Letter to the editor: CALPIRG experience an invaluable one

By Jessica NazarӬ

As a student, activist and former California Public Interest Research Group volunteer, I agree with the Feb. 9 editorial “Question CALPIRG’s pleas for money” in that it’s important to “question” how the funds are used for any nonprofit to which students choose to give. However, many students would find that CALPIRG is a worthwhile investment.

In defense of CALPIRG’s canvassing methods, a 2000 study conducted by Yale researchers Alan Gerber and Donald Green shows that face-to-face interactions are the most cost-effective and efficient way to mobilize voters. Canvassing efforts to garner student support have allowed us to keep a CALPIRG chapter at UCLA for decades.

And fortunately so. CALPIRG is a valuable student group that actively fights for student interests.

Past issues of the Daily Bruin have even highlighted CALPIRG achievements, including our hard work to pass the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, increasing student financial aid.

CALPIRG also organizes local beach cleanups, and volunteers have led service events at shelters, soup kitchens and on Skid Row.

Last quarter, CALPIRG had a huge impact on the successful campaign against Proposition 23 because volunteers on Bruin Walk mobilized student voters, securing votes against the proposition.

Student support helped to provide the pamphlets and materials that we distributed on campus for weeks before the election to raise awareness at UCLA about Proposition 23, educating students about the proposition and encouraging them to vote to protect clean energy.

Furthermore, pledged funds go toward sending student volunteers to the state capitol to lobby on behalf of student interests.

On my first trip to Sacramento as a CALPIRG volunteer in 2009, we met Speaker of the House Karen Bass among other state legislators, and we lobbied to increase the age under which a child can be covered by his or her parent’s health insurance policy.

This legislation was important to protect recent college graduates who no longer have access to student health insurance and have trouble finding employers willing to cover them.

Instead of dismissing the hard work of CALPIRG volunteers, the best way to end Pledge Week is to pledge to support CALPIRG in its efforts to make higher education more affordable, protect the environment, help those who are homeless and make the world a better place.

That way, CALPIRG volunteers can “stop bothering you” and get back to their important campaign work.

If students want to have more direct involvement in affecting policy, CALPIRG is in constant need of student volunteers, and the CALPIRG internship is an incredible experience.

NazarӬ is a fourth-year history student.

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