At midnight on any given Thursday, Bruin Walk is silent and
tranquil, traversed by only a handful of students on their way home
from Night Powell.
This past Thursday, the scene was somewhat more chaotic, as the
campaign period for Undergraduate Students Association Council
officially began with the raising of candidate signboards. An army
of supporters of the Student Power! slate wielded shovels, and the
squad from Bruins United, an opposing slate, came armed with a
jackhammer.
In their digging efforts last year, students struck a water
main, but this year’s efforts appeared to go much smoother.
The only water obstacle was sporadic sprinkler blasts.
Candidates from four slates as well as independents will be
campaigning in full force through elections next week.
The overall sentiment from slates is that running as a coalition
not only makes candidates more visible to students through pooled
campaign funds, shared advertising and greater manpower available
for outreach, but also serves as a group with which to share their
experiences.
Slates provide the moral support that candidates need,
especially when they’re trying to balance all of their
commitments and their campaign, said Kristina Doan, the internal
vice president candidate with Bruins United.
Slate members and supporters not only serve as a network of
ideas, but also as a source of assistance for various aspects of
campaigning.
“Being with a slate is really great because you have
people who understand what you’re going through, who are
cheering for you at endorsement hearings, who are helping you with
your statement,” Doan said.
Running with a slate is also a great way to tap into
everyone’s individual expertise in hopes of having the most
successful campaign possible, said Tommy Tseng, a current general
representative and the internal vice president candidate with
Student Power!
Independent candidates, however don’t see their lack of
affiliation as a stumbling block in their campaign.
Since all independent candidates are running for commissioner
positions unopposed, it allows them to use campaign resources to
publicize their causes instead of becoming entrenched in political
battles, said Farheen Malik, an independent candidate for Community
Service commissioner.
While critics of the slate system say that it disadvantages
independent candidates, Malik said that her campaign is
unaffected.
“I look at it like I represent the 22 (community service)
projects, and the 600 volunteers in those 22 projects, rather than
a certain slate or a certain number of people,” Malik
said.
As far as funding, candidates said that their resources come
from appealing to their friends and family.
“We’ve been really reaching out to our family and
friends ““ telling them what we’ve done, why we’re
doing it,” Doan said.
All candidates from Student Power! and the Future Front, as well
as several independents, have pledged their commitment to a
voluntary spending cap of $600 for presidential candidates, and
$400 for all others.
Members of Student Power! said that spending less than some of
their competition, such as Bruins United, won’t hurt their
campaigns.
“We make it work under the voluntary spending cap because
we really feel that it’s important to have equity in the
elections process, and that every student should have a fair chance
at the elections process,” said Jenny Wood, the presidential
candidate for Student Power! and a current general
representative.
There are areas in which costs can easily be cut, such as
producing your own signboards, as candidates with Student Power!
and the Future Front did, Wood said.