Wednesday, April 22, 1998
Students First! sorts out MEChA dilemma
USAC: Future initiatives, election strategies remain in limbo
due to pullout
By Dennis Lim and Barbara Ortutay
Daily Bruin Contributor
Now that the Movimiento Estudiantil Chicana/o Aztlan (MEChA) has
pulled out of the former Student’s First! coalition, the question
being asked around Kerckhoff Hall is, "What now?"
MEChA announced on Monday that it had formally withdrawn its
support from the coalition formerly known as Students First!
because of a perceived failure of current USAC members to address
issues they feel are relevant.
MEChA’s departure surprised most members of USAC and other
Student Advocacy Groups (SAGs).
"I was caught off guard," said Chad Williams, chair of the
African Student Union (ASU). "I would like to sit down and talk
with Hugo (Maldonado, MEChA’s chair) and the leaders of MEChA."
The remaining Students First! SAGs have formed a slate and are
running candidates in the upcoming USAC elections. The as-yet
unnamed slate will consist of ASU, APC and Samahang Pilipino as
well as other SAGs.
While MEChA will not participate in the coming election, they
will continue to focus on issues facing the Chicana/o community,
such as the anti-labor initiative Proposition 226, the
anti-bilingual education initiative Proposition 227 and retention
programs.
"MEChA has strong relations with many progressive student
organizations on this campus, and we will continue to work with
these groups on issues that directly affect underrepresented groups
on campus," said Hugo Maldonado, chair of MEChA.
According to Maldonado, MEChA has not yet decided whether they
will support any candidates in the upcoming elections.
"We need to see what the candidates are offering," he said.
Other SAG members feel that they would still be able to work
with MEChA on issues that are relevant to their respective
communities. They have stated their intent to work together on the
campaign on admissions in the post-affirmative action era, which
started last week with the takeover of Murphy Hall.
Williams said that MEChA would be welcome to work on certain
issues but would need to be more "open-minded" when working with
other groups.
"We can’t let their internal politics and problems they have
with other groups on campus get in the way of our efforts and
organization," he said.
Mark Ng, chair of Samahang Pilipino, also said that he was
hopeful MEChA would still work with other groups.
"Even if we don’t work on elections, we hope we can work
together on common issues, such as the upcoming Unz Initiative and
admissions, which will still be an issue next fall," Ng said.