By George Fujii
Daily Bruin Staff
This week, students will choose the next undergraduate student
government president, the highest elected undergraduate
student office.
Elizabeth Houston, Jason Lautenschleger and Katynja McCory seek
to be the next president of the Undergraduate Students Association
Council in the primary elections Wednesday and Thursday.
The USAC president runs all of the council meetings and has a
large influence over appointments to groups such as the Judicial
Board, the Student Fee Advisory Committee and the Associated
Students of UCLA Board of Directors.
The Viable Alternative slate chose not to run a presidential
candidate this year.
“A slate should not recklessly catapult itself into power
by running mass numbers of personnel … just for the sake of
dominating the council and gaining political influence,” said
Bill Elliott, the leader of Viable Alternative.
Mani Foroohar is also listed as a presidential candidate,
although he informed The Bruin that he will not run. He has not
returned phone calls.
Houston, a third-year political science student, said she is
running as an independent for president because USAC currently
benefits only a small segment of the UCLA community.
“The student government should be focusing on issues all
students care about rather than on narrow, political issues,”
she said.
Lautenschleger, like Houston, is running as an independent for
president to increase USAC’s inclusiveness, he said.
“I feel USAC is not as accessible to the student body as
it should be,” he said. “Few people even know what USAC
is.”
The final candidate is McCory, a fourth-year political science
student, who is running on the Praxis slate. She emphasized her
experience as one of this year’s general representatives.
“I feel experience is key to the position of
president,” she said.
Despite not having experience in elected office at UCLA, Houston
said her service as the Student Welfare Commission’s director
of women’s issues this year gives her USAC experience. She
said this experience also revealed many problems with USAC.
“I was really disappointed with student government; they
are using USAC to further political needs,” Houston said. She
said her top priorities include making USAC more accessible by
holding more office hours and other such measures.
“I really feel USAC is not accessible to the average Joe
Schmo student,” she said.
Other goals include equal funding for student groups and
increasing the number of underrepresented minorities on campus by
expanding outreach programs, rather than repealing SP-1, the 1995
regents’ measure that banned the use of race or gender in UC
admissions.
“I really applaud the outreach efforts USAC has made, but
there need to be more,” she said.
Houston said that the council can allocate fees more fairly
among student groups without increasing the mandatory $69-a-year
USAC fee.
Also, Houston said she would like the council to reflect the
diverse views of UCLA undergraduates.
Some current council members have suggested expanding the
council to make it more responsive to campus concerns, but Houston
disagreed and cited her experience at Pierce College, where she
served as a senator, as an example of how large groups are
unwieldy.
“I honestly think the council is fine as it is,
structure-wise,” she said.
She added that she supports other independent candidates and
feels USAC needs reform.
“I believe it’s the time for change,” Houston
said. “I think you need fresh perspectives.”
Lautenschleger said serving as a campaign manager in previous
USAC campaigns and being president of his fraternity, Lambda Chi
Alpha, gives him the experience to be USAC president.
A top priority is steering USAC toward on-campus issues rather
than state or national campaigns.
His other goal is reforming USAC funding, particularly with the
allocation of funds to student groups.
He said he would reform USAC financing so that groups that reach
out to others outside their cultural strata would receive
preference in funding.
“Basically groups are getting money allocations based on
need, not merit,” Lautenschleger said.
One example of current funding inequalities, he said, is the
Interfraternity Council receiving $680 out of the approximately
$94,000 it requested. He said IFC was not the only example,
however.
“No group is exempt,” he said. “I’m not
doing this as a personal vendetta.”
Like Houston, Lautenschleger said that USAC funding can be
reformed without raising fees.
“I don’t think raising student fees is the answer to
everything,” he said.
Lautenschleger also said that the president should work closely
with other council members to avoid conflicts.
“I think there is a lot other council members can do to
help the president,” Lautenschleger said. “The primary
role of the president is to keep the council working.”
McCory said she wants to build on the successes of previous
Praxis presidential administrations.
“I want to work on broad-based student issues and ensure
that student activism and empowerment are continued themes in
student government,” McCory said.
As examples of student activism, McCory pointed to this
year’s Create Your Own Millennium campaign and to
USAC’s Day of Dialogue, a forum she organized about how
California spends more on prisons than on education.
McCory said her top goals are to expand the booklending program,
which was created five years ago, by offering a wider selection of
textbooks for more classes. She would also hold book donation
drives each quarter.
Other priorities include finalizing a hate crimes policy and
ending UCLA’s status as the only UC campus without a
diversity requirement, as well as working on increasing the number
of underrepresented minority students on campus.
She said USAC can build student trust by being approachable and
encompassing as many students as possible.
McCory also defended USAC’s record of funding student
groups, against repeated attacks from non-Praxis candidates.
“USAC, under Praxis, has funded more student groups than
in the history of USAC,” she said.
Finally, McCory said she would continue to advocate for
off-campus issues because they affect students.
“I don’t think there’s this rigid dichotomy
between on and off-campus issues,” she said. “If we
don’t address societal and community problems, they
negatively affect students who may in turn drop out.”