Endorsement overlooks vision
By Adam Harmetz
I feel yesterday’s Daily Bruin endorsements did not
adequately represent my vision and passion for the concept of
student advocacy.Â
Student advocacy was a bug I caught accidentally two years ago
when I had the pleasure to chair a body similar to USAC called On
Campus Housing Council. Since then, I have worked tirelessly
““ and at much personal sacrifice ““ to educate myself on
a myriad of issues and to gain the respect of my peers on many
student advocacy projects.
It was an honor this year to serve as USAC general
representative ““ an even bigger opportunity to advocate on
behalf of students. Whether it be successfully advocating against
housing students in floor lounges or supporting the addition of
more crosswalks on campus, adding ATMs on the hill, educating
students on Tidal Wave II and the quarter versus semester debate,
creating a networking night for student leadership, making OCHC a
visible entity on campus, volunteering to help lower income
families achieve self-sufficiency, establishing a mentor and
internship program, or working with a coalition to increase the
funds available to student groups, I have worked tirelessly on
behalf of students and others as an advocate during my UCLA
experience.Â
Next year, as president, I want to structure the office around
one guiding and powerful vision: “What have I done today to
improve the student experience?” I will ask myself this
question every day if elected. I will lead my appointments, staff
members, interns and fellow councilmembers to ask this question as
well. The answer, I know, will be varied but impressive.
USAC as an institution has the awesome opportunity to advocate
for the collective betterment of the students on behalf of one
solitary individual’s experience. I have the confidence in
myself to be a leader of this council because of my experience,
diplomacy and energy. I am looking forward to working and
sacrificing every day ““ just as I have done for the past two
years ““ to make my vision a reality.Â
I encourage every student to find me on Bruin Walk, my familiar
turf, this week. During my time at UCLA, I have spent countless
hours on Bruin Walk during all times of the year. Out there,
it won’t take long for me to prove to you I have the passion
and energy to serve as USAC President.
Harmetz is S.U.R.E.’s candidate for
president
Daily Bruin has an agenda
By Andrew LaFlamme
The individuals making up the Daily Bruin editorial board have
made fools of themselves and the paper they represent.
Without exception, every editorial board endorsement was carried
out with bias and a direct disregard for candidate qualifications,
history and ability. In a ridiculously transparent partisan push,
The Bruin contradicted itself both in its endorsements and its
slanted candidate news stories.It is unprofessional and disgusting
that The Bruin has failed in its responsibility to provide the UCLA
student community with the objective guide it needs to student
government elections.
The office of president is clearly important to the progress and
function of council. I understand the scope of the office and have
taken steps to prepare myself for it. The experience sitting on
council is important but is nothing to base a campaign on. Instead,
value lies in the performance of a councilmember. I have initiated
programs, produced results and approached representation in the
responsible and dedicated manner it deserves. Adam Harmetz, on the
other hand, sat on council this year and did nothing – something
The Bruin itself recognized with its Jan. 31 editorial,
“S.U.R.E. needs to survey less and act more.” Anica
McKesey has no direct USAC experience, but has been a strong
student leader. However, this university has many student leaders,
and the lessons Anica has learned with the African Student Union
fall short with providing her the skills and understanding
necessary to be an effective USAC leader.
I have the skills necessary because I have worked to developing
them. I have separated myself from my opponents by expanding the
scope of my office and providing representation in every major USAC
committee, from Budget Review to Programming to Office Space.
Moreover, I have reached out to work with all students and
councilmembers (regardless of slate ties). I’ve programmed
and worked with groups from Interfraternity Council to the Muslim
Student Association. Neither Harmetz nor McKesey have stepped out
of their slate-built boxes, which is troubling as such cooperation
is necessary for the president, whose duty is to represent and work
with all of council and the entire student community.
Like my opponents, I have big plans for UCLA. The difference
between us, is that I have developed concrete plans for achieving
them.
This is a key characteristic of the United Independents slate.
We are focused on presenting students with not simply the goals we
seek to achieve but the plans by which to achieve them. The Bruin
has set a bad precedent for future campaigns by placing theory over
practice.
Students should usually respect the opinion of The Bruin. But
the endorsements this year are an insult that if followed will
return USAC to the age of political machines, abusive power and
programs that do nothing to address the practical problems upon
which UI put its greatest emphasis.
