Dahle is a third-year political science, women’s studies
and sociology student. He is a candidate for USAC general
representative on the Students United for Reform and Equality
slate.
By David Dahle
Your student government is cheating you. The Undergraduate
Student Association Council is not a responsive and representative
government. Furthermore, if you are not affiliated with a student
advocacy group, or do not agree with what the council is doing, you
have almost no chance of political representation.
It is disgraceful that a university, which is nationally renown
for its achievements and academics, has a student government that
is so invisible and potentially corruptible. The problem lies in
how USAC is structured.
There are 13 elected positions, and one appointed position that
make virtually all of the decisions concerning undergraduate issues
such as funding. What is worse is that the current structure is
analogous to a system where the executive branch and the
legislative branch are combined. This leaves no chance for anyone
in opposition to slow down the process or veto decisions.
Worse yet, the judicial board, USAC’s Supreme Court, which
in theory should be separated from council, can be overturned by
council. Two of our founding fathers, Alexander Hamilton and James
Madison, warned against this very thing when they stated,
“The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive and
judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and
whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be
pronounced the very definition of tyranny.”
We are the only University of California campus that does not
have some form of a senate system, where different groups,
constituencies and ideologies are guaranteed a voice. What we
currently have is a political oligarchy with no accountability to
anyone, and therefore, no outlet for representation for groups and
individuals that are not sponsored or supported by USAC.
Even if you are a USAC sponsored group, unless you find a member
on council who is sympathetic to your concerns, you still have no
representation. This type of political configuration breeds
favoritism and bias.
The structure of USAC must be changed to a senate system. This
will separate the legislative branch from the executive branch and
ensure that no one group or ideology will easily be able to control
all the decision making and funding. Of course the details of any
system will have to have input from all of the diverse campus
organizations and elected officials.
But a just system would be comprised of representatives from the
various groups listed in the student group directory, such as
academic departments, on-campus, off-campus, athletic, political,
cultural, religious and ideological representatives.
The benefits of such a structure are numerous. First, there will
be increased funding opportunities. Currently only USAC sponsored
groups or USAC savvy groups know how to obtain the funds which
every student provides when they pay their student fees. In a
representative system, more groups will have the opportunity to
apply for these funds and have a chance of receiving some of their
requests.
Secondly, a change in USAC structure will have more groups and
people involved and therefore more students will know what USAC is
doing. Along with increased representation will come an increase in
participation for all UCLA students.
Thirdly, there will be added accountability. Currently no
mechanisms exist to ensure that elected officials do anything they
say they will do. With separate branches, and checks and balances,
elected officials will be beholden to their promises and
accountable to their electorate.
Finally, restructuring USAC will lead to less patronage. As of
now, it only takes seven members of USAC ““ a simple majority
““ to ratify over 80 appointed positions. With a senate
ratifying new appointments, there is less opportunity for potential
corruption, less political nepotism and more merit based
appointments.
So why doesn’t USAC enact change if it sounds so
reasonable? There is one problem ““ the council is currently
under capture and has been ever since Praxis has been in power.
Praxis has resisted structural reforms over and over again, because
of their monopoly on the power. We recently have been reminded of
this sad fact again when Praxis members voted down electronic
voting, citing security concerns.
Electronic voting has been shown to increase the percentage of
voters, and is much more cost effective than hiring outside vendors
as poll workers. They know that common sense reforms might weaken
their hold on USAC.
Reforms that split the power will hurt them and the groups that
make up Praxis. Currently, the groups that make up the Praxis
entity, have gotten members of their organizations elected to form
a majority on council. They make important decisions for everyone
on campus. This means a small minority on this campus controls the
council and there is no apparatus for dissenting voices.
What is sickening is that the current power structure allows
this sort of impropriety to perpetuate year after year. This is
fundamentally wrong and undemocratic.
In the past whenever structural reforms were presented, the
group in power stated that changing the system would lead to more
bureaucracy and that the current system is more efficient. While it
may be true that a representative system is slower moving, it
ensures that rash or unwise decisions cannot be pushed through and
implemented over the objections of the many.
Another argument that will, no doubt, be brought up by the
opposite side is the potential decrease for group funding. This is
absolutely false. Groups that have managed to have programs that
are beneficial and have shown that they should receive funding will
always receive an adequate amount. The only difference is that more
groups will get the chance to show that they are putting on
programs that merit funding too. This system provides opportunity
and more equity.
In conclusion, any person who cares about UCLA, any group who
wants to have representation and anyone that believes in good
government should care about the organizational structure of USAC.
Praxis should also consider changing their resistant stance on
reforms because if another group gains control, Praxis might not
have USAC representation. That is why it is imperative that we
eliminate the chance for any group to wield total control.
It is time to bring USAC into alignment with all other UCs and
most universities in this nation. Democratic principles must
prevail for our student government to be incorruptible. I urge you
to support change through voicing your opinion, writing articles to
the Daily Bruin and most of all, by voting for candidates who have
not resisted change and will guarantee you that they will implement
a representative system if they are elected.
If we continue with the current system where the president can
only vote in case of a tie, seven people can decide the fate of
everything in USAC. Nobody can ever be sure if his or her concerns
will be taken into consideration. It is time to hold your
politicians accountable.