needs.
The board then selected endorsements for each office by a majority vote.
We reserved the right to not endorse a candidate for certain uncontested positions.
Voting begins today on MyUCLA at 10 a.m. and runs through Thursday at 6 p.m.
See who the board endorsed:
By Editorial Board
May 7, 2012 8:02 a.m.
We endorse Sahil Seth for Financial Supports Commissioner, while advising him to narrow his scope and evaluate the financial efficiency of existing programs and principles.
Seth’s experience as chief of staff in the office of General Representative 1 this year gave him an understanding of the council that would certainly aid him in the financial supports commissioner position next year.
His proposals, including the implementation of tax tutorial workshops and the expansion of online resources offered, are well thought-out.
We believe that Seth will actually be able to achieve these goals. Through the detailed plans that he provided in his interview, Seth made it clear that he had already looked into the logistics to ensure that his proposals were tangible.
The strides Seth has already taken to possibly secure a corporate sponsorship for USAC for the next 10-15 years reveals that he is very proactive.
We caution Seth, however, to narrow the scope of his platform.
Collectively, Seth’s platform is expansive and ambitious, and includes advocating entrepreneurship, financial health and student mentoring. While being ambitious certainly isn’t negative, it could stunt his productivity. Seth should focus on ways in which he might directly aid students instead of indirect, extraneous efforts such as lobbying Congress.
Seth should also look to the strengths of his opponent, Taylor Bazley. Despite his lack of experience in USAC, Bazley’s fresh perspective, lack of slate-allegiance and emphasis on accountability make him a strong candidate in his own right. His proposal to evaluate the financial efficiency of pre-existing programs is necessary given USAC’s current financial predicament. But Bazley’s lack of experience makes us question whether he would be effective in executing his plans.
Given Seth’s proactive nature and experience, we feel he could successfully re-evaluate USAC’s current funding structure.
Seth should make evaluating USAC’s efficiency one of his top priorities. We caution Seth to maintain a critical eye and not to get too bogged down in the way the system works presently.
If he is elected, we advise him to challenge the current structure and suggestions of his council members in a stride toward a more efficient system.
