An endorsement for Noah Bookman, a third-year American
literature and culture student, is an unenthusiastic one. While
Bookman is a stronger candidate for General Representative than any
of those not endorsed by the editorial board, his major weakness
lies in his naivete. Bookman lacks prior experience in student
government, and many of his ideas reflect this.
On the positive side, Bookman does represent the greatest
strengths of the Viable Alternative slate. Consistent with the
party platform, his campaign focuses on specific plans to make USAC
more available to students and to promote political awareness on
campus.
Though Bookman hopes to represent the interests of the entire
student body by supporting these general, non-partisan issues, his
primary appeal is to students who feel alienated by Praxis
politics. These students deserve representation on the council, and
no other non-Praxis candidate has presented as well-organized a
platform on how to achieve this.
Despite this variant approach to campus issues, however, Bookman
needs to learn more about the position if he is elected. General
Representatives are accountable to USAC as well as to the student
body. With so many responsibilities, candidates should generally
work within a council office before running for the General
Representative position.
Bookman has stated that his former positions as Program
Assistant and Resident Assistant in the dorms have prepared him for
campus leadership. But UCLA is more than just the hill. Two-thirds
of all students live off campus, and they are concerned with a
range of issues that Bookman seems to have little exposure to.
His most critical failing lies in his inability to understand
the relationship between larger political issues and the campus.
Because of this, he consistently endorses conflicting ideas. For
example, Bookman desires to push the council away from a focus on
outside political issues and toward issues pertaining specifically
to life on campus. At the same time, he has proposed political
forums to better educate the student body on the upcoming
elections. This idea is a good one, and Bookman should realize that
“global issues” cannot be separated from campus
politics; sometimes, they are one and the same.
Bookman’s failure to recognize this inconsistency is a
mark of his relative inexperience. He needs to define his goals for
the campus on his own, and without the help of his slate. Viable
Alternative needs to stand for something more than “not being
Praxis” ““ and so does Bookman.