Wednesday, 5/14/97 Students First!, Access Coalition to face off
USAC: Parties to vie for general representatives, facilities
commissioner
By Stefanie Wong Daily Bruin Contributor Access Coalition and
Students First! will meet once again this week during the final
Undergraduate Student Association Council (USAC) elections in a
fight for the general representative and facilities commissioner
offices. The four positions still remain vacant because no
candidate received the required percentage of votes to win in the
primary election. The top two vote recipients in the primary race
for facilities commissioner and the top six vote recipients from
the general representative contest have advanced to this week’s
final election. Already holding seven of the 13 offices, Students
First! is working to once again assume complete control of USAC –
but not if candidates from the Access Coalition can prevent it.
Access Coalition facilities commissioner candidate Telly Tse would
like to address many areas of UCLA life. Tse’s ideas range from
increasing the number of police emergency boxes, establishing a
recycling program and allocating more rooms for use by student
organizations. "I have a great interest in creating a facilities
commission that will reach out to all of UCLA’s constituents," Tse
said. He would also like to work on creating 24-hour study lounges
and adding new resources to the John Wooden Center. But like other
student government offices, Tse believes that the facilities
commission should also be representative and inclusive of the
student body. "I think the most important thing on my part is that
I will make sure the commission is a large one that is
representative of all groups on campus," Tse said. "Then we will be
visible and address all issues and won’t discriminate against
groups or ideas," he added. By contrast, the focus of Students
First! facilities commissioner candidate An Le’s campaign is campus
safety. Le believes safety at UCLA is a big issue that should be
every students’ concern. She would like to add more lighting and
police emergency boxes on campus, especially in the parking
structures. Le is also concerned about students’ safety around the
residential halls, but admits that she does not know much about the
dorms because she has never lived there. However, Le believes that
her lack of experience in the dorms is all the more reason for her
to have a strong staff in her office to make up for her weaknesses.
"It’s important for me to include people in the process …
recruiting people with different backgrounds and experiences," Le
said. She is also interested in working for 24-hour study space and
making changes to the current parking policy so that parking can be
more affordable for students. General representative candidates
from Access Coalition all have diverse ideas, but outreach and
unity among USAC, student organizations and the student body are
common themes among their platforms. Access Coalition general
representative candidate Roee Ruttenberg believes that the student
government should be more accessible for students. Ruttenberg feels
that the general representative’s job is to get students more
involved in the student government. "I feel that students will have
that access (with the general representatives office) to develop
ideas for USAC and for UCLA," he said. Ruttenberg plans to hold a
campus fair so student organizations can recruit new members, and
would like to address the issues of outreach, recruitment and
retention in general. Issues of campus safety, such as more
lighting, extending the hours of the Community Service Officer
(CSO) escort program beyond midnight and hiring more CSOs are also
on Ruttenberg’s agenda. Besides these programs and issues,
Ruttenberg continues to note that he still has other
responsibilities as a student government member. "I see (the
general representative office) as an assistant for the other USAC
offices, to work with them to make sure that programs get
implemented that are reflective of the student body," Ruttenberg
said. One main issue Olin Ghosh would like to address as Access
Coalition’s second general representative candidate is proposing
changes to the USAC constitution that would create a stronger
checks and balance system within the student government. Ghosh
currently believes that the government is "running rampant" and
that "government corruption" needs to stop, he said. "(The student
government) hires the Judicial Board and Election Board, there’s no
wall stopping the government from railroading over the policing
groups," Ghosh added. He also believes that student government as a
whole has the power to stop injustices that are being made against
the student body. "We can stand there and say no. We’re standing up
against threats to undergraduates," Ghosh said. To address unity
among student organizations, Ghosh would like to have members of
his staff act as liaisons between the student groups and USAC.
Ghosh would also like to assemble grant writing teams to help
organizations find funding sources outside of UCLA. Access
Coalition’s final general representative candidate, Parvaz Farnad,
is mainly concerned about communication among student
organizations. "I would like to bring different student groups
closer together and have more diverse programming," Farnad said.
She would like to see representatives from the different student
groups meeting once a month so they can discuss programming and
events. "I believe that lack of communication and awareness among
various student organizations are major problems this university is
facing," Farnad said. The main way interaction between groups can
be increased is to have each organization publish a newsletter,
Farnad said. "Newsletters play a very important role in filling in
the gaps between the groups," Farnad said. This would mean
increased funding from USAC toward the production of newsletter,
she said. If elected, Farnad would also hold office hours on Bruin
Walk to increase interaction between USAC and the student body.
What sets Students First! apart from Access Coalition is the
slate’s focus on educating students about different issues and some
of the programs they would like to initiate. Darnell Grisby, one of
the Students First! general representative candidates, would like
to create a campus safety core where students would be able to
report hate crimes and sexual harassment charges. He would also
like to initiate a "grassroots movement demanding changes to the
policy for reporting sexual harassment and hate crime cases so it’s
more victim friendly," Grisby said. He also hopes to address issues
such as a diversity requirement and the need to recognize domestic
partnerships among the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual
(LGBT) community. Grisby believes that the issues of sexism, racism
and homophobia need to be addressed so that all students can have
equal access to an education. "The diversity requirement and
domestic partnership are all very important components of the
campus safety core because it is all interconnected to sensitize
students to the issues," Grisby said. If elected, Grisby plans to
use the general representatives office as means to fight for
students’ rights. "Our office will work very hard to make sure that
students’ voices are heard on this campus," Grisby said. The
Students First! second general representative candidate Jo Anna
Ley’s main platform focus is women’s issues. She would like to
implement "roving" women’s self-defense classes so that the courses
can be more accessible to students. "Those classes just don’t train
you physically but also psychologically," Ley said. "Rape or sexual
assaults are about dominance and power." "Once you show the person
that’s going to assault you that you have the power to say no, that
already shuts them off and the feeling of them being higher than
you is gone," she added. Ley would also like to work on helping
student parents obtain child care, which would mean restructuring
the child care services on campus and also helping student parents
find outside sources of child care. If elected, educating the
campus about women’s issues in general would be one of Ley’s main
concerns. She believes that students need to be more aware because
"ignorance perpetuates sexist remarks," Ley said. Joe Medico, the
Students First! last general representative candidate, is focusing
his energy on education. He would like to create programs that
address LGBT, immigration, minority and women’s issues, all of
which he sees as "alternatives to what is taught in the classes,"
Medico said. Through discussions, forums, speakers and films,
Medico hopes to educate the student body on issues that are not
taught in the classrooms. Medico will work on the diversity
requirement to "expand underrepresented departments" such as the
Chicana/o, African American and Asian American studies departments.
Through cooperative work with the external vice president’s office,
Medico would like to initiate a naturalization drive at UCLA and
the surrounding community. In the area of outreach, Medico would
like to do more programming with the residential halls to make
their events more fun and educational. He also wants to work on
interaction between the student organizations and the student
government. "(I plan on) taking an assertive role in going to the
organizations," Medico said. Darnell Grisby Roee Ruttenberg Olin
Ghosh Jo Anna Ley Parvaz Farnad Joe Medico An Le Telly Tse