The Undergraduate Students Association Council appointed one of the former managing editors of the Bruin Standard to the Associated Students UCLA Communications Board at a special meeting on Tuesday night.
Michael Rafail, the newly confirmed appointee, faced over an hour and a half of questions and discussion before the appointment was made, delving into his background on The Standard and his personal politics and ethics.
The Bruin Standard is a conservative and libertarian opinion publication on campus, published quarterly, which was founded by former Daily Bruin Viewpoint columnist Garin Hovannisian.
The Communications Board serves as the publisher for all of Student Media at UCLA, which includes the Daily Bruin, several news magazines and bruinwalk.com.
The board consists of a student majority, with four undergraduate student representatives appointed by USAC, four graduate student representatives appointed by the Graduate Students Association, and seven other members, including a faculty representative, administration representative and several community seats.
The board approves the budget for Student Media and all of its publications, manages the department’s finances, implements journalistic standards, and hires the top editor for each publication, said Arvli Ward, the director of Student Media.
For at least the past 15 years, the board has not interfered with the editorial content of any of the publications, Ward added.
Several of the newsmagazine editors issued a joint statement to council urging them not to appoint someone who had worked as an editor for a publication that was created to counter the mission of Student Media and harm the reputation of its publications.
The editors, led by Hector Pena of La Gente de Aztlan magazine, questioned Rafail’s journalistic and moral integrity and expressed concern that he would help make the decision to appoint the next round of editors for the magazines.
“The writers of the Bruin Standard continually violate the Society of Professional Journalists’ code of ethics,” Pena said. “Allowing someone on our board that has had a hand in such antics would be counterproductive to our mission.”
Rafail, who also goes by the name Mike Soliman, said his experience with helping to produce a small publication would make him a good choice for the position ““ a sentiment others on council echoed throughout the meeting.
He also said he has plenty of other outlets to express his political opinions and would never let his politics bleed into his role on the board.
Saba Riazati, the editor in chief of the Daily Bruin, said that though the appointment of Rafail creates uneasiness among some of the newsmagazines and the Daily Bruin, she has the utmost faith in the board and does not foresee any shifts in board policy.
“The Communications Board has never meddled with the editorial content of the Daily Bruin, nor have they interfered or controlled content when and if something we publish has not been to their pleasing. For this I am grateful, as our readers and the community will be able to receive information without censorship,” Riazati said after the meeting.
“(Rafail’s) appointment was made in haste, without considerable review of his prior affiliations with a publication openly disregarding ethical codes within the realm of journalism, which should be alarming to the board members, as they are our publishers and will be working with (him) in the coming year,” she added.
Councilmembers Sanobar Sajan and Bernice Shaw, members of the slate Students First!, echoed the concerns of the newsmagazine editors at the meeting, questioning groups he belonged to on Facebook and MySpace such as “smash left wing scum” and a picture of him holding a gun with a caption that reads “I kill leftists.”
Rafail, a Bruins United slate supporter during the previous year’s USAC elections, said by “left wing” he means radical communists such as Joseph Stalin.
Gabe Rose, USAC president and a member of Bruins United, and Katya Balan, a member of the board and supporter of Bruins United, chastised the council for asking him questions about his political leanings and defended his character.
Rose said Rafail was forwarded for the position because of his experience on publications, including The Standard, and that other applicants did not possess those qualifications.
Riazati questioned the appointment and wondered why Rose did not forward one of the other applicants.
“Simply put, it just doesn’t make sense to appoint someone to a nonpartisan publishing body who, by recent, prior involvement, has shown a lack of respect and understanding of not only The Bruin but journalism in its entirety,” she said.