The beginning of the academic year is a honeymoon period for UCLA’s student government: Councilmembers aren’t at each other’s throats yet, they’re excited to put their platforms into action and students are open and optimistic about the work that could get done.
But this year the Undergraduate Students Association Council might be deprived of even this short window of idealism, with a special fall election on the horizon as soon as classes begin.
Last May, USAC elections included cyberbullying and even a sucker punch, leaving people feeling fed up with the nonsense that oftentimes accompanies elections. The cynicism and exhaustion that toxic election cycles breed could damage USAC’s ability to get any work done right from the start.
This first month could make or break USAC as far as continued student interest is concerned, and disappointing students early could be dangerous for USAC’s immediate future.
USAC is going to be in the news early with two races in October, one to replace General Representative 2 Nihal Satyadev after his resignation and another to fill the new transfer representative seat. If the elections turn into a war of words and smear campaigning, they could overshadow USAC’s future work and damage the relationship between student government officials and their constituents, especially with new students who have no prior experience with our student government.
It’s up to this year’s dominant slates, LET’S ACT! and Bruins United, to make sure this relationship doesn’t break down.
Making the elections a positive experience for the campus allows students to experience the democratic process without hating one another (and maybe themselves) afterward. A decent election cycle gives students the opportunity to hear about the issues at stake and buy into USAC early in the year. Slate politics could make the already pervasive problem of student apathy even worse.
USAC’s potential to amplify the student voice and effectively represent the student body on UC-wide issues like tuition hikes, mental health advocacy and sexual assault policy is great, but when student government is too caught up in slate politics, effort that could go toward building a stronger government with a unified voice is wasted on petty bickering. If USAC’s politics become unappealing to potential active members and causes major rifts in the government itself, the voice of the students as a whole will be weakened by a decrease in student involvement in USAC.
The clashes between LET’S ACT!, Bruins United and FIRED UP! led to the ugliness of last May. As they campaign for this new round of elections, the slates need to keep it civil, which won’t be easy since each slate will be trying to gain an edge on the others. Gaining an edge has become all the more important because General Representative 3 Fabienne Roth has dissociated herself from Bruins United, the slate she ran her campaign with last spring. USAC’s make up is now even across the board: four councilmembers from LET’S ACT!, four from Bruins United, and four independents. A plurality at the council table is now up for grabs, which means tension during elections will be running especially high.
Slate leaders have to decide what’s more important: winning an election or getting work done to make sure their programs dealing with issues like mental health and sexual assault awareness, such as the 7000 in Solidarity and It’s On Us campaigns, continue their success. USAC can’t be effective if students, especially incoming students, want nothing to do with the council from the first few weeks of school. Elections also tend to make sitting councilmembers cynical about the institution they’re a part of. This kind of unhealthy cynicism makes it difficult to sustain the drive to complete initiatives that take constant work.
Avoiding a nasty election is solely up to the slates and their supporters. Election board sanctions and USAC resolutions can’t do much to quell hostility; private conversations and gossip aimed at candidates aren’t easy to police. Students involved in campaigning need to put it on themselves to promote their own candidates without tearing down their opponents.
There’s a potential storm brewing that could damage students’ perception of USAC throughout the academic year. It will take concerted and individual efforts to prevent this fall’s elections from becoming USAC’s second catastrophe in five months, one that it can’t afford if it wants to be taken seriously.