For the last few weeks, UCLA’s chapter of Movimiento
Estudiantil Chicana/o de Aztlán has endured an unfair barrage
of insults from a fringe group of campus conservatives.
Having been repeatedly called un-American and racist, even
compared to Nazis, MEChA should feel no obligation to accept Bruin
Republicans’ call for a debate Friday. Bruin Republicans has
simply proved unworthy of MEChA’s time.
If a group of UCLA students had legitimate concerns about MEChA,
hopefully MEChA would be willing to explain its mission and purpose
““ after all, it does receive more student money than any
campus group. Every indication is that MEChA would be willing to do
so.
But Bruin Republicans seems less interested in soliciting debate
and more interested in name-calling. The group began its
“all-out media blitz” by distributing fliers comparing
MEChA to Nazis, using the swastika, a painful and inflammatory
symbol. Members unraveled a banner on Bruin Walk saying MEChA was
student-funded racism. They implied that MEChA advocates seceding
from the United States ““Â a preposterous notion about a
group whose primary concerns are campus outreach and retention. All
this occurred after only minimal attempts were made to actually
contact MEChA. And now Bruin Republicans wants a debate?
There’s something clearly wrong with the way Bruin
Republicans is conducting itself. It levels the most painful
insults and most absurd allegations and then pretends all it wants
is a rational discussion. (Would anyone expect President Bush to
stand in the same room as John Kerry if Kerry were to call Bush a
Nazi?)
MEChA has already explained numerous times that it no longer
subscribes to all parts of the document Bruin Republicans is
criticizing, and that its members do not embrace its more radical
provisions. That is more than an adequate response to a childish
exhibition on the part of Bruin Republicans.
One of the saddest elements of this whole saga is that Bruin
Republicans is giving campus conservatives a black eye. At a
university as liberal as UCLA, there is plenty of room for
reasonable conservatives to find criticism and challenge the status
quo.
For better or worse, Californians have embraced a moderate
Republican governor who articulates a message of togetherness.
It’s too bad Bruin Republicans ““Â which uses shock
communication to divide the community ““Â has not learned
from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s success.
And until Bruin Republicans decides to take a more moderate and
less militant approach, MEChA should not be bothered by it ““
as hard as that might be.
As for UCLA students, if they somehow believe MEChA is a clear
and present danger, that the group has declared war on the United
States, and that comparisons to Nazis are well taken, then they
should tune in to Bruin Republicans.
But those who can see through the facade of this absurd campaign
should afford Bruin Republicans the right to free speech, but
nothing else. Reasonable people should ignore this divisive group
and let it wallow in its pitiful corner of campus irrelevance until
it can be more productive.