Wednesday, May 1, 1996
Hopefuls discuss views on student government’s roleBy Brooke
Olson
Daily Bruin Staff
On a hot and lazy Tuesday afternoon in Westwood Plaza, UCLA
students watched as the three undergraduate presidential candidates
explained their future visions for student government.
In a event sponsored by the Daily Bruin, incumbent John Du of
the Students First! slate, Brad Miller of the United Students slate
and J.D. Tovar of the Bruin Vision slate debated on how student
government should be run.
While the crowd cheered for their favorite candidates and
heckled the others, the nominees questioned each other and
explained their goals for the upcoming academic year.
What is the biggest obstacle facing UCLA students?
Miller: The biggest obstacle affecting students today is the
same as it’s always been  it’s getting through your four or
five years here at UCLA and because it’s an obstacle it affects
students in different ways. … It’s student government’s
responsibility to help these students overcome these obstacles.
Du: Access to education is the biggest obstacle. There have been
attacks on financial aid and proposed fee increases. … The
federal government proposed $20 million of cuts in financial aid
this year. … Students need to be ready to take action to stop
these attacks on education.
Tovar: I think it’s perhaps the amount of division on campus. A
lot of people tend to keep in their little shells and groups and
that’s something student government needs to work on.
What is the role of the student government?
Du: What student government needs to do is not only to work with
UCLA students in terms of organizing against the attacks on
education … but make sure we make connections on a state and
national level … And we need to provide direct services to the
students, such as expansion of the booklending program and opening
up the Scholarship Resource Center. We need to have a holistic view
of what student government can do for the students.
Miller: We do need to work on financial aid and fee freezes
 but that is the external vice president’s job. Student
government needs to take care of issues here at UCLA … and
concentrate on issues here, such as lower parking fees and more
study space.
Tovar: Student government needs to be more relevant to the
students and provide services to the students that they will
directly benefit from.
Closing statements:
Miller: Du talks about sacrificing (campus issues for external
issues) and that’s exactly what Students First! stands for is that
we have to sacrifice something to get something else. United
Students platform is that you can have both. We have an external
vice president to work on financial aid and fee hikes … but it is
ridiculous that the council will neglect issues that affect
students here at UCLA. You can have both.
Just because Students First! haven’t done it doesn’t mean it’s
not possible. Students First! this year, while they’ve been in
office, has lost affirmative action, study hours and space have
been decreased, parking fees have been increased for the first time
in five years, student officials have been removed from ASUCLA …
and this campus is more divided than ever. We can’t afford another
year of which students first.
Du: I think it was very clear that there is a lot of
misinformation and lack of experience on the part of the candidates
… We need to move away from this negative campaigning and …
focus on our issues.
This is all about leadership. Leadership does not mean dogging
on other candidates and focusing on what they’ve done. (Students
First! was) elected on a platform of fees, financial aid and
affirmative action and we made sure we fought for those issues.
This is the student body who was able to achieve these
victories. This is how we assess student power … by holding the
people accountable to students. We will continue working
registering the people to vote, we want to continue to advocate for
the students on a campus, state and national level.
The only way we can do this is make sure we have leadership who
has experience, commitment and a willingness to work on issues that
affect all students. In the history of activism, Students First!
has routinely demonstrated that they are committed to students and
their needs. We need a student government that will fight for
students; we need a student government that will put students
first.
Tovar: I’m not a politician and I have no USAC experience …
but next year will most likely be a very mixed board. (Bruin
Vision) feels that by not getting so actively involved in these
issues that are so emotional for students that you can’t really
affect change. You will only be fighting and butting heads for each
other.
(Bruin Vision is) completely neutral on these issues and
believes that this will facilitate better relations between all
groups who are doing a lot of benefit among the community. It would
be a lot more effective if there was no fighting.
FRED HE/Daily Bruin
Undergraduate presidential candidates J.D. Tovar, John Du and
Brad Miller (left to right) discuss their perspectives on student
government during Tuesday’s afternoon debate in Westwood Plaza.