It’s an idea that’s well understood and largely accepted in most college campus discourse: Underserved communities understand their own experience better than other people do.
It doesn’t make sense to put a man at the head of a women’s rights movement. It doesn’t make sense to tell other people’s stories as though they’re your own.
Strangely enough, our student government seems to have missed that memo on one of its largest projects over the summer.
The Undergraduate Students Association Council is working on new bylaws for the transfer representative office, a newly created 14th position on council that caters specifically to the needs of transfer students. The bylaws change, which sets the duties of the representative in place, is pending approval at the next USAC meeting on Tuesday.
The bylaws are solid enough and thoroughly cover their bases at this point. But there is a glaring omission in the proposed bylaws that may prevent what looks good on paper from working as well in practice: They do not specify that the transfer representative needs to be a transfer student.
This detail was removed at the suggestion of administrators over concerns of discrimination in choosing a candidate for the office.
While limiting candidacy to a specific student demographic might make a few administrators uncomfortable, not doing so may actually counteract the purpose of the position in the first place by having a traditional student, who has a completely different set of concerns and experiences on campus, speak for transfer students. After all, who can better understand the plight of transfer students than a transfer student?
As it stands, it’s difficult for transfer students to get involved in USAC. Elections are usually won by USAC insiders, people who have been involved with student government for one or two years at least. Transfer students, many of whom remain at the university for just two years, are only eligible to run in a single election before graduation. Giving a transfer student a guaranteed seat at the council table would make his or her short time here less of an obstacle for transfer student participation in USAC.
Fourth-year political science student Negeen Sadeghi-Movahed, the runner-up for internal vice president and a transfer, was able to buck the trend this year. While she garnered enough support in less than a full academic year to make a run for a USAC office, such achievements are not easily replicated.
One of the main knocks on her campaign was the fact that she lacked extensive USAC experience, which was impossible for her to have as a transfer student. This same unfair argument could spill over into the special election for the transfer representative if the bylaws don’t restrict candidate eligibility to transfer students.
The bylaws do include a plan to actively solicit information concerning transfer student needs, but that isn’t as effective as having an actual transfer student representing the entire transfer student population on campus.
If the bylaws pass council this Tuesday unchanged, it is very possible that the winner of the new seat won’t be a transfer, because traditional students have the benefit of longer UCLA careers to garner a following. If that happens, the winner would do well to appoint a decent number of capable transfer students to significant positions within the office to ensure direct engagement with the transfer community. Indirect governance through transfer student input won’t accurately represent this large cross section of the student population.
To be sure, the new councilmember must recognize that his or her voting power affects all students, not just transfer students. But his or her largest and most important role is as the representative of a usually silenced third of the undergraduate student population. The representative has the opportunity to give a voice to the voiceless, so to speak.
The authors of the bylaws did enough to outline strategies that ensure the success of this project in the face of any foreseeable problems. The bylaws also leave room for adjustments on the fly, leeway that will probably be necessary considering that USAC is stepping into uncharted territory. No other office has the responsibility of representing a specific student demographic.
The proposed bylaws change is solid on paper, but USAC needs to make sure it’s just as solid in practice.
Transfer students understand the transfer community. Our 14th councilmember should come from the community he or she is meant to serve.
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