Praxis seeks to divide campus As a Pilipino
pre-med student at UCLA for the last four years, I was never
politically involved. I fell into the category of students who
didn’t really care who won USAC elections. It’s
somewhat ironic that my first “political” event would
be after I graduated from UCLA. It also happened to be the most
appalling and nauseating event of my entire life. I attended the
USAC student advocacy group endorsement hearings. As soon as I
walked in the room, I could feel the tension, and more importantly,
the division among members of the audience. I expected a civil
environment where candidates would be able to voice their platforms
freely on key issues concerning the campus. I was wrong. During the
hearing, Praxis members did anything they could to berate those not
running on their slate. One of the more memorable moments came when
the Praxis members started hissing when a non-Praxis presidential
candidate spoke. At other times, instead of just hissing and
listening to the candidate, Praxis members straight out yelled at
the candidate when she was trying to answer questions. It was
something you would expect elementary school kids to do, not mature
and intellectual college students. One group asked the particularly
demeaning question, “What is your definition of
whiteness?” Statements like these are only widening the
racial division on this campus. At UCLA, I believe there should be
a standard of respect for other people’s opinions, especially
if you do not share the same views. College should be about having
an open forum of discussion where everyone can be heard. I had
always heard that certain groups were consistently in control of
USAC. I had no idea these campaign tactics were how they maintained
it. Catherine de Jesus Class of 1999 Physiological science
Candidates must focus on ASUCLA It disappoints
me to no end that candidates for the Undergraduate Students
Association Council have yet to address the most pressing and
critical issue facing UCLA students: the dire situation of the
Associated Students of UCLA. The students association, which
manages Ackerman Union, Kerckhoff Hall, the UCLA Store and the UCLA
Restaurants, remains on the brink of bankruptcy today. Estimates
project that ASUCLA will lose about $1.5 million this year alone.
This insolvency not only jeopardizes ASUCLA operations, it also
jeopardizes USAC’s capacity to fund certain programs and
efforts. Whether you like it or not, ASUCLA serves and impacts us
all, from the textbooks we buy and the campus food we eat to the
community events we attend. We owe it to ourselves to keep ASUCLA
alive and solvent. So I urge all students to inform your USAC
candidates to address the problem of ASUCLA insolvency before they
start proposing new spending and new programs they might not be
able to afford. Others may shove the responsibility upon the Board
of Directors for fixing the problem, but the board doesn’t
have all the answers. It’s time to get ASUCLA solvent before
we play around with money we might not have. As students, we
deserve no less. Simon Perng Third-year Political science
UCLA rewrites Reagan’s legacy I find it
disgraceful that UCLA would ever consider naming a building after
Ronald Reagan, no matter what the size of the donation. How soon we
forget. This is the president who tried to abolish the U.S.
Department of Education, then, when unable to get Congress to go
along with that scheme, appointed William Bennett as Secretary of
Education. Bennett proceeded to decimate the department, leaving it
in shambles. Millions of students were stripped of financial aid.
The UCLA community should be outraged at this transparent attempt
to rewrite the Reagan legacy. Rusty Austin Class of 1988