The worst mistake former Undergraduate Students Association
Council President David Dahle ever made was writing the
“manipulation is the key” memo. The second was letting
Josh Lawson into his inner circle.
During this year’s student government campaign,
you’ll hear a lot of people talking about honesty and
visibility. As someone who is coming to the end of her term at the
USAC table and has nothing left to gain, let me be honest and make
something visible to the student body that has been painfully
apparent to me this past year: General Representative Joshua
Lawson’s campaign for president, if successful, will be
detrimental to the UCLA campus.
I was introduced to Lawson when I ran on the Students United for
Reform and Equality slate last year, and I sat with him on council
this year. We were on the SURE. slate together for half of the
year, until he broke with the slate as an independent and began to
pursue the position of president. More than anyone, I have an
inside perspective on how Lawson operates politically.
Simply looking at the minutes proves Lawson was not the innocent
victim of a council out to get him, as he’d like people to
believe. Lawson systematically alienated council members, even
those who were supposed to be on his side. He circumvented and
avoided council at all opportunities. I only found out about his
bylaw amendment when I ran into him campaigning in the residence
halls. I only learned of his decision to leave SURE when I heard he
held a press conference to announce it to the media. Such political
maneuvering not only secured the failure of his projects, but also
his estrangement from council.
Lawson did not make any serious effort to co-program or
collaborate with members of council and was combative,
disrespectful and unwilling to foster compromise ““ all
characteristics a presidential candidate should not have. I know
slate politics can be bitter and divisive, but as a former member
of the SURE slate, I have found many ways this year to co-program
and collaborate with members of council who didn’t share my
slate affiliation. The purpose of the president is to bring council
together. If Lawson can’t work with people who disagree with
him, he certainly cannot be president.
Lawson is young and he is not ready to take the reigns of the
undergraduate student government. Aside from his well-documented
lack of support for gay rights issues, my personal interactions
with Lawson lead me to believe he lacks the racial sensitivity to
guide a diverse student body. I don’t say this to imply
Lawson is malicious in any way. He is an affable person, to which
anyone who has seen him speak publicly can attest. He simply does
not possess the finesse, skill or sensitivity to represent all
students at a diverse establishment like UCLA.
I wish General Representative Lawson good luck in his future
endeavors. I hope it is apparent how much I lament the necessity of
this submission, but I simply can’t stay silent when he has
his eyes set on a position of leadership overseeing a student body
that I respect so much.
Husse-Jerome is the USAC financial supports
commissioner.