By its own choice, this year’s Undergraduate Students
Association Council is less political than past councils have been,
but not everyone agrees that decreased politicking will make the
council more effective.
Now more than halfway through the school year, members of this
year’s council and years past are reflecting on how USAC has
moved away from taking united stances on political issues. Instead,
its officers have focused on their individual goals and
programs.
That change has drawn praise from some former members.
“There is a greater genuine dialogue on this council,”
said Alex Gruenberg, last year’s Financial Supports
commissioner.
But others say this year’s more apolitical council is less
beneficial to the student body.
“There was a detrimental change on this year’s
council,” said Tommy Tseng, a general representative on last
year’s council. “It’s a culture of apathy when
students are already apathetic.”
Over the summer, the council agreed to stop passing resolutions
on issues outside the university that don’t directly relate
to students. In the past, councils have passed resolutions
protesting Nike and the War in Iraq.
“They did more things last year with national
politics,” said Pavan Tripathi, last year’s Facilities
commissioner. “I don’t think that’s the case this
year, by a conscious choice. They’re focusing on issues that
affect students directly.”
However, even some of last year’s major campaigns that
were student-related have been suspended this year.
For example, last year’s council made repealing the
Expected Cumulative Progress requirement one of their goals for the
term. ECP requires that students make a minimum progress of 13
units per quarter, and meet cumulative unit requirements. This
year, ECP has barely come up in council discussions.
Last year’s council also focused on campaigns such as
bringing outdoor nighttime programming back to campus and the Get
Out the Vote campaign for the 2004 presidential election.
The current council’s priorities include increasing campus
safety, advocating on behalf of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and
Transgender students and strengthening campus community.
General Representative Brian Neesby said part of the reason the
council has not united behind a specific cause is that there are
too many ideological differences dividing the members.
“This is the first year we’ve had a split council
for awhile,” he said. “We’re not united
easily.”
External Vice President Jeannie Biniek agreed. “There
isn’t one thing we’ve all agreed to work on
together,” she said. “We didn’t have the same
idea of how USAC should go on its mission to represent the
school.”
Both Biniek and Neesby blamed slate politics for a lot of the
divisions among councilmembers. While the council as a whole seems
less political than it has in the past, slate politics have
dominated votes on issues like the senate proposal.
However, slate demographics on this year’s council closely
resemble those of recent years. While last year’s majority
slate has become this year’s minority slate, the overall
council ““ split between the majority, the minority and
political independents ““ is nearly identical.
Tseng said he thinks the council could be more effective if it
were more willing to take on controversy.
“This council is not willing to take a stance on behalf of
the students,” he said. “They are trying to make
everybody happy.”
Tseng cited the council’s failure to pass a resolution
that would have educated students on the detrimental effects of
some of the propositions in last year’s state special
election as a negative effect of a less-political council.
“They didn’t want to offend anybody,” he said.
“There have been a lot of missed opportunities.”
According to Gruenberg, a council that spends less time
bickering over political issues seems more approachable. “A
lot more people have the impression that they have access to our
student government,” he said.
However, some students said they didn’t feel that USAC has
very high visibility on campus.
“Honestly, I have no idea what USAC does,” said
Emily Nickles, a second-year political science student. “I
don’t understand voting for a group if we never see any of
the group’s action.”
Tseng said the less-political nature of this year’s
council could be responsible for its lower visibility.
“By being more political, (a council is) able to bring the
word out more to the student body,” he said. But Tripathi
said a less-political council might actually be more visible to the
administration.
“(The administration) will see council more as a voice of
the students, rather than just bickering,” he said.
“They’ll take it more seriously. It’s visibility
in a more positive way.”
Still, Tripathi said in some cases political controversy can
serve as publicity for council. “The senate campaign was
definitely political, and that makes council a lot more visible on
campus,” he said.