By Linh Tat
Daily Bruin Staff
Many of the candidates for the undergraduate student government
elections are focusing their campaign on improving the university,
but Portia Pedro said she will turn her attention to issues that
affect students nationwide.
A third-year international development studies student and
Praxis member, Pedro is running unopposed for external vice
president in the Undergraduate Students Association Council
elections on May 10-11.
The EVP’s main functions ““ according to USAC’s
bylaws ““ consist of coordinating student advocacy groups and
overseeing the UCLA Student Lobby Office that works on issues such
as lowering student fees.
Pedro served in the EVP office for the past two years and has
attended two national lobby days. She also served as the national
affairs coordinator in the office for the United States Student
Association and is this year’s vice-chairwoman of the
National People of Color Student Coalition.
As EVP, Pedro will be a member of the USSA and the University of
California Student Association, which work toward educational
accessibility for all students.
“The responsibility of the EVP office is to provide
information to students about the decisions made on their behalf,
and to provide an avenue for students to organize and be a part of
those decisions,” Pedro said.
Along with fellow Praxis member Elias Enciso, who is running for
internal vice president, Pedro said she wants to start a USAC
newsletter to disseminate information to students.
Pedro’s platform focuses on making education accessible to
all students so they will not be impeded by socioeconomic
backgrounds. She said she plans to continue working on increasing
grants as opposed to the number of loans students receive.
Pedro said she also wants to review current policy that uses
standardized test scores as an admission criterion because she
feels scores do not accurately reflect a student’s
abilities.
“We need to have a more holistic view of the
students,” Pedro said, because of the notion a
student’s background needs to be taken into consideration as
well.
A member of the African Student Union for the past three years,
Pedro was last year’s community empowerment coordinator for
ASU.
The EVP office ““ like the Community Service, Campus
Events, and Student Welfare Commissions ““ has traditionally
been filled by an in-house candidate.
“You just can’t come from nowhere and learn (the
office),” said current EVP Liz Geyer, who was last
year’s EVP as well.
Geyer ““ who took over as EVP for Sophia Paek partway
through the year after Paek was declared ineligible for the
position ““ said it took time for the office to stabilize
again. She said Pedro’s experience will make the transition
easier.
“My job as EVP has been infinitely easier because of the
work (Pedro) has done,” Geyer said. “She knows both
UCSA and USSA really well, as well as hate crimes policy. I’m
very confident she will do a good job.”
Pedro said she hopes to draft a hate crimes policy with state
and federal legislators and the UC Regents. She plans to establish
a healthy relationship with these groups by scheduling town hall
meetings with Chancellor Albert Carnesale and the UC Regents, an
idea that came out of this year’s EVP office.
UCSA works with the UC Regents and state legislature and
advocates for systemwide fee rollbacks, increased state funding for
higher education, and recruitment of underrepresented students to
the UC system. UCSA also forwards candidates for the position of
student regent.
The USSA supports similar issues on a national level by serving
as the student voice in the White House and in the Department of
Education. Because the EVP represents the school while lobbying,
they should be familiar with dealing with government officials.
Representatives of the Viable Alternative slate said they
decided not to run a candidate for EVP because they did not have
anyone qualified for the position.
“Too many students and functions depend upon the EVP
office,” said Bill Elliott, a second-year history and
political science student running for general representative on the
Viable Alternative slate. “It would have been irresponsible
for us to run someone who’s not qualified for such an
important position.”
With reports by George Fujii, Daily Bruin Contributor.