LaFlamme is United Independent’s candidate for
president
USAC experience must be considered
By Gideon Baum
I am saddened that the Daily Bruin chose to ignore my
experiences with USAC while endorsing a candidate with little to no
actual USAC experience. My opponent, like myself, is a chief of
staff in a USAC office, but he has rarely attended USAC meetings.
While having policy goals is one thing, the ability to completely
carry out these policy initiatives in an arena like USAC is
another. The necessary knowledge can only be learned by being at
USAC meetings ““ something I have already done.
While I appreciate The Bruin’s recognition that I have the
passion to serve students, I am saddened The Bruin would offer
students a leader who does not have the knowledge to lead within
the structure of USAC. I wish the editorial board would have
thought more carefully about its decision. Baum is
S.U.R.E.’s candidate for internal vice president
Bruin endorses slate politics
By Jon M. English
Once again you and your fellow students have been duped by slate
politics. Rather than endorsing candidates who can exact real
change and end the influence of slates, the Daily Bruin endorsed
candidates who will offer nothing to the student community.
As students we should not support those who only vote the
“party line” and do what is in the best interest of
their slate and not of the students.
Let us take last year’s endorsements into consideration.
Two of the three general representative’s The Bruin endorsed
got into office. One of them was the chairman of the On Campus
Housing Council. Rather than a term filled with success and
projects serving all students, one has released a rough draft of a
report dealing with Tidal Wave II ““ things the
administration, USAC and students already know about, while the
other has done nothing noteworthy. Further, the slates these
candidates come from should be an indicator of the quality of
candidates this year.
I pledge myself to taking on at least two projects per quarter.
Further, I want to plan and implement the USAC “Step
Out” open house in Westwood Plaza. I want to hold a Financial
Fair for students to help deal with rising tuition costs. I want to
restore BruinGo! to being free, rather than having a
co-payment.
I would like to continue my lobbying efforts against budget cuts
affecting UCLA and each student’s pocket book. Lastly, I want
to hold regular office hours on Bruin Walk.
As one can see, I have solid goals and am willing to plan and
execute every one of my ideas. As students, we must not allow
certain media to decide the election. After all, they do have their
own agenda.
English is a United Independents’ general
representative candidate
Candidate needs plans, experience
By Linda Lam
I have a passion for social justice and a will to provide people
with the desire to create change in their own lives.
As Leadership Development Coordinator of the Asian Pacific
Coalition, I built personal relationships and developed leaders for
20 Asian Pacific Islander organizations. I brought together diverse
communities to understand and address their needs.
My experience as a resident assistant and program assistant for
Dykstra Hall has allowed me to take on leadership positions within
a diverse group of students. Through these leadership positions, I
have gained the skills and knowledge to address the needs of
students as general representative.
One key issue I will address is the information ban initiative
(also known as the Racial Privacy Initiative or the Classification
of Race, Ethnicity and National Origin Initiative). The initiative
will deny access to information about the disparities in education
and prevalent rates of disease between different ethnicities.
As general representative, I plan to work against the
information ban through three means: voter registration drives,
organizing precinct walks and campus walks to inform students about
the Information Ban, and organizing a “Diversity
Matters” conference.
Secondly, as general representative, I plan to hold biquarterly
educational programs, debates and forums to provide knowledge for
students. I will raise awareness and provide educational resources
for students to work on issues like the Minimum Progress
Requirement, student privacy and the USA PATRIOT Act I and II, and
the role of women in this university.
I have unmatched experience and the most qualified candidate
with concrete plans to be general representative. Lam is a
Students First!’s candidate for general
representative.
Bruin favors SF! slate
By Justin Williams
In light of the Daily Bruin’s claims that I have made
“ambiguous promises” and have “nonspecific
plans” (“Lawson, Galvez, Lucas show energy and/or
experience,” May 5), I feel I must defend myself and expose a
problem with with our campus having only one major newspaper.
Before The Bruin could issue its endorsements, all candidates
were asked to come in for an interview, so the editorial board
could get an idea of each of our goals for next year. The
endorsements written give the impression that all I have on my
docket if I am elected is an effort to improve meal options for
students on campus, which is hardly the case.
In addition to this, I would like all the undergraduate students
to remember The Bruin has its own preconceptions about politics and
what makes a good candidate. The editorial board has its own
agenda, which may not reflect the interests of students when it
comes time to vote.
