The office of external vice president has usually gone to
in-house candidates ““ and the Daily Bruin sees no reason to
break this trend now.
Jeannie Biniek, currently the national affairs director for the
EVP office, will bring her extensive experience to a position where
having experience is just about required.
Biniek, running on the Student Power! slate, is an active
representative to both the UC Office of the President and the
United States Students Association in addition to her involvement
with the EVP position.
Her understanding of how these entities operate allow her to be
an effective lobbyist at all levels, from Los Angeles to Sacramento
to Washington.
Biniek’s plans are two-fold ““ get students into the
community and bring the community to the students. She has concrete
plans and the organizational skills to get more students and
student groups involved in the lobbying process, which will push
responsibilities down to the individual and lend some punch ““
not to mention numbers ““ to the student lobby.
Simultaneously, Biniek wants to bring in elected
representatives, community leaders and activists to campus in town
halls, teach-ins and round-table discussions. Getting people such
as City Councilman Jack Weiss or local state senators to sit down
and meet with students should provide for forums that will, we
hope, lead to many constructive dialogues.
Biniek also mixes some realism with her idealism. She
understands that the fight against rising student fees is mostly a
losing battle because Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and UC President
Robert Dynes have all but chiseled those fee increases into
stone.
Rather, Biniek’s plan to maximize financial aid and combat
academic fees at the system-wide level ““ like the proposed
excess unit fee ““ can produce tangible and badly needed
results.
Jesse Melgares, Biniek’s primary opponent, has the right
ideas and the right attitude, but Biniek beats him by a mile when
it comes to experience with the UC and having solid plans in hand.
Nevertheless, the editorial board would like to see Melgares
involved in the EVP office in some way next year ““ just not
the head position.
Alyssa Campos, a third candidate for the position, declined an
invitation to show up at an endorsement hearing.
In a time when legislators seem to have forgotten the value of
funding an education and when students’ wallets are squeezed
for every dime by a cash-strapped state, getting the student
perspective out there is more important than ever.
The external vice president is the official representative of
UCLA students to the outside world, and must be someone students
trust to voice their concerns in the halls of power.
Whether it means lobbying state legislators, white-lining at
regents meetings, or speaking out at USSA meetings, this board
trusts Biniek will do it best.