To say that undergraduate student government presidential
candidate Arash Mozayan Isfahani is an outsider is an
understatement. With no previous involvement in the Undergraduate
Students Association Council, Mozayan Isfahani is also an
out-of-state student who transferred to UCLA from Arizona State
University at the beginning of this school year. And until about
five years ago, Mozayan Isfahani was an outsider to the United
States, when his family immigrated from Tours, France ““ where
he had called home for 15 years. But this Iranian-born,
well-traveled presidential hopeful says it is being an
“outsider” that gives him an edge. As an independent
candidate, Mozayan Isfahani, fourth-year molecular, cell,
developmental biology student, says he can bring a new perspective
to USAC, free of student group, slate and ideological influence.
“The elections needed an independent candidate and somebody
who wouldn’t be affected by the influence of a group,”
Mozayan Isfahani said. Dressed in semi-formal attire, the initially
nervous Mozayan Isfahani carefully outlines his goals for the
upcoming year with an accent that falls somewhere in between
Persian and French. His top priority is to alleviate
students’ struggles resulting from the state’s budget
crisis, he said while waiting in front of Powell Library until a
study room opened. “Everybody’s afraid of the budget
crisis, afraid of losing great faculty, and great students,”
he said. Mozayan Isfahani said he will work with other University
of California campuses and California State universities to lobby
the Legislature against cuts. Specifically, Mozayan Isfahani
““ who decided to run about three months ago ““ said his
goal is to gather letters in response to fee increases and the
budget crisis from one-fifth of all UC and CSU students, totalling
about 100,000 letters. It is not surprising that this goal is one
of the same goals that Jared Fox, the president-elect of the
Graduate Student Association had when he ran for office, as Fox is
Mozayan Isfahani’s campaign manager and close friend. Fox
pledges that GSA will work closely with the aspiring USAC
president.
A background of diversity Fox acknowledges that
his friend has not been too involved on campus, but adds that this
shortcoming of Mozayan Isfahani’s candidacy is compensated by
his diverse background. Mozayan Isfahani was born in Iran and moved
to France with his parents and his older brother when he was a year
old. Fifteen years later, he moved to Scottsdale, Ariz. He attended
Arizona State University for most of his college career and decided
to transfer to UCLA this year. He has travelled to Germany, Italy,
Greece and Turkey and is fluent in Farci, French and Spanish.
Though they sometimes had difficulty adjusting to new environments,
both Mozayan Isfahani and his brother, Ehsan, are grateful for the
opportunities they gained, Ehsan said. “We wanted to move
especially for our kids … to give them safety first and then
liberty,” said Mozayan Isfahani’s father, Hosein.
Mozayan Isfahani has always felt a responsibility to help people,
volunteering in hospitals and homeless shelters since the age of
13, his father said. Mozayan is reluctant to talk about his
personal life, but does not shy away from defending what may be
construed as his inexperience. It’s true he has never
attended a USAC meeting, Mozayan Isfahani says, but he has still
followed all council decisions and has opinions on all of them.
Mozayan Isfahani’s solution to the ongoing student group
funding debate that has been circling the council table over the
last two years is to change the USAC bylaws. Current bylaws state
USAC can only fund student groups that are officially recognized
and are not religiously or politically based. But after Supreme
Court rulings, UC Office of the President guideline revisions and
administrative intervention, there is debate on whether funding
should be open to all groups. “Limiting the funding will
influence the decisions that (council is) making and opening it
will allow more equality between everybody,” he said. Another
issue that is important to Mozayan Isfahani is the increasing
difficulty for international students to obtain visas to enter the
United States, Fox said. Adding to the presidential
candidate’s sense of global awareness is his residence in a
co-operative house, in which many international students live.
Goals sometimes not feasible Mozayan
Isfahani’s other two goals ““ to make USAC more visible
to the campus and to increase student input ““ are goals that
have been repeated by most candidates in the past. It is surprising
that these goals have not been accomplished yet, Mozayan Isfahani
said. “People were running for the same issues as they are
running for this year … to me it is surprising that these issues
come up again and again, I just think that it’s time for a
change,” he said. Many current councilmembers, after a
year’s experience, say this change may not be feasible or
even important. UCLA is a huge campus with many students
participating in an abundance of activities. Their first priority
is usually not to find out what their student government is doing
for them, said Financial Supports Commissioner Erica Husse, adding
that very few students actually take the initiative to get
informed. Students may also believe that council is somewhat
corrupt and don’t want to pay attention to it, she added.
Husse also said her position has changed through the course of
year. She now believes that it may not be the best use of council
resources to try to advertise everything council does. But
reflective of someone not yet discouraged by the difficulty of
changing old council habit or from being buried in paperwork,
Mozayan Isfahani believes he can make a difference. His family
members strongly believe that Mozayan Isfahani’s inexperience
is trumped by his determination. He’s a confident, serious,
honest guy, says Hosein, who owns a juice bar in Scottsdale, Ariz.,
and is proud of his son. “We talked about his inexperience
… it’s not ideal,” Ehsan said. “Obviously, I am
biased but he gets on top of anything he sets his mind to.”
Ehsan has a particular memory about his brother that he says is a
testament to his brother’s character. When Mozayan Isfahani
was a toddler in Iran, he and his brother were playing pirates on
their grandfather’s desk. The table flipped onto Mozayan
Isfahani’s leg and broke it. Though he had barely learned to
talk, Ehsan said Mozayan Isfahani comforted his panicked mother
that he was OK. “I’ve never seen that much courage in
anyone. … He is very resilient,” Ehsan said.