Friday, May 1, 1998
Four diverse presidential perspectives highlight race
USAC: Elections focus on different views of student government’s
role, duties
By Dennis Lim
Daily Bruin Contributor
Citing reasons ranging from idiocy to a highly politicized
student government, USAC presidential candidates Martin Chippas,
Ben Geer, Chris Ihara and Stacy Lee have declared how they plan to
change UCLA.
Running under the Sanity ’98 slate, Chippas, a member of the
Bruin Republicans, has focused his campaign on reducing the size of
USAC and their ability to assess fees.
A staunch believer in low student fees, Chippas has promised to
cut the amount of money that USAC receives from students by cutting
the stipend funding of USAC officers and funneling the leftover
funds to all groups, not just "special interest" groups.
"We are going to reduce the stipends to USAC, take away the
special status that certain groups receive now, and take what is
left and give it back to the students in the form of funding for
programs," Chippas said.
"We are also going to implement a policy of only funding events
that benefit UCLA as a whole and focusing on campus issues like
parking, housing and campus events," he said.
If elected, Chippas said that he will make the mandatory USAC
fees optional. Chippas has not said how much student fees will go
down should he be elected. However, he has said that he and the
other candidates under Sanity ’98 would "cut (student fees) as much
as we can."
Geer, a general representative candidate in last year’s election
on the Access slate, has decided to run independently this
year.
"I think we need more independent candidates in office that
don’t have this slate affiliation and loyalty so that we can get as
many views as we can," he said.
With a campaign focusing on issues such as parking, housing,
construction and diversity, Geer sees his independent status as the
ultimate reason voters should choose him.
Using Students First! as his primary example, Geer said that
slate politics simply do not work for student governments.
"The last two years have shown that slate politics have been a
failure. One slate tends to get elected, then that slate has
complete control over USAC and not enough of the other views
receive the representation they deserve," Geer said.
Specifically, Geer pointed to incidents such as the appeal of
Judicial Board decisions and the exclusion of certain groups such
as the Greek system from receiving funding. He says that such
exclusion will continue in one form or another, regardless of which
slate wins.
Lee sees Praxis as a transformation of last year’s Students
First! slate. Admitting that Students First! had problems, Lee
stressed Praxis’ theme, reflection in action.
"We’re being honest here. We’re saying that Students First! had
problems like everything else does, but now we’re going to fix
those problems," Lee said.
"Students First! did a lot of good. We accomplished a lot of
things like keeping fee hikes down, getting billions of dollars for
financial aid, and organizing millions of people on issues that
affect UCLA, but people tend to dwell on the mistakes that Students
First! made and not on these things," she said.
Lee thinks that the other candidates have a limited view of what
a student is. People at UCLA, according to Lee, are more than just
students.
"There are people on this campus with such diverse backgrounds.
We can’t pretend that they have only one narrow identity," Lee
said.
Running under his self-titled slate "Feces ’98," Ihara has
declared his idiocy as the attracting force between voters and
himself.
"I’m an idiot. I’ve been an idiot my whole life. I want to see
if the school will elect an idiot for president," Ihara said.
"I think they will. I think they’ll look at me and say, ‘That
guy’s an idiot,’ and then they’ll vote for me," he continued.
When asked about the seriousness of his statements, Ihara
continuously responded, "I’m an idiot!"
Ihara had no issues that he felt strongly about or had any
knowledge of. Expressing pride in his independence, Ihara said that
he runs his campaign by himself, though he confessed that no one
else would help him.
Without a clear plan for the elections, Ihara has refused to
participate in election events thus far. In particular, Ihara
refused to take part in the endorsement hearings held every night
for the past week.
"This is really a spur-of-the-moment thing. I don’t have
anything planned. I have a slogan though. ‘If you want to see my
butt, vote for me.’ I believe in students last and Chris Ihara
first. Vote for me,’" Ihara said with a laugh.
"People really shouldn’t vote for me unless they’re totally
stupid," he continued.