The PLEDGE referendum, which seeks to raise student fees by $12.75 per quarter to provide funding for various campus organizations, has encountered both support and opposition from student groups across campus.
The referendum ““ which stands for Practicing Leadership and Empowerment to Develop Growth thru Education ““ is on this week’s undergraduate student government election ballot.
While the Students First! slate has endorsed the referendum, Bruins United has taken an officially neutral stance. Both slates are groups of students that pool their resources and run under common platforms.
Megan Ward, the Bruins United external vice presidential candidate, said that her slate looked at the exact wording of the referendum and scrutinized where every last penny goes.
Ward added that the slate is remaining neutral because the referendum distributes fees to a variety of organizations on campus. She also said that she believes voters should read the referendum closely, see how the money is divided and make their own decisions.
A number of student groups, ranging from pre-professional organizations to fraternities, endorsed a “no” vote on PLEDGE. Most of those groups declined to comment on the nature of their decision.
Tim Rozelle, media relations director for Bruin Republicans, said “PLEDGE is a microcosm of what we see in the nation.
“They’re using student fees to revive a failing newspaper, and what happens in a pure capitalist society is these organizations just fail,” he said.
Rozelle added that the fee increase may be small now, but it will be adjusted with inflation, adding to an already high tuition.
Katie Frost, president of the UCLA Panhellenic Council, a 1,400-member organization comprised of 11 sororities, said she declined to endorse PLEDGE.
Frost said that Panhellenic members believe the referendum represents only specific interest groups.
“It’s a substantial increase,” she said. “Why should a specific number of groups get funding when others do not?”
Other Greek organizations, such as the Multi-Interest Greek Council, were neutral on the referendum becuase of a split among the organization’s chapters.
“It’s not fair that only eight organizations have funding from the referendum,” said Joey Hernandez, a third-year sociology student and president of the Multi-Interest Greek Council.
Hernandez said the main concern about the referendum came from chapter members who were first generation college students or who did not have the money to pay for a fee increase.
Hernandez added that many students have lobbied the UC Board of Regents against fee increases, and that supporting a fee increase within UCLA is not consistent with that lobbying.
But Hernandez said some chapters in the Multi-Interest Greek Council supported the referendum because it helps student groups sustain their work.
Hillel at UCLA has also remained neutral on the PLEDGE referendum. Michelle Lyon, president of Hillel at UCLA, said that the organization does not want to take a stance because of the variety of opinions within its group. Lyon, a former general representative of the Undergraduate Students Association Council, added that the group wanted individuals to make their own decisions.
Some students also voiced concerns about the increase of fees as a result of the referendum.
Erika Troll, a first-year communication studies student, said she opposes the referendum because she would rather donate to specific organizations, and she thinks that the price of fees should be down.
“If you can spend money on free (giveaways), how do you know where the money is going to?” Troll said.
In response to concerns about the limited number of student organizations on the referendum, Emily Bautista, organizer of the PLEDGE campaign, said the referendum will benefit all students.
Bautista said that the organizations included on the referendum will impact students across campus regardless of their participation.
These organizations include the UCLA Communications Board, the Student Risk and Education Committee, the Student Initiated Access Committee, the Campus Retention Committee, the UCLA Community Programs Office, the UCLA Marching Band and the USAC External Vice President’s Office.
Patricia Alfaro, another referendum organizer, said that her organization, MEChA, saw the severity of budget cuts. Alfaro said her organization talked to its members and other groups that could benefit from the referendum.
“If we decided to run a referendum, we would make sure we would not have to run another one later,” Alfaro said.
She added that the organizers of the referendum did not have any outreach efforts to groups across campus so the fee increase would not be too high.
“This is small, and it’s money for us to start off. This referendum is not the answer to all our problems,” she said.