Only one of the candidates for external vice president has what
current EVP Chris Neal considers “essential experience”
for the position, but the other candidate insists he has the right
stuff for the job.
Matt Kaczmarek has worked with the EVP office, a component of
the Undergraduate Students Association Council, for the past two
years, and has held positions on the two major lobbyist
organizations the EVP works with ““ the United States Students
Organization and the University of California Students
Association.
His opponent, David Rodriguez, transferred to UCLA in summer
2002 from a local community college, and while he does not have any
experience with these two groups, he still considers himself
qualified for the position.
“Just because I’m coming from a community college
doesn’t mean external issues a community college faces are
any different than the ones a university faces,” Rodriguez
said.
He said his experience as education senator at Los Angeles
Mission College, a position he considers the equivalent to academic
affairs commissioner and EVP in USAC, gives him the know-how to do
his job if elected.
Rodriguez, who is running under the Students for United Reform
and Equality slate, also said he lobbied extensively in Sacramento
and in Washington D.C. during his tenure at his previous school,
giving him a “professional experience” advantage over
his opponent.
Both Kaczmarek, running as a Students First! slate candidate,
and Neal refute the notion that someone lacking experience with
USSA or UCSA can adequately fulfill the position’s
responsibilities.
“You can’t do this job if you don’t have (the
knowledge). There hasn’t been an EVP in a number of years who
has come in cold turkey,” or without this experience,
Kaczmarek said.
He explained the complexity of the organizations and said simply
learning how to interact with them takes a long time. A candidate
unfamiliar with the groups would be unprepared for the job, he
said.
“You have to slowly work on gaining your own credibility
to represent UCLA well. It would take at least a year to figure out
what the organizations are, and then your term is up,”
Kaczmarek said.
“I don’t believe (Rodriguez) has any knowledge of
those organizations,” Neal said, adding Kaczmarek is his
clear favorite because of his knowledge and past work in the EVP
office.
But Rodriguez insists his community service background and
direct work with state and university officials has provided him
with the lobbying experience he needs.
The external vice president’s duties, as dictated by the
USAC constitution, include “coordinating advocacy efforts on
behalf of student interests” and UCLA to “off-campus
entities,” responsibilities both candidates are willing to
take.
In addition to the lobbying requirements of the job, Rodriguez
said he wants to focus more on outreach and bringing in students
“from all walks of life,” concerns that weren’t
addressed with this year’s council. He said bringing students
with him on lobbying campaigns would help achieve this goal.
“I don’t want to get caught up in bureaucracy of
lobbying, I actually want to go to students and
organizations,” he said.
Kaczmarek said he has four concrete goals, which include
encouraging the UC Regents and other officials to not increase
student fees and continuing to bring national resources, like
trainers for student organizers, to UCLA.
He also said setting common goals and using every resource from
all the offices that make up USAC would give the council more power
as a whole, adding there has been too much isolation with the
offices in recent years.