USAC finally takes positive steps
Thumbs up to the Undergraduate Students Association Council for
approving legal counsel to help revise its bylaws regarding group
sponsorship and the use of student fees. Since mid-summer, USAC has
been divided over the issue of changing its bylaws to be consistent
with University of California guidelines and the criteria
established by the Southworth v. University of Wisconsin case.
According to the Southworth ruling, the basis for distributing
mandatory student fees must be “content neutral.”
We praise USAC for finally getting legal counsel ““
independent of the administration ““ in order to settle this
issue within the bounds of the law. But President Elizabeth Houston
attempted to make the bylaw changes even more divisive by saying
she would hire her own lawyer. Though she has not done so, such
threats only divide the council further and delay any real
progress.
The university should also remember that student-elected
officials, not administrators, should be running USAC. Instead of
having Chancellor Albert Carnesale step in if the bylaws are not
revised by Friday, the administration should recognize the
council’s efforts to resolve the issue and let them solve
it.
Prepared with legal experts, the university needs to get off
USAC’s back and let them solve the issue in the best interest
of students ““ that’s their job.
ASUCLA should focus on students
Thumbs down to the Associated Students of UCLA for their ongoing
move toward privatization rather than focusing on student services.
Recently, ASUCLA granted a five-year lease to Copeland’s
Sports for a space on Ackerman Union’s B-level. The new
business is expected to bring in close to a quarter-million dollars
in profit.
Students do not need to pay $51 per year to an association so it
can lease student union space to private businesses. ASUCLA exists
to serve students but has strayed from that mission since it hit
financial hard times.
A survey found that many students wanted a sporting goods store
on campus, but students should ask themselves if that is really the
best use of their student association space. Private businesses
don’t offer student job opportunities or good pay rates that
ASUCLA-run businesses do. They merely give the private company the
chance to make money off of students, while giving a limited amount
back to UCLA students and their association.
FTAA detrimental to human rights
Thumbs up to more than 2,500 protesters at the Free Trade Area
of the Americas Summit in Quebec, Canada, this weekend. They were
also supported by activists, including UCLA students, in San Diego
near the U.S.-Mexican border where a similar demonstration was held
against the FTAA.
This free trade agreement, similar to its predecessor the North
American Free Trade Agreement, would dismantle trade barriers
throughout the Western Hemisphere. While globalization has positive
effects, the increasing power of transnational corporations and the
worldwide expansion of poverty causes alarm.
The expansion of free trade has placed corporations above
nations, allowing them to move their base of operations to places
where they can exploit the environment and pay meager wages. Even
if an international organization of workers wants to sue a
corporation for human rights or environmental violations, under
current free trade regulations they have no legal means to hold
corporations accountable.
Though free trade may have advantages for some economies, we
must not overlook the people who are displaced and exploited in the
name of corporate profits. Much like the World Trade Organization
and NAFTA, the FTAA represents another step toward corporate power
and global inequality.
People in many other countries are not allowed to voice
opposition to their governments’ decisions. We laud those who
use their right to protest on behalf of people everywhere.
Corporations and governments must be held accountable for their
gross indifference toward human rights.