Amid chants of “Bruins United!” and “Students First!” the candidates for the undergraduate student government gathered in De Neve Auditorium on Saturday night for the annual debate preceding this week’s elections.
Candidates from the three slates ““ Bruins United, Students First! and SERVE ““ running for contested council positions debated their qualifications and ideas for next year’s council.
Student Welfare commissioner hopefuls Lucy Wu, the SERVE candidate, and Myles Hamby, the Bruins United candidate, debated the position that has proved controversial in this election.
For the past nine years, the Student Welfare commissioner has been chosen by the previous office staff to ensure an experienced, prepared candidate.
When asked why she would make a better commissioner, in-house candidate Wu cited her experience in the commission and said she will not need any training, a clear reference to Hamby, who has no experience in the commission.
Hamby said he is more than qualified although he has not worked for the Student Welfare Commission previously. He said he hopes to make the election process more democratic.
“This office has the same voting power as anyone else at the council table. Students deserve to choose who should represent them,” he said.
When the general representative candidates took the stage, Bruins United’s Addison Huddy accused the Students First! majority council of not listening to the pleas of a student group outside their door, referring to Bruins for Israel when the Undergraduate Students Association Council passed the Gaza resolution.
However, the Students First! candidates pointed out that Jesse Rogel, Bruins United’s presidential candidate actually supported the controversial resolution.
External vice president candidates Megan Ward, the Bruins United candidate, and Susan Li, the Students First! candidate, disagreed on the role experience plays in the job.
While Li said that she has worked in the external vice president’s office for three years, Ward rebutted that student fees will have gone up $2,000 during her time in office.
In response, Li said that Ward’s work may seem impressive, but actually does little for students. She said that although Ward met with Senator Barbara Boxer, Boxer has little to do with student issues, which are usually handled by representatives at the state level.
Afterward, the debate moved to internal vice president candidates Shahida Bawa, from Students First! and Sharona Daneshrad from Bruins United.
Bawa said her work with the Student Risk Education Committee is important for covering student groups with insurance.
When Daneshrad said she had never heard of the committee and most students had not either, Bawa replied that as a student government candidate, Daneshrad should have been at the meetings for the past two years.
Daneshrad also brought up Bruins for Israel’s experience during USAC’s Gaza resolution.
In response, Bawa said, “The Gaza resolution was about promoting peace. You’re not humanitarian if you don’t want to support peace.”
Finally, Sahra Nguyen and Anthony Pesce from the Practicing Leadership and Empowerment to Develop Growth thru Education referendum committee answered questions.
Pesce, who is the current editor-in-chief of the Daily Bruin, and Nguyen both said that the referendum will affect almost every UCLA student in some way, not just the eight groups receiving direct funding.
They also emphasized that the referendum is a way for candidates to accomplish their campaign promises.