After two years of work with the undergraduate student
government, Allende Palma/Saracho assumed the Undergraduate
Students Association Council presidency Tuesday evening. He plans
to begin collaborating immediately with other councilmembers toward
achieving his campaign goals.
For two weeks during elections, Palma/Saracho said he put his
personal and academic life on hold to dedicate his time and energy
to his campaign.
After the initial overwhelming feeling of having won the race
for president, Palma/Saracho was glad to have an opportunity to
relax and return to his daily, preelection routine.
“I think a lot of it was just thanking everyone and then
using the time to rest up and get back to enjoying life at UCLA.
“¦ I got to see my family, talk to my significant other,
actually do some reading, be a student again,” Palma/Saracho
said.
As the current internal vice president, Palma/Saracho has had
extensive experience with USAC. He worked with Students First!
beginning his freshman year and became officially involved with
council when he ran for the position of general representative in
2002. When he did not win the election, he applied for and was
appointed to the position of chief of staff for the office of the
internal vice president.
Despite the demanding schedule of a USAC councilmember,
Palma/Saracho has maintained a close relationship with his family
in Alhambra ““ his mother has said they meet for brunch on
Sunday whenever her son’s schedule permits.
Palma/Saracho said his passion for activism comes from his
father, a union organizer, who exposed him to social action since
he was a child.
At UCLA, Palma/Saracho has proven that he is able to make
concrete improvements for the student body, said External Vice
President Matt Kaczmarek, who has worked closely with the new
president.
In particular, Palma/Saracho played an integral role in fighting
for the diversity requirement and creating the Student Advocacy
Collective, a forum to connect USAC and student groups, Kaczmarek
said.
The challenge for Palma/Saracho as president will be learning
how to make time-sensitive decisions that do not allow for
extensive discussion with other councilmembers, Kaczmarek said
based on his observations of his colleague during their year on
council.
The first priority is to work with other councilmembers to
discuss their goals and learn to work as a cohesive unit,
Palma/Saracho said, adding he planned to set up meetings with the
rest of the new council within the next week.
The ability to work collaboratively is vital for council,
Palma/Saracho said, but some students have doubts he will be
successful.
In the past, Students First! as a whole and Palma/Saracho in
particular have been accused of catering to constituency groups and
working only with members of their own slate.
“If I were to look at his past work on council, he
hasn’t shown me that he can work with members that
aren’t on his slate,” said Alex Gruenberg, newly
elected Financial Supports commissioner.
Still, Gruenberg, one of only two members of the Equal Access
Coalition on council next year, said that with a majority on
council Students First! will be able to do what it wants without
listening to opposing opinions.
But Palma/Saracho emphasizes his desire to work with
councilmembers from both slates as well as with independents,
provided all are willing to be honest with their plans from the
outset and be open to compromise. Kaczmarek said if anyone would be
able to accomplish cooperation on council, Palma/Saracho would be
the person.
“Allende is really about building a consensus. Allende
will really be the one to bring everyone together,” Kaczmarek
said.
Some top items on the agenda for the rest of the quarter are to
discuss funding policies for student groups, advocate for outreach,
repeal the minimum progress requirement, and protest the recent
compact between the university and the governor, and the
governor’s May Revise, Palma/Saracho said.
For many of the plans Palma/Saracho and other Students First!
councilmembers have set out for the year, the goal is to take a
step in what they see as the right direction yet not necessarily
reach complete change.
“There’s going to be a long-term effort. “¦
This year we want to do as much as we can,” Palma/Saracho
said, adding that he planned to work with students and
administrators to achieve his campaign goals. However, he
understands change cannot always be completed in a year.