Doug Ludlow has been passionate about running for a long time.
Ludlow said that 10 years ago, as a seventh grader, he ran the mile
race without shoes and won. He hopes to run the Los Angeles
Marathon next year. And now, he’s running to be the next
undergraduate student body president. Ludlow is a a third-year
political science, economics and history student. The oldest of six
kids, Ludlow grew up in Modesto, Calif., and he tries to go back
home whenever he gets a chance. Ludlow was timid talking about his
family, but his younger brother explained that Ludlow was always
there for his siblings and took charge when their parents were not
around. Their parents’ divorce forced Ludlow to step up, said
his brother, Richard, a student at Yale University. “(That)
influenced the path he has taken in high school and college,”
Richard said, adding that for a long time he looked up to Ludlow.
During his time at UCLA, Ludlow has been involved in a variety of
activities from floor government to Bruin Democrats, from being an
orientation counselor giving tours in an Indiana Jones costume to
becoming a member of the UCLA men’s crew team and writing for
the Daily Bruin Viewpoint section. But compared to two of his
running mates, Josh Lawson and Allende Palma/Saracho, who have been
heavily involved with USAC in the past, Ludlow has very little
experience in student government. But Ludlow says all he has done
at UCLA gives him a unique perspective outside of USAC .
“I’ve lived the life of a student on this
campus,” he said. Though Ludlow is the president for Bruin
Democrats, he does not believe his political stance will impair his
ability to represent the undergraduate student body as a whole. He
said problems of the average undergraduates are not particular to a
political party. Issues like textbook prices are not political, he
said. One of Ludlow’s goals is to save all students at least
$50 every quarter by working with the Associated Students of UCLA
to set up a system to utilize online sources and also invite
outside vendors to sell books at a UCLA book fair. Another issue
that affects students regardless of their political beliefs is
student fees. Ludlow said fees are not a party issue as former Gov.
Gray Davis, a democrat, increased fees and Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger, a Republican, plans to. Ludlow will try and bring a
conference to UCLA and would like to ultimately put a proposition
on the California ballot calling for a freeze on fee increases or a
limit on how much they can be increased. That may seem like an
out-of-reach goal for a USAC president, but Ludlow says he has
detailed plans. He believes that with support from the UC,
California State universities, and community colleges it
shouldn’t be hard to get the required number of signatures to
put the proposition on the ballot. Ludlow explained that though the
increases affect everyone, the increase in fees can scare away
low-income students. This is why Ludlow emphasizes the importance
of outreach. He said UCLA needs to make sure it fairly represents
California’s diversity and that means admitting more
underrepresented minorities. In the past, a prominent issue facing
USAC has been the funding of student groups. Ludlow believes that
though not all groups should get funding, the possibility for
program funding needs to be opened up, especially for groups that
offer worthy events.
Correcting misinformation In addition to
preparing his campaign, Ludlow has had to deal with some
controversy surrounding his campaign. His Web site was found to
contain misleading information. It had stated that he brought
prominent political leaders to campus and that he had been a Daily
Bruin Viewpoint editor, when he was, in fact, a columnist. Ludlow
said he had a number of individuals read the text and no one saw a
problem with the wording. Richard, his brother, was in charge of
the Web site and said he felt bad about making a mistake as far as
word choice since he was given the responsibility to do the final
draft. Regarding the possible elections code violation, Ludlow said
he had talked to the Elections Board on multiple occasions and
since there were no official candidates at the time, the codes did
not apply. Roy Samaan, chairman of the Elections Board has said
even with the corrected information, it may be problematic for a
candidate to have a campaign Web site at this point in the election
process.
An independent pursuit Ludlow is trying to put
the problems behind him, focusing on his campaign as one of two
candidates running as independents. “An independent is the
only person who can fill some of the riffs on campus and on the
council,” Ludlow said, adding that there has been a clear
division this year and over the past years since slates don’t
always cooperate with each other. “Running as a slate is part
of the problem, not the solution,” he said. Ludlow explained
that it is important to remember that next year’s president
has to work with two slates and independents and that problems
right now are a result of people’s unwillingness to work with
the opposition. “I want to be the president for both MEChA
and Bruin Republicans … both Israeli and Palestinian
students,” Ludlow said. What sets Ludlow apart from the other
candidates is that he cannot rely on old connections since he does
not have a fleet and resources that slates do, said Kristina Doan,
second-year political science student and internal vice president
for Bruin Democrats. The two have worked closely together since
they were co-events directors last year, and Doan is training to be
president next year. She said the most important lesson she has
learned from Ludlow is to delegate and have faith in others to get
things done. Ludlow will have a chance to take a short break from
his campus responsibilities this summer when he gets married to who
could be the future “first lady” of campus.
Ludlow’s fiancee, Sara Mackie is a UC Berkeley graduate and a
medical student at University of Southern California. The two have
known each other since elementary school and have dated since the
beginning of high school. Mackie said Ludlow has always had a drive
to make people happy and he wants to change things for everyone to
make them happy. “That’s why he is running for
president,” Mackie said.