Tuesday, 5/6/97 Internal vice presidential candidates outline
goals Campaigners show variety of platforms with different
highlights
By Stefanie Wong Daily Bruin Contributor Declaring their
platforms to the campus community, candidates for the internal vice
president’s (IVP) office of the undergraduate student association
(USAC) have ideas of opening a pub on campus, placing a marquee on
Bruin Walk and publishing professor evaluations. Bruin Vision IVP
candidate Joe Slone would like to reform USAC’s funding methods and
revise fund allocation procedures. "If groups are holding large
events involving a large number of students within their groups and
outside their groups they should be able to get funding for it," he
said. Slone would like to see many changes made in the area of
programming and events, especially by increasing multicultural
programming. "In terms of increasing unity, what I see as one of
the solutions is holding more cultural and festival events that
involve a large number of culturally based student groups," Slone
said. "Then they can really celebrate their own culture and learn
about another’s in the same process." Another area Slone would like
to address is reforming the election process. "I’d like to see
something reformed in terms of campaign spending limits," Slone
said. While there are currently spending limits in force, he
believes that the amount of money spent by candidates is
"ridiculous." One of the main issues Slone is tackling in his
campaign is campus safety and the need for more community service
officers (CSOs). "I’d like to put colored lights on top of police
call boxes and pay phones so they’re more visible at night," Slone
said. Independent candidate James Burkhardt is also addressing the
need for more lighting in campus parking structures and panic
buttons. Burkhardt would also like to propose a constitutional
amendment that would change the relationship between the student
council and the Judicial Board (J-Board). "I would like to create a
constitutional amendment that will establish the Judicial Board as
an effective governing body so that we can honestly have a checks
and balance (system)," Burkhardt said. "Then we won’t have the
problem that we had this year where one political slate gets
absolute power and runs USAC on its own without any checks and
balance," he added. Other items on Burkhardt’s agenda are to work
for 24-hour access to Powell Library and the publication of
professor evaluations so "students can have an idea of what a
professor’s qualities are," he said. To increase student
participation and involvement with USAC, Burkhardt would like to
create student government Web pages that give comprehensive
descriptions of the offices and their programs. He also sees mass
e-mailings as a way to inform students about activities. "A lot of
people don’t feel that USAC is relevant to them because they don’t
know what’s going on," Burkhardt said. The last item on Burkhardt’s
platform is the creation of a student senate. "Creation of a
student senate for equal access to all student groups so that
everyone can be included," Burkhardt said. Access Coalition IVP
candidate Erin Mills also wants to work for the creation of a
student senate, but she believes its format should be based on
ideas from the students. "I don’t know exactly how I should
implement it and I don’t think I should be the one making the
decision on that," Mills said. "I’d like to see polls and
questionnaires in all the publications on campus so that we’re
really getting a feel for what the students want, because I don’t
see that we as USAC can make a decision on that," she added. To
better inform students about the activities taking place at UCLA,
Mills would like a marquee to be placed on Bruin Walk. "It’ll be a
great way for USAC to reach out to the student population in a very
simple way that would be effective," Mills said. She also views
chalking on the ground, announcements during lectures and mass
e-mailing as a way to better inform students. Mills would also like
to see changes in the student government voting procedures. She
believes that students should be able to vote on-line or over the
phone, in an URSA-like fashion, in order to increase student
participation in elections. One thing Mills would like to see come
out of the IVP office is the creation of a Center for Student
Programming (CSP) booklet, which would list all 500 CSP organized
groups, their goals and several contacts. "That way we’re really
increasing awareness about what groups are out there so we can have
a lot better communication between groups," she added. While Mills
believes the booklet will increase co-programming and involvement
between student organizations, Students First! IVP candidate Carol
Lee will be working to continue the Campus Interaction Forum. "In
terms of outreach it’s continuing the Campus Interaction Forum with
the Student Alumni Association to include more groups and also
holding issue-based workshops," Lee said. Lee would also like the
opportunity to work with the USAC president’s office to create an
internship program for students to work in student government.
"Setting up an internship program where you can not only work in
student government but also in the community as well," she said. In
the area of student services, Lee would like to create the Student
Advocate Office. "In creating the Student Advocate Office,
basically we’re trying to cover everything that a student needs in
terms of personal needs," Carol Lee The new office would help
students try to get registration fines refunded from the
university, assist with any immigration services and help freshmen
with adapting to life at UCLA. Campus affairs is another area Lee
would like to address by continuing work with the On-Campus Housing
Council (OCHC) and the students association (ASUCLA). If elected,
Lee also plans on fighting the proposed technology fee and the
possible implementation of the course material fee. "We’re planning
to fight that because we don’t want another fee hike," she said.
While Lee is working to stop fee hikes, Liberty ’97 candidate Devi
Elizabeth Lambert believes making USAC fees voluntary is the way to
save students money. Though she was unavailable for comment,
Lambert believes that mandatory fees take away rights of students.
"Making USAC fees voluntary would offer a $51 refund to all
students who chose self-determination of their funds over an
unnecessary donation to a group they may not be a part of,"
according to her Daily Bruin endorsement application. Lambert is
also championing the idea of opening a pub on campus as a way to
alleviate the financial problems of ASUCLA. "UCLA is the only UC
campus without a pub and all other campuses report healthy
earnings," according to her application. Her platform is very
focused on returning the individual rights of the students "over
those of the collective," she wrote. "I, along with the other
members of the Liberty ’97 slate, believe that we can make UCLA a
place where the individual can thrive and that’s our main objective
in running for office." Independent candidate Dan Su was
unavailable for comment. External Links: Undergraduate Students’
Association