Letter to the editor: Daily Bruin Editorial Board fails to appropriately evaluate CUB referendum

This post was updated May 25 at 7:10 p.m.

Old habits die hard.

The 2019-2020 Daily Bruin Editorial Board’s recent piece claimed that the Cultivating Unity for Bruins Referendum’s failure resulted from “nothing more” than students’ financial concerns during this pandemic.

As students who’ve faced bigotry in response to the CUB campaign, it’s difficult not to critique an editorial board known for its complete absence of Black students in leadership as such hurtful claims are made, dismissing students of color who experience daily microaggressions and violence. While it may seem as though platforms like Reddit are void of bigotry, this is only because moderators wipe clean the countless attacks targeted at students.

Be it the impersonation of a Black woman running for office, a racist zoom-bombing during a USAC meeting, the demonization of a slate comprised of students of color through coded language and dog whistles, or revealing a queer student government official’s dating profile, bigotry may not have been the primary factor in CUB’s defeat, but it certainly wasn’t absent online.

To make matters worse, instead of addressing these incidents, this year’s editorial board has provided a platform to enable such attacks.

The editorial board has persistently attacked student representatives for baseless evaluations of their personalities, and demonized students who aren’t “direct entry” students through disturbing evaluations of transfers and students who haven’t served in “traditional” settings. Furthermore, by publishing false information such as claiming the cost of developing a Black Resource Center to be $182,000, substantially lower than any estimate on the same pie chart the editorial board cites, the editorial board fosters a narrative regarding CUB that’s been twisted to claim that funds could simply be obtained via other avenues.

Ultimately, the editorial board must write truthfully when it comes to referendums and student government representatives.

This year’s editorial board fails to recognize major facets of CUB and does not acknowledge all marginalized communities with stakes in CUB. This reflects gross incompetence and presents misleading information to the larger UCLA community. Through the editorial board’s same desire for USAC to improve, it’s our hope that the new editorial board will hold itself accountable for its mistakes, rather than citing Reddit screenshots for its latest appeal to a narrow audience.

But, old habits die hard.

 

Alexandria Davis, 2019-2020 Chair of Afrikan Student Union

Simone Walker, 2020-2021 Co-Chair of Afrikan Student Union

Alex Dunkwu, 2020-2021 Co-Chair of Afrikan Student Union

Kelechi Iheanacho, 2019-2020 Undergraduate Students Association Cultural Affairs Commissioner

Robert Watson, 2019-2020 Undergraduate Students Association President

Naomi Riley, 2020-2021 Undergraduate Students Association President

Milagros Martinez Stordeur, 2019-2020 Transfer Leadership Coalition Co-Chair

Zuleika Bravo, 2019-2020 Transfer Leadership Coalition Co-Chair

Karina Arzate-Arenivaz, 2020-2021 Transfer Leadership Coalition Co-Chair

Bradley Alvarado, 2020-2021 Transfer Leadership Coalition Co-Chair

Kokonow Kinney, 2019-2020 Chairman of American Indian Student Association

Josephine Flores, 2019-2021 President of Samahang Pilipino

Phil Timoteo, 2019-2020 President of Pacific Islands’ Student Association

Joseph Nguyễn, 2019-2020 President of the Vietnamese Student Union

Jason Tuấn Vũ, 2019-2020 External Vice President of the Vietnamese Student Union

Vivyana Prado, 2019-2020 Chair of MEChA de UCLA

Sharon Yuen, 2019-2020 Director of Asian Pacific Coalition

Faatimah Mahadi 2019-2020 External Vice President of Muslim Student Association

Nieves Winslow, 2019-2020 Executive Director of Queer Alliance