Joshua Lawson, Amy Lucas and Gerardo Ornelas, three candidates
running in this year’s student government elections, are all
hoping to serve as general representatives on next year’s
council in order to express the concerns of their peers.
Ornelas, Lawson and Lucas are running on the Students United for
Reform and Equality slate and are competing for three open general
representative positions. Slates are coalitions of students with
similar views who cooperate to garner more votes and work toward
common goals.
As a key component of each of their platforms, all three
candidates said they hope to improve upon the Undergraduate
Students Association Council Web site, because though it has been
available this year, it hasn’t been used to its full
potential.
Ornelas, a second-year undeclared student, called the USAC site
“boring” and wants to see the Web site become a
“hub of online activity.” He said his goal for the Web
site would be to create a centralized calendar for the site that
would coordinate events between bruinwalk, MyUCLA and the USAC
sites.
Lucas, a fourth-year engineering student, said she wants to keep
the Web site updated and make the site a forum for students to
voice themselves to the council so students will have a reason to
visit the site.
“I definitely want to improve on accountability ““ I
want to see students bring their opinions to USAC. It’s
difficult for students to get involved who don’t know much
about USAC, and there’s a lot of technology we can
utilize,” Lucas said.
Lawson, a third-year political science student who has attended
all but two USAC meetings this year, added that he wants to have
USAC minutes published online and e-mailed to students who want to
be on a mailing list. He also wants USAC affairs broadcasted on the
campus radio and television stations as a means of improving the
council’s accountability.
This year, Lawson said, a councilmember made a racist comment
during a USAC meeting, and upon request, the comment was struck
from the minutes the next week.
“If student government isn’t accountable, then in my
eyes, it’s not legitimate. It has to be accountable to the
people it represents,” Lawson said.
Two other parts of Lawson’s platform are
“orientation seminars” to introduce students to USAC,
and the use of consistent town hall meetings to keep USAC up to
date on student needs and concerns.
“Open up the system so people feel like they’re able
to know what’s going on … USAC owes it to the students to
go the extra mile to make students feel like they’re part of
the (decision-making) process,” Lawson said.
Lucas said she has been to every USAC meeting this year, and has
witnessed the successes and failures of the council. The
council’s visibility on campus is a major concern of hers. If
elected, Lucas hopes to use the Web site and the office of general
representative to improve upon USAC’s visibility to the
student body and to make it easier for USAC’s constituents to
get their voices heard by councilmembers.
“There’s really no place for a student to say
anything ““ you can’t really just go to the meeting …
there’s really no place in the agenda for it. It’s
really difficult for students to get their opinion out
there,” Lucas said.
Ornelas said he wants the council to represent the student body
in a more complete way. Students who live off-campus are sometimes
neglected, Ornelas said.
“(I want to) target students that are residents in the
North Village … I really want to make them a bigger part of the
community,” Ornelas said.
To address the issues of students who are also residents of
North Westwood Village, Ornelas plans to work with the North
Village Residents Association. Getting the sidewalks and streets
repaired ““ something that is long overdue, Ornelas said
““ would be a focus of his job as general representative.