In one of the most unimpressive candidate pools of this election, Bruins United candidate Clinton Jang would bring a better focus to the Financial Supports Commission and is more prepared to enact his plans.
Jang’s edge lies in his platform. His goals target the broad community of UCLA, whereas his opponent, Matias Ramos of Students First!, is too focused on small slices of the student body.
Both candidates outlined a plan for the chronically anemic USAC Book Lending Program, which loans out textbooks to low-income students. But with so many previous attempts to revitalize the program, only Jang put anything new on the table.
He suggests new sources of funding, better organization, a relocation to the Hill and new ideas to increase visibility. We’re not exactly holding our breath that the program will suddenly spring to life, but Jang offers hope.
We also like his plan to publicize the option to contest classes’ instructional-enhancement fees ““ with a fee cut extended to all students in the class if the contention is upheld. It’s both useful and within reach.
Jang’s plans for workshops on managing and making money, and consolidating financial services for students also seem workable.
Meanwhile, his plan to put textbooks online did not seem feasible and his textbook scholarship would be difficult to implement and very limited in its usefulness.
Jang’s opponent, by comparison, was unprepared and too narrow in focus. One of Ramos’ top platform goals was to improve emergency loans the university offers, but he showed a lack of knowledge about the program and how to implement his plans.
He also wanted to organize scholarships specifically for undocumented students, which (regardless of your stance on the issue) shows too narrow a focus for a commission that ought to be working on affordability for all students.