A few candidates for the UCLA undergraduate student government
handed out fliers in the dorms, turned in late or incomplete
expense accounts, and distributed unstamped materials during
elections in the last two weeks. But these violations are minor
incidents compared to problems experienced by several student
governments at other major California universities.
For the most part, aside from the expected slate rivalry, the
2004 Undergraduate Students Association Council elections have been
relatively civil and calm.
Though several sanctions have been handed out to some candidates
in violation of the USAC Elections
Code, the most serious of the penalties was an order to cease
campaigning for three hours, said Roy Samaan, chairman of the
Elections Board.
“For the most part, they have been really good at
following the rules,” Samaan said.
The most severe sanction that Samaan remembers occurred several
years ago at UCLA, when a candidate became disqualified for
violating expense guidelines between primary and final
elections.
Student government elections at the University of California,
Berkeley, on the other hand, took a worse turn.
Due to disagreements and alleged accusations of breaking
election rules from both campus slates, CalSERVE and Student
Action, slate members are considering pursuing a lawsuit against
each other.
David Berneman, executive director of community outreach at
Berkeley, said though election rules may have been broken, the
slates are becoming too “nitpicky.”
Berneman added that allegations of this nature are not uncommon
during elections at Berkeley.
CalSERVE discovered that the Student Action presidential
candidate posted a mass e-mail to Latino groups on campus, which
was a violation of election rules. Meanwhile, Student Action
discovered that CalSERVE advertised for their candidates too close
to the polls ““ another violation.
For these reasons, results for executive positions and senators
will not be posted until mid-June, postponing planning time for
next year’s council.
Berneman said the slates are overreacting and they should be
thinking about what is good for the campus and community.
The Berkeley judicial council will review the cases, and if both
parties are unhappy with the decisions, they can pursue the case in
court, he added.
To complicate matters, another slate ““ the Defend
Affirmative Action Party ““ filed a federal law suit against
Berkeley’s judicial council last week, after the council
disqualified the 20-member slate.
The Defend Affirmative Action Party was disqualified after the
presidential candidate, Yvette Felarca, challenged a ruling one of
the judicial council members made, said Felarca, also the
chairwoman of the pro-affirmative action coalition By Any Means
Necessary on the campus.
Looking to the southern part of the state, Occidental
College’s student government arguments in April caused campus
officials to suspend the government for the rest of the year.
Theodore Mitchell, the college’s president, is delaying
this year’s elections until fall.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the government was shut down
due to heightening political rivalry between students. The decision
to suspend the college’s government has become controversial
among civil libertarians nationwide, the article stated.
Stanford University also experienced difficulties in this
year’s elections. After a messy primary in which results
could not be certified due to deviations during the election,
results from a second election were finally released this past
Thursday.
Nadiya Figueroa, associated student president, said the
violations consisted of “an issue of abuse of power in the
usage of closed e-mail lists for campaigning.”
Though UCLA’s election difficulties pale in comparison to
those of other comparable campuses, USAC is not without its flaws,
says one new councilmember.
Pavan Tripathi, newly elected USAC Facilities commissioner, said
though elections at UCLA are not as extreme as at other campuses,
they are still “uncivil.”
Elections are “tamer than other schools but there is a lot
of petty name calling between the slates. People forget that we are
just students working for a better campus,” Tripathi
said.