During my interview, an editorial board member asked me why, if
I am so concerned with student initiated outreach, I am not running
on the Students First! slate since its project is outreach. I found
it interesting that the editorial board would ask me why I
wasn’t on Students First! even as I was concerned with
outreach. As a concerned UCLA student, I don’t feel I need to
be associated with any particular slate to be concerned with
outreach. The editorial board apparently thought outreach
wasn’t an important issue and thought it was uncharacteristic
for a student not on Students First! to be concerned about
outreach.
The editorial board endorsed 7 SF! candidates out of a total of
12 endorsements. Also, no United Independents candidates and two
independent were endorsed.
Independent and non-SF! candidates are concerned about outreach
just as SF! student groups are. Williams is a United
Independents’ candidate for general
representative
CAC must outreach to groups
By Marcello Robinson
According to last year’s Daily Bruin endorsement,
“Dahle has right perspective for president” (April 30,
2002), “Current Student Empowerment! (now Students First!)
candidates have failed to reach out to groups who are not
traditionally considered “˜advocacy groups’ but who
nonetheless develop programming and represent diverse communities.
These include the Indian Student Union, Disabled Student Union and
Greek Life. In fact, the only significant interaction (Bryant) Tan
(SE! candidate) had with DSU was in his maneuvering to deny it
funding.”
The Cultural Affairs Commission has been an office that has
ignored various cultures on campus for the past four years and has
grown stagnant in creativity and outreach.
The CAC office continues to put on the exact same programs year
after year. These programs reach only about three to four different
cultures on this campus, and this is a university that has over a
hundred plus registered culture groups.
The current officers do not want to work with outsiders and fear
that someone can come in with views and ideas that challenge the
status quo. I am the Students United for Reform and Equality CAC
candidate.
My vision for this office aims to do more than what has been
expected year in and year out. I have three years of outside
experience putting together concerts with large name acts and would
use these skills to create some new programs such as a Bob Marley
Day festival promoting diversity and acceptance.
I also have experience at UCLA as UCLA’s NAACP president
and the Interfraternity council director of rules and
regulations.
As the new cultural affairs commissioner, I would challenge
every student to come and work with me. This is the reason why I
would like to start a new internship program in the office. This
program will give students an opportunity to get involved in
student government.
My programming goals are to bring in a variety of notable
speakers and performers to the Cultural Affairs Office and maximize
the potential of underused campus resources.
For this reason, I would like to create a new position within
the office where staff members would attend culture group meetings
on campus, gather information and bring it back to the office. By
performing this research, the CAC will have a better idea of
what’s going on with other groups and hopefully start a
relationship with them. Robinson is S.U.R.E.’s
candidate for cultural affairs commissioner
Abraham a clueless candidate
By Crisette Leyco
I’m responding to Arvin Abraham’s Daily Bruin
submission, “Revenues from fee increase helped no one”
(May 2), in which Abraham criticizes the commissions that received
additional funds from the Student Fee Referendum passed in the
fall. Abraham gives examples of how the Student Welfare Commission,
in particular, has not made good use of student fees.
I am currently the Student Welfare Commissioner, and I take it
as my responsibility to correct Abraham’s erroneous claims.
This is because I have heard Abraham at endorsement hearings as
well as read his submissions, and I want students to know the facts
before the elections begin. I am not doing this for any other
reason but to ensure that the proper candidate gets elected to the
office I have always respected and have grown very attached to.
First of all, it is true that Abraham was our Campus Safety and
Sexual Assault Awareness director. However, I have not heard it
mentioned once that he quit this position briefly after winter
quarter. I should point out Abraham did get one project done during
his term ““ campus safety cards. It took Abraham two quarters
to finish this project.
In his submission, Abraham asserts that the Student Welfare
Commission is sitting on over $22,000 in “surplus.” If
he had been around the office recently or seen our calendar of
upcoming events for the rest of spring quarter, he would know that
the quarter is in no way over for our office. One of our biggest
events, the UCLA Run/Walk, as well as a concert we are sponsoring
with Cultural Affairs and the African Student Union, are coming up
during the next couple of weeks. These events, along with others
that we are sponsoring with groups such as Worldfest and the Center
for Women and Men, will require even more than $22,000.
In our biweekly finance meetings in our office we have addressed
and anticipated the increased funding from the beginning of the
year, when we worked to help pass the referendum. If Abraham
becomes commissioner, the problem I’m concerned with is his
complete lack of programming experience. If he did have programming
experience, he would know that $22,000, at this point, could not be
called a “surplus.”
When you go out to vote, ask yourself: Is this who I want to
represent and promote the welfare of students in USAC?Leyco
is the current student welfare commissioner