Wednesday, April 29, 1998
New slates join race for student council
ELECTION: Two groups hope to fill void left from decline of
Students First!
By Dennis Lim
Daily Bruin Contributor
Praxis and Sanity ’98 will face off in this year’s undergraduate
student government elections as the only two slates vying for
control of Kerckhoff Hall.
Compared to last year’s record of five slates, Praxis and Sanity
’98 are new to the race for power over the student council.
Praxis, which grew out of the demise of Students First!, is a
new slate and coalition designed to be more inclusive of student
groups.
"We had to re-evaluate what the coalition meant to us, because
Students First! was a coalition based on underrepresented students
of color and social justice," said Praxis external vice-president
candidate Liz Geyer.
Students First! ceased to operate as a slate as early as last
summer, when USAC members became bitterly divided over whether or
not to vote to increase their own stipends. Recently, the
Movimiento Estudiantil Chicana y Chicano de Aztlan (MEChA), one of
the four founding groups, officially pulled its support from
Students First!
"We got to the point where we could and wanted to include other
groups … we wanted to expand our vision of the student movement
and incorporate other individuals that wanted to and were ready (to
be involved)," Geyer said.
Sanity ’98 views the issues differently. With members from
groups such as the Bruin Republicans, the Bruin Libertarians, and
the Greek system, Sanity ’98 proposes a platform based on reducing
the role of student government.
The role student government should play in the lives of students
is the real focus of this year’s election, Sanity ’98 candidates
say. Much like the now-defunct Access slate, candidates of Sanity
’98 believe student government needs to focus on much more specific
issues that affect more of the campus.
"We want to reduce student fees by making the USAC fees
optional. We want to repeal the stipend that USAC offices receive
and we want student government to focus on issues that affect every
student on this campus," said Martin Chippas, presidential
candidate for Sanity ’98.
"More people on this campus are concerned with parking, campus
safety and student fees. That’s what student government should work
on," Chippas continued.
Members of last year’s slate Access expressed sympathy with
Sanity ’98 but decided not to run since most of their members will
graduate in the coming year.
Praxis, which means reflection and action (from Paulo Freire’s
"Pedagogy of the Oppressed"), was chosen as a name because it
embodied the goal of the coalition, which is to further the goals
and continue the history of the student movement.
"It’s not a slogan, but it is what we want to focus on and to
remind ourselves that this is what we’re about," Geyer said.
Direct services, direct action, diversity and dialogue are the
four main areas Praxis candidates hope to address if elected into
office. Some of the direct services the slate hopes to continue are
the Booklending Program and Student Advocates Office.
Praxis is also proposing the creation of a book exchange where
students will have a place to buy and sell used books.
"The fees that the students pay should come back to them in the
form of services which aid their student life on campus," said
Praxis presidential candidate Stacy Lee in her Daily Bruin
endorsement application.
By direct action, Praxis candidates refer to the mobilization of
students to ensure that the administration, UC Office of the
President, and state and federal governments create policy to help
students.
The slate’s focus on the diversity of UCLA includes working on
outreach, student-initiated community service programs and
retention rates.
Praxis believes that dialogue is necessary between the coalition
and UCLA community to ensure that the issues and campaigns they
focus on stay relevant to the students.
Chippas, however, claims that Praxis’ focus on minority and
national political issues hurts the campus as a whole. The focus on
such issues, Chippas says, helps only part of the UCLA campus and
ignores the rest.
"By addressing these issues, those candidates would use their
political positions to advance political beliefs that not everyone
at UCLA believes," Chippas said.
Along with a reduction in student fees, the Sanity ’98 platform
proposes to set up a criteria for issues that USAC can support
through funding. Issues that affect the campus as a whole and take
place on campus will continue to receive funding while those that
do not will not.
"We won’t keep the current criteria where only those programs
that agree with the political agendas of candidates will be
advanced," Chippas said.
With reports by Stefanie Wong, Daily Bruin Senior Staff