Wednesday, April 10, 1996
Ballot measure gives voice to association opinion in affirmative
action debateBy Ryan Ozimek
Daily Bruin Contributor
Along with voting for three elected positions, graduate students
will be deciding the fate of four referenda, ranging from
affirmative action to fee increases.
Although the Graduate Students Association (GSA) has already
taken a public, pro-affirmative action stance, a referendum on the
upcoming ballot will ask students for their opinions on the
University of California Regents July ruling.
The referendum will let students voice their support or
opposition to the phrase, "the University of California shall not
use race, religion, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin as
criteria for admission to the University or to any program of
study."
Believing that this would give students a chance to tell
representatives their own opinions on affirmative action, Academic
Affairs Commissioner John Hajda decided to let graduate students
vote on the issue. The idea for the measure came after hearing the
Academic Senate allowed faculty members to voice their opinion on
affirmative action.
"The regents and faculty have voted on affirmative action, but I
found it interesting that the students haven’t had a chance to vote
yet," Hajda said.
After speaking with graduate student President John Shapley and
External Vice President Kevin Welner, Hajda began to realize that
the referendum didn’t really do anything proactive, but instead was
an opinion poll of the graduate student body.
When the idea came before the association forum, Hajda decided
to withdraw it from the agenda. But before Hajda could remove the
measure, Internal Vice President Loc Nguyen decided it was
necessary to let the students voice their opinion on the
matter.
"I put it back on the agenda because I believe it’s a sensitive,
divisive issue, and I felt uncomfortable that only a few people
from GSA had the opportunity to have a say in affirmative action at
the graduate level," Nguyen said.
He also explained that general elections allow the association
to judge the student’s opinion on many subjects.
After an hour-long debate, the forum voted to allow the
referendum to appear on the upcoming ballot.
But another ballot measure will help promote affirmative action
within the government’s power. If it passes, graduate student
government representatives will, "take all reasonable steps to
achieve diversity in its appointments and hiring decisions."
Some organization officials, such as Nguyen, said that the word
"diversity" is too broad a term to put in such an important
measure.
"We didn’t need to have the students vote on this measure, but
we wanted to give them something beyond an opinion, something that
GSA could do," Nguyen said. "But would you want to vote for
something so vague?"
Extending outside of the government itself, the measure also
asks the representatives to the students’ association (ASUCLA)
Board of Directors to, "strive to preserve current affirmative
action policies within ASUCLA."
Already, Shapley has the power to promote affirmative action
whenever he represents the government, but this measure would take
this power one step further, branching into all members of the
association.
A problem with this referendum concerns the repeal of
affirmative action and the possibility of the California Civil
Rights Initiative passing this November. If the initiative passes,
the university will in no way be able to promote affirmative action
starting as soon as 1997.
Another ballot issue asks graduate students for more funding.
Currently, each graduate student pays $5.50 to the association to
help run the government and the various activities it supports.
The proposed membership increase will ask for each student to
pay an extra $2 per quarter for government fees, which would then
be put into areas such as student councils, Melnitz Movies and the
Environmental Coalition.
Over the past few years, students have overwhelmingly supported
the idea of fee increases, yet have been unable to implement the
measures due to university regulations.
Elections Commissioner Katherine Crosswhite explained that "the
university requires that 10 percent of the student body vote in
order to raise fees, but over the past few years, we’ve had only 8
or 9 percent turnouts."
Graduate student government officials considered more funding
vital to their plans for the future.
"We can’t run a better organization that supports such programs
as Melnitz movies, the Environmental Coalition, and others without
more money," Nguyen said.
The last of the four referendums concerns changes to the
constitutional definition of the president’s job description.