My first instinct when a Daily Bruin submission titled “Shame on the Daily Bruin – student voices are crucial to UC governance” popped up on my Facebook feed was to laugh.
I didn’t laugh because the contents of the Jan. 12 article, written by a pair of student council officers, were frivolous.
I laughed because I was Daily Bruin Opinion editor in 2013-14 and I witnessed with amused disbelief numerous attempts to shape rhetoric against the Daily Bruin in order to further the political and institutional goals of some students, well-founded and altruistic as those goals may have been.
I would go so far as to say members of the Undergraduate Students Association Council, led by President John Joanino, were openly hostile to the Daily Bruin editorial board. Granted, we started the year by crusading against their tone-deaf and blockheaded decision to raise the pay of sitting members.
Repeatedly, USAC exploited honest differences of opinion with the editorial board to ignite controversy that played on the anxieties of some students who rightly feel their experience is not adequately represented in the media. Put simply, I believe they did this to win political points. I would not be surprised if little has changed since I graduated.
Eitan Arom
UCLA Class of 2014