Submission: Imbalanced reporting on USAC EVP compromises journalistic integrity

The Daily Bruin has too frequently tested both the boundary of fact and my patience. For the past few weeks, reporters for the Daily Bruin, who are apparently also allowed to write as opinion columnists, have launched a smear campaign against the character and actions of not only the Undergraduate Students Association Council external vice president, Zach Helder, but me and all of the staff I oversee as Helder’s chief of staff.

Ordinarily, our office deals with minor mistakes in articles by contacting the author and requesting a correction. Honest mistakes are fine. But when facts are so outlandish as to seem deliberately fabricated, the Daily Bruin participates in something we have become all too comfortable with: tearing down fellow students for its own sake.

On Feb. 12, Ryan Leou, writing for the Daily Bruin, wrote what could be considered an opinion piece, discussing Helder’s supposed “lack of communication.” In this piece, Leou selectively quoted student leaders from throughout California, one of whom was anonymously quoted, offering little comfort as to the source’s credibility. These selective quotes paint a false picture that our staff habitually miss University of California Student Association project deadlines, mischaracterizing our efforts and successes.

The piece quotes a student who says lawmakers meeting with students with differing viewpoints confuses political leaders, as though we cannot have differing ideas. In the case of SB 376, the office was presented a difficult choice between supporting labor allies and protecting the affordability of our university. UCSA took no official position. When board members disagreed among one another, our office did so respectfully, and with support from some other UCSA member organizations. Those who disagreed with us have since demonized Helder personally, and these are the only perspectives the Daily Bruin reports.

Interestingly enough, Leou mentioned the United States Student Association. We find it odd Leou mentioned USSA without mentioning that UCSA itself had withdrawn from USSA, yet another selective presentation of the truth. We have redirected the money saved from pulling out of USSA, $38,000, to advocacy opportunities for students and student groups.

This brings me to talk about Monday’s opinion piece written by Abhishek Shetty, who to my knowledge served just three months reporting only four times on USAC issues before becoming a columnist and seemingly self-proclaimed USAC expert.

Shetty began his article by mentioning the “inadequate” and “inefficient” use of funds on behalf of our office in executing federal lobby visits. Ultimately, the piece’s arguments prove Shetty’s complete separation from reality and lack of political understanding.

What is most startling is that Shetty contacted both me and Helder this weekend, asking questions almost completely unrelated to Monday’s piece. The only thing mentioned from Saturday’s interview was Helder’s contribution in helping secure $25 million to fund enrollment increases, later spun in Shetty’s editorial to claim Helder was singlehandedly responsible for abating tuition hikes. This claim was corrected by Shetty’s editor Monday.

Shetty spent the rest of his piece decrying our federal advocacy program. He states that meeting with members of Congress who hail from states other than California is a bad strategy. Let me convey some basic political knowledge to him: Most bills on Capitol Hill do not pass without first gathering the support of members of congressional committees.

Shetty further argues that Helder and our legislative director, Zoe Borden, wasted their time in meeting with Senators Claire McCaskill and Elizabeth Warren from Missouri and Massachusetts respectively. Shetty proved his unwillingness to ask real questions or dig into the truth, because if he had, he would have recognized that both Helder and Borden hail from those states.

If Shetty had done his due diligence, he would know we lobbied Senator McCaskill to support her bill, S.590, which will help sexual violence survivors on college campuses. Shetty also would have realized we met with Senator Warren to discuss a student loan bankruptcy bill of hers, a bill supported by USAC’s resolution in October. If Shetty had asked, I would have gladly told him about every grueling meeting we had taken during what he characterizes as our “Washington vacations.”

Not only does Shetty attack our office, but he also insults the Bruin Defenders applicants going this week to Washington, D.C. These applicants are lobbying to support sexual assault survivors, secure mental health resources and end the school-to-prison pipeline. Two of these groups, the Bruin Consent Coalition and the All of Us campaign, are both components of UCSA campaigns whose staff we work with and proudly support.

The fact we support many of the higher education solutions and causes that UCSA supports undermines Shetty’s claim that we act unilaterally.

In regards to UCSA, Shetty criticizes Borden for failing to attend some UCSA meetings. However, he did not even call her to ask why. This is a sick, bully tactic. Additionally, Shetty says that Helder was not able to accompany UCSA members on a trip to Washington, D.C., right after our second trip in October, due to “negligence,” despite the fact that the trip was limited to three key staff and already planned.

This is the sad state of the journalism the Daily Bruin produces: gross deviation from the facts; reckless, tabloid destruction of students’ reputations and, perhaps most sadly, a platform to discuss issues that matter to students used instead to exact personal vendettas and agendas. I call on the editorial board to review its best practices, and re-evaluate the priorities of this once-great newspaper.

Skadsen is a fourth-year political science student and the chief of staff for the Undergraduate Students Association Council external vice president’s office.