After an election that included both a violation of campaign
policy and a slew of write-in votes for Simpsons characters, UCLA
School of Law student government officials are expecting to meet
with next year’s elected officers to ensure a smooth
transition.
The Student Bar Association announced its election results
earlier this week, following a brief controversy during which
presidential candidate Shaffy Moeel violated an election policy by
sending mass e-mails to the student body.
“We have a limited amount of space on our server. …
We’d received complaints from people about too many campaign
e-mails. We had a policy that candidates shouldn’t use the
e-mail system,” said outgoing SBA President J.D.
Henderson.
The penalty for the violation ““ docking 200 votes from the
candidate ““ was not imposed because Moeel lost the election
to Bryan Dominguez, next year’s president, by 32 votes out of
340 cast.
Write-in votes were encouraged this year to increase the
competitiveness of the election, Henderson said, and on a lighter
note, some voters penciled in familiar candidates like Montgomery
Burns and Leonardo DiCaprio.
Other write-ins included Fat Tony, Some Other Abercrombie Drone
and “WTF is a parliamentarian? I bet we don’t need
one.”
A parliamentarian is the SBA officer who ensures that the
organization is abiding by its bylaws.
The current and elected officers will coordinate their efforts
to ensure that next year’s government runs smoothly,
Henderson said.
Henderson said next year’s SBA will continue to be
“a voice for the student body with the
administration.”
Michael Brown, current president of the law school’s class
of 2005 and next year’s SBA vice president, said SBA will
work next year to promote programs like critical races studies and
corporate law.
“We want to make sure that those are kept up. The
specialized programs are some of the key reasons that people come
to UCLA Law,” he said.
Among this year’s activities, SBA fought graduate school
fee increases. In addition, the government helped convince the law
school’s dean selection committee to appoint a student
member, to give students a voice in the decision-making
process.
Henderson added that SBA gave more money to student
organizations during the 2003-2004 school year than ever before, a
goal accomplished partly by approaching the Graduate Students
Association and other organizations for help.
“We tapped into a variety of different funding sources we
hadn’t utilized before. … GSA was wonderful … we really
hadn’t utilized them before as we should have,” he
said.
Intense days of studying at the law school were interspersed by
social events planned by SBA this year, including a
Barrister’s Ball ““ the law school version of prom
““ which boasted a record attendance of about 265
participants.
SBA also sponsored Thursday keggers in the law school
courtyard.
Anita Garcia, a first-year law student, said SBA does not allow
for enough student input in their decision-making process.
“It needs to change to be more transparent,” she
said.
Regarding the election, Garcia said the nomination process and
filing dates were unclear, and that SBA could have done a better
job of informing students about the campaign process.
But Brown said SBA officials sent e-mails to the student body
detailing rules and dates pertaining to the elections. He added
that SBA meetings are open to all students, and that students who
do not attend can request copies of minutes.
With reports from Natalie Banach, Bruin reporter.