A few students recently officially created a student group named
Student Empowerment!, in what some consider a sabotage campaign
against the undergraduate student government slate that uses the
same name.
Empowerment!, like Students United for Reform and Equality, the
other major slate, does not meet the qualifications for a student
group. Empowerment! slate members fear the newly-created student
group will be used as a vehicle to create confusion among students
about the slate.
Andrew Jones, a fourth-year political science student who is
president of the Bruin Republicans and a former Daily Bruin
Viewpoint columnist, was identified by third-year political science
student Dylan Thomas ““ another member of the new student
group ““ as one of the group’s leaders.
“It was a good-sounding name for a student group,”
Jones said. “It was a good way to get students involved in
(student) politics.”
During last year’s Undergraduate Students Association
Council election campaigns, Jones actively opposed Empowerment!
candidates and at one point on election night looked at a group of
slate supporters and said, “Hate me, because … I hate
you.”
Given run-ins in the past, current Empowerment! councilmembers
and their supporters are concerned about the intention of the
students who registered the student group.
“Our main concern is that it is a tactic of being
dishonest to students,” said Chris Diaz, USAC’s
academic affairs commissioner and Empowerment! slate member.
Jones said the politics behind the Empowerment! moniker
“need to be rehabilitated” and that those who accuse
his group of stealing the name are “dead wrong.”
“They use the name once a year; it’s not
ongoing,” he said.
T.J. Cordero, USAC’s internal vice president and member of
the Empowerment! slate, said he would file an official complaint
with the Center for Student Programming. Diaz and Cordero both said
the USAC slate had no current intentions of changing its name.
Berky Nelson, director of the Center for Student Programming,
said his office can’t address the matter until it gets an
official complaint.
“Stuff will get worked out,” he said.
Nelson added that the CSP staff member who registered Student
Empowerment! as a student group likely knew about the USAC slate
and that Jones was not affiliated with them.
But Jones argued that any fault in the situation lies in the
hands of slate members, who failed to register the name.
“It’s not stealing when it was available to
register,” he said.
“If we had turned in competing applications (in the fall),
it would be different. But to complain here is disingenuous,”
he continued.
Some councilmembers expressed concerns regarding CSP’s
registration process.
“It shows irresponsibility on part of the CSP adviser who
approved (the group) without contacting any (Empowerment!)
councilmembers,” Cordero said.
“There should be more checks by CSP when there’s a
history of this happening,” said Chris Neal, USAC External
Vice President.
Besides filing a complaint with CSP, Cordero and Diaz said they
will bring the issue to council next week.
But David Dahle, USAC president and SURE slate member, said
there might not be much council can do.
“Students are free to do what they want,” Dahle
said, of the creation of the new group. “It’s a little
misleading, but people will realize the difference.”
This is not the first time Jones has registered and claimed
leadership of unestablished groups.
In fall quarter, Jones and other members of the Bruin
Republicans registered as the Third-World Coalition, an
organization that called for social justice in third-world
nations.
The other two student leaders, who are also members of Bruin
Republicans, Chris Riha and Matt Sorensen could not be reached for
comment.
Other student groups have engaged in similar practices in the
past, as well.
Members of Bruins for Israel have registered themselves as
belonging to the Peace and Justice Coalition and Students for
Justice in Palestine.
Vice President of Bruins for Israel Avishai Shraga said he was
only a signatory for the groups.
“I’m totally disconnected from both groups,”
he said, referring to the Peace and Justice Coalition and Students
for Justice in Palestine.
Some councilmembers expressed concern on what could prevent a
similar situation from occurring with an already established group
like Samahang Pilipino or the African Student Union.
“That’s what we’ll be looking at,”
Nelson said.
Student groups seeking university sponsorship must register with
the CSP each year, and group names are allocated on a first-come,
first-serve basis. Before this year, conflicts over group names
were rare occurrences in the office.