Georgina Wakefield is the co-chair of the UCLA California Public
Interest Research Group chapter and the vice chair of CALPIRG as a
whole. CALPIRG is one of UCLA’s most influential student
groups and must receive pledges from 15 percent of the UCLA student
body to remain on campus. CALPIRG is California’s chapter of
the United States Public Interest Research Group, which was created
in 1983 by the state PIRGs. The PIRGs mostly focus on humanitarian
and environmental causes.
Daily Bruin: Why did you originally join CALPIRG? What was
it about CALPIRG that particularly appealed to you?
Georgina Wakefield: CALPIRG seemed so intriguing to me because
it gives students a place in areas like legislature where they
don’t typically have much of a place. I liked that students
were in charge, and I loved that they could network through the
state and the nation to create change and be represented in various
political institutions. It’s very empowering, and I felt that
with so much power we could really make a difference.
DB: How has your work with CALPIRG shaped your college
experience?
GW: It’s definitely given me a different perspective
““ or rather a new perspective. It has raised my consciousness
about different problems that occur in society, at the university
level and in the world. It just really changed my perspective on
how things function. I started out with CALPIRG originally
attracted to their environmental work, but then I got to see the
different campaigns that they worked on, and it has broadened my
scope. Now I look for the root of all these problems. A lot of the
time I’ve found the problems are corporations or people with
power against groups who don’t have a voice ““ like
students.
DB: What are your major campaigns for the year?
GW: Cheaper textbooks, of course. For first quarter we’re
also running a voter project where we’re encouraging
registration but mostly focusing on the actual get-out-to-vote
drive. Hunger and homelessness are big issues for us, as well.
We’re doing weekly shelter visits while also working with
various Los Angeles groups to encourage inclusionary zoning. For
those who don’t know, inclusionary zoning is when contractors
commit that for a certain amount of high-income housing units they
will also build a certain amount of lower-income, affordable
housing. Section 8 vouchers are also important for our housing
campaign. These are vouchers that certain people qualify for where
the government will pay for a certain amount of their rent. They
make living in expensive places like Los Angeles possible for a lot
of people. Unfortunately, the president is cutting the budget for
these vouchers, so we’re trying to save them. Our last major
campaign is our water watch campaign; here we’re targeting
urban runoff. Specifically, we’re targeting golf courses. We
want them to commit to being sustainable, to not have runoff, and
to not use harmful pesticides.
DB: Of which of your accomplishments are you most
proud?
GW: For CALPIRG, I’m definitely most proud of getting
Thompson Learning to reduce their price on the calculus book by 25
percent. We want to use that campaign last year as a template to
get publishers to reduce prices on all books this year and to
establish pricing standards that other publishing companies can
adopt. As for myself, I’m most proud of helping defeat a
terrible energy bill last year. This energy bill had passed the
House and was expected to be close in the Senate. I called various
groups in Hawaii (the two Hawaiian senators were both swing votes)
and explained what was going on. I told them how the bill would
affect Hawaii, and they in turn put enough political power on the
(other) senators so that they rejected the bill. It was awesome
being one of the people calling; I spoke to real people and was
able to establish enough of a connection so that they would feel
empowered to contact their representatives and shoot down this
horrible bill.
DB: What was your most disappointing CALPIRG
experience?
GW: When (President) Bush rolled back the roadless rule. (Former
President) Clinton had set aside 58.5 million acres of national
forests where there would be no oil drilling, no lumber cutting, no
destruction ““ they would be just how they are. Unfortunately
it was just rolled back and repealed.
DB: What would you say to students who worry that joining a
group might negatively affect their grades or social life?
GW: Who needs a social life? Also, it hasn’t negatively
affected my grades. If anything, it’s enhanced my grades and
overall learning because a lot of the skills we learn can be used
in classes. Plus, I finally found what I’m interested in, and
now I take classes related to that. It’s great
time-management training.
DB: How has your involvement affected other aspects of your
life?
GW: It’s given me a lot less time for other things. My
social life has plummeted, but it’s also been a great way to
connect with other students who feel the same way as I do ““
students who really want to work to create change. Just talking
with them is a great way to see people interested come in and
develop as leaders and be given enough power to make change.
DB: Have you always been politically involved? If not, what
prompted your interest?
GW: I was slightly politically involved in high school, but one
of the things that made me more political were the problems that I
was seeing ““ especially with the environment ““ in this
current administration. I was really upset by a lot of the
environmental protections being rolled back.
DB: How should interested students get involved?
GW: We go around to classes and pass out interest cards.
We’ll also be tabling on Bruin Walk. So if you’re
interested, fill out a card or check out our Web site. We’ll
have a huge meeting second week for all new recruits.
Interview conducted by Colleen Honigsberg, Bruin senior
staff.