A tent city set up in support of the diversity requirement
kicked off Tuesday night, and some believe the event’s timing
is a way for Students First! to become more visible before the
upcoming Undergraduate Students Association Council elections.
This is a large-scale public event and has a lot to do with the
elections, said Darren Chan, an independent candidate running for
internal vice president of USAC.
“They are trying to show that their slate has done
something this year to push the diversity requirement,” he
added.
Chan said he would like to go to some events and see how this
tent city is going to expedite the process.
UCLA students have been working to add a diversity requirement
to UCLA’s curriculum for the past 17 years.
UCLA is the only University of California undergraduate campus
that does not have the requirement in place.
A diversity requirement would require all incoming
undergraduates to take a general education course that addresses a
diversity issue.
Students put together a proposal, and the Undergraduate Council
of the Academic Senate promised the issue would be addressed this
year, said Eligio Martinez, current chief of staff for the Academic
Affairs Commission and an uncontested candidate for the
commissioner position next year.
Martinez said in a city like Los Angeles, the university is not
representative of its community, and that the city’s
diversity is not being embraced.
He also emphasized that the timing of the event has no relevance
to next week’s elections and only serves the purpose of
putting more pressure on the undergraduate council before the year
comes to an end.
Some candidates outside of Students First! also support the
cause.
Hanna Olade, a candidate running for Cultural Affairs
commissioner under the Equal Access Coalition, said she never
correlated the timing of the event and the upcoming elections.
She will be joining the group if time allows, she added.
Another candidate sees the event as a final step necessary to
get results.
Crystal Lee, an independent candidate for the Community Service
Commission, does not believe that the event’s timing is
related to the approaching elections.
She explained that she is aware that the current Academic
Affairs commissioner has been working on this issue for the past
year and that this is the final push.
To make their message clear, Students First! candidates walked
out of their weekly USAC meeting Tuesday night and headed over to
their tents.
Doug Ludlow, an independent presidential candidate, questioned
the group’s walkout and believes that it was irresponsible
for them to leave the meeting and abandon their duties.
“The timing has everything to do with the
elections,” he added.
Another presidential candidate believes the timing of the
walkout is “interesting,” but will still attend some of
the events throughout the next three days.
Josh Lawson, current USAC general representative and a
presidential candidate under Equal Access Coalition, believes the
diversity requirement is a bipartisan issue.
“I don’t want to see this issue politicized,”
he added.