This year’s Undergraduate Students Association Council has
proven that it is working for the collective interests of students.
With the exception of General Representative Josh “Leo”
Lawson, every councilmember committed countless time and energy to
the student body.
Lawson didn’t do anything this year to contribute to the
USAC “action agenda.” The issues we agreed on at the
start of our term were those most pertinent to students’
lives: defeating Proposition 54, eliminating the Expected
Cumulative Progress requirement, passing a diversity requirement,
and working on budget issues affecting higher education. Should you
hear comments on any of these issues come out of Lawson’s
mouth on Bruin Walk, be aware of what they really are ““ empty
rhetoric.
So what did Lawson do on council?
He worked on the “Voting Rights Initiative,” which
would have revamped the voting process by bypassing elected
representatives and manipulating the public into signing an
amendment that would have secured little substantive change. But
his campaign failed due to his own negligence. Moreover, the
special election would have cost $7,000 in student fees better
spent supporting student programming. When he finally brought the
ineligible amendment before council, he had burned relationships
with councilmembers to the point that no one would support his
efforts.
Lawson also worked on the so-called “Equal Access
Amendment” funding change, which was so simplistic and
ill-conceived that it was tabled by council and not brought up
again.
He may say he exposed a corrupt funding practice by council in a
Judicial Board case this year by claiming student groups
don’t get equal dollars per point assigned to them. He
won’t tell you the board found the council’s base
budget allocation process to be clear and fair. And yet he
continues to perpetuate misinformation in his campaigning. Why?
For that answer one must delve into his experience,
understanding that Lawson was the deputy chief of staff for former
USAC President David Dahle, who instilled in the young Lawson the
message that “Manipulation is the Key.”
Lawson learned this lesson well; his campaign is based entirely
upon manipulation. His issues, voting and funding reform, have
already been addressed by this year’s council and are near
completion. His efforts to stop a “corrupt” council is
an insult to the work that made this one of the most responsible
and productive USAC councils.
Regardless of his ideology, the truth is that Lawson, as the
Daily Bruin noted in its editorial, has proven to be a bitter,
disconnected and unproductive member of USAC. A vote for Lawson is
a vote for an ultra-conservative interested in self-gratification,
not service to others. His experience as a general representative
should make the thought of a Lawson presidency a major concern to
every voter.
Kaczmarek is the current USAC external vice
president.