General representative candidates Joshua Lawson, Jenny
Gálvez and Amy Lucas stand out from a crowd of nine
contenders, either because of their experience, energy or both, as
the best fit to represent students on council.
Joshua Lawson is an especially strong candidate with innovative
plans for bringing the Undergraduate Students Association Council
closer to the general student body.
Lawson, running on the Students United for Reform and Equality
slate, is a third-year transfer student who previously served as
president of 26,000 students at El Camino College. This year, he
worked as deputy chief of staff for USAC’s President, David
Dahle.
While a student leader at El Camino, Lawson was extremely
proactive ““ in one case he mobilized 1,200 students to oppose
the firing of two food service workers, eventually forcing the
administration to reverse their decision.
Lawson is also well-spoken. The winner of a National College
Championship Gold Medal for debate, he expresses his ideas in a
manner that is convincing and passionate.
His plans also warrant praise on their own merit.
He hopes to reach out to students by creating Fiat Lux-type
seminars that teach students about activism and historical campus
influences. For students with less free time, he plans to have
quarterly Town Hall events that would allow students to bring their
ideas and concerns forward.
Jenny Gálvez, meanwhile, is a candidate with an original
goal, among a group plagued by unoriginality. Unlike any other
candidate for this office, she plans to advocate on behalf of
students to secure the future of current healthcare programs. Also,
she hopes to serve as an active member of Students First!’s
diversity requirement team along with Allende Palma-Saracho and
Sophia Kozak.
Addressing diversity, Gálvez says change works when it
comes from students. She feels students can work together best when
they understand both current and historical community issues.
Lucas, running on the S.U.R.E. slate, is not as prepared for a
general representative position as Lawson and Gálvez are, but
her optimistic outlook, enthusiasm and previous service warrant
student support through their votes.
Lucas says she has learned a tremendous amount about the
realities of student advocacy through her service on the On Campus
Housing Council, a group whose advocacy achievements have been
moderate at best. Her ideas to increase accessibility to USAC
agendas and minutes and to conduct student opinion polls are
trite.
But she also says she will work on a “UCLA Guide to
Life,” which could, if done properly, be a good resource for
UCLA students. Also, her idea to create a programming awards
ceremony for student groups could increase communication among
groups ““ who often remain isolated from each other ““ if
its production is not partisan.
Lucas’s best qualities, however, are her fresh outlook and
enthusiasm. She vigorously opposed the bitterness expressed in
David Dahle’s private memo, which included a friends and
enemies list and ways to manipulate council politics. While many
people say they will work to represent all students, Lucas might
actually do so.
The other six candidates did not measure up.
All three candidates from the United Independents slate ““
Chase Rabben, Jon English and Justin Williams ““ exhibit
serious shortcomings and little experience. One idea that binds the
three together is a goal to establish a program whereby students
could use meal plans at campus eateries.
But of the three, only Rabben has had any dialogue with either
ASUCLA or Housing, whose cooperation would be needed for such a
program. Even he did not lay out a convincing case that his idea
was possible without more costs being incurred for students.
English, Williams and Rabben, like S.U.R.E.’s other
candidate Gerardo Ornelas expressed ambiguous promises and
nonspecific plans to make USAC more visible.
Ornelas, like nearly every other candidate, desires to combat
student fees and continue BruinGo!, but offered a convincing case
he would use his resources as a general representative to
adequately represent students on these issues.
Finally, Linda Lam and Nelson Saldaña, on the Students
First! slate, have also not done enough to convince students and
garner their votes.
Linda Lam does seem well- informed about critical USAC issues
but provided vague goals and weak plans to address women’s
issues, diversity and student privacy on campus using her
office.
Although Nelson Saldaña had an interesting idea to use art
to express student viewpoints, he failed to convincingly explain
why he needed to be a general representative to accomplish this
goal. He even said he could accomplish many of his goals if not
elected, through other means.