Friday, 5/9/97 Students First! surges Party captures seven of 13
seats en route to securing solid victory
By John Digrado Daily Bruin Senior Staff For a third consecutive
year, the Students First! slate walked away with a majority of the
Undergraduate Students Association Council (USAC) seats, breaking a
decades-long UCLA tradition. At least seven of the 13 available
seats will be filled with Students First! members next year – a
first for USAC, which has traditionally seen a change of slates in
student government every two years. "I’m so overwhelmed by all the
support we’ve gotten despite the history of (undergraduate
elections)," said USAC president-elect and Students First! member
Kandea Mosley. "I’ll start talking about the issues tomorrow, but
for now I really feel blessed." In an election decided by 5,549 of
the estimated 24,000 undergraduates enrolled at UCLA, Students
First! slate members took all three of the top positions while four
of the available seven commissions will be filled by Students
First! members. Two others will be filled by independent, unopposed
candidates. While each successful candidate in the two-day election
needed 50 percent or more of the vote to win their race, not every
seat was filled by this week’s primary election. No candidate
received a 50 percent majority in the race for facilities
commissioner. In a runoff to be held next week, Students First!
candidate An Le and Access Coalition candidate Telly Tse will face
off once again for a majority vote in that race. In addition, no
candidate received 20 percent of the vote in the race for general
representative. The top six vote recipients will also participate
in the runoff. Newly re-elected Academic Affairs Commissioner Max
Espinoza will resume his position next year, continuing many of the
programs he and his staff began this year. "There are a lot of
issues facing students as a whole next year," Espinoza said.
"There’s the new chancellor, the implementation of Proposition 209,
ethnic and gender studies are in danger, and we’re possibly facing
a new set of general-education requirements. "For these issues, it
is very important for us to have stable, experienced, reliable
leadership next year." It is just these issues that the group has
worked on and will likely continue. While Mosley did not elaborate
on her plans for the coming year early Friday morning, the group as
a whole will likely attack many of the same issues that the council
did this year. Other candidates were "ecstatic and relieved" to
learn that they would have the opportunity to continue their work
in the coming year. "We definitely will continue a lot of the same
programs that we started this year," said internal vice
president-elect Carol Lee. "We really want to focus on helping the
students." But as Students First! celebrated their victory, the
results stunned candidates and supporters of the other four slates
opposing Students First! "I’m really at a loss for words," said
Access Coalition presidential candidate Ben Hofilena. "I’m very
disheartened with the entire process." The historic outcome came in
the face of opposition from four additional slates among 41
candidates – the highest number of students running for office
since the mid-1980s. Opposition to Students First! ran so strong at
the reading of the election results that several campus groups have
tentatively formed a new conglomerate slate which plans to file a
Judicial Board case against the election and Students First! this
morning. Consisting of the four slates that challenged Students
First! in the election, the Students for an Ethical Government
coalition has pledged their collective support behind any of the
candidates still in the running for office. The coalition, which
consists of Bruin Libertarians, Republicans and Democrats in
addition to the remaining four slates, was formed in the final
minutes before the election results were read on the steps of
Kerckhoff Hall. Members of the newly formed coalition are already
leveling serious charges against Students First!, calling for a
nullification of the election results and the removal of Espinoza
and current USAC President John Du for their alleged roles in a
controversial Daily Bruin advertisement. The ad, which included
Mosley’s name in connection with a list of student government
accomplishments, was viewed by some as an indirect endorsement by
the current Students First!-controlled USAC of Mosley, the group’s
presidential candidate. Supporters and members of the hours-old
group held slips of paper that read "Guilty of Fraud," naming Du
and Espinoza as the parties responsible for the ad. "(The ad) was a
blatant disregard for the USAC constitution as well as its
principles," said Bruin Democrats member Darren Hurwitz. "It was
blatantly illegal and highly unethical." Although the USAC
Elections Board has already ruled that the advertisement did not
violate election codes, Students First! opponents plan to challenge
that decision. Previous Daily Bruin stories: Daily Bruin article:
Students First Raise Eyebrows Daily Bruin article: Daily Bruin
Endorsements Daily Bruin article: IVP Candidates Outline Goals