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Frequently Asked QuestionsWhat is student government?What do we want student government to do? What issues do you think students care about? Who are the people in Students First! ? Isn't Students First! just the minority slate? What is up with the current USAC? What makes SF! so different from Bruins United? What experience does SF! have to make USAC work? Does Students First! not want fair funding for all groups? Does Students First! hate the Greek system? Why did Students First! change their color this year? So how do I support Students First! ? So what is this student government thing anyway? Good question. So USAC, the big acronym for our student government, is basically made up of a group of students who make up the 'official student voice' of the Undergraduate UCLA population. Council members represent the student to people like the Chancellor, various administrative bodies, and outside people like other student governments and local politicians. We as students get to vote for these elected reps on the premise that they represent our interests and our needs. Some of these council members also put on cool programs and advocate for issues they feel that affect students most. Makes sense, right? What do you want student government to do if we're gonna elect them? Well, student government people have lots of resources and say into how this university is run, and what kinds of things UCLA does. So we at Students First! think that student government should do a bunch of things: make sure we keep the university affordable, make sure we keep the university sustainable, and make sure our student government becomes a powerful tool to maximize our educational experience and to advocate on a host of different things students care about. Well, what do students care about then? Fees, for starters. So we're going to try to make sure we push to keep our fees the way they are right now (like we did back in 06-07), and we're going to try to make an incremental payment plan policy. Just check out our presidential candidate Homaira's platform. We also want to make sure the campus is as sustainable as it can be, and as safe as it can be. Check out the site for more info about how we're going to do that. And lastly, we're going to make sure students have a healthy time here at UCLA - stay retained, graduate, eat well, be well, and be fresh. Simple, really. So what kinds of people make up the SF! slate? Aren't you just the crazy minority party? Um, not really. We're all different kinds of people from all different kinds of places and all different kids of experiences. We're multi-departmental, coming from South Campus to North Campus. We're multi-ethnic, coming from a host of different background and experiences, whether German or Afghan or Filipino or Danish or Chicano. We come from different places on campus, from the Cultural Affairs Commission in Kerckhoff, to the Student Initiated Access Committee in the SAC, from the Greek system in the North Village, to the scary halls of Murphy. We're endorsed by a host of organizations, from the Social Justice Alliance to the Asian Pacific Coalition to the Iranian Student Group. We're democrats, progressives, liberals, rockstars, gangsters, and pretty much all kinds of cool. But we have one thing in common: we want effective and meaningful change on campus, and that change starts with a fresh outlook on USAC. What do you mean 'fresh outlook on USAC'? And makes you so different from Bruins United? Let's be real. The current status quo in student government hasn't been too great. The folks who won most of the seats last year, the Bruins United slate, won on a bunch of different platform items, most of which seemed to have been thrown under the rug. They promised us a bar on campus, which didn't happened (and which wasn't even their idea). They promised us a giant show dubbed 'Concerts for Cash,' but they simply took money out of student government coffers (to the tune of $80,000), and where is that concert now? Or the part where they were supposed to have presidential candidates come to campus to address student issues? Nope. Us, on the other hand have some seemingly big goals, but we've got a proven track record to do these things. The people that make up Students First! have been organizing and working on progressive issues for over 20 years now. We've had our ups and downs, but we are still committed to making sure the university stays righteous. So this means working on real issues: lowering fees, making sure the campus is safe, making sure students are healthy and well, making sure we have a quality education where we learn about the diversity of our student body, and making sure we take a stand on things we care about. But we like to have a good time too, and there's nothing quite like the Bruin experience here at UCLA. What does SF! take stands on, then? There's a notion out there that it's okay when people don't want to "be divisive" and support "controversial" issues. But we think that just means that they don't really stand for anything. It's important to SF! to ensure that student government plays a positive role on campus and in the community. That's why SF! has traditionally supported a host of things that we think all student governments should support: we've endorsed resolutions urging Darfur divestment, advocated for reformed UCLA admissions, pushed to improve worker conditions, endorsed fair trade alternatives on campus, taking a stand against the university's support of the war, and we continuously push to make sure the university is as sustainable as possible. The other folks? Nope, not really. That's not the student government we think should be in office. What experience does SF! have to do all of these wonderful things? Well, a ton. All of our candidates are proven leaders, having experience not just with USAC but with a host of different places: whether RAs, leaders in community service, heads of organizations, or advocates in the L.A. community, SF! really brings together passionate and dedicated individuals who are really about change in the university and in L.A. Students First! has organized and taken part in Dance Marathon, Spring Sing, Unicamp, the JazzReggae festival, Mighty Mic Human Rights Awareness Concert, and a bunch of other places. We're also going to ensure that students have a voice loud and clear to the administration using the connects we already have: whether directly with the Chancellor on the Student Fee Advisory Committee or with the Center for Student Programming with the Cultural Affairs Commission or with the Office of the Vice Chancellor with the work we've done in the Community Programs Office. So I heard you guys don't want fair funding for all student groups? You heard wrong. SF! is a network of students from all parts of campus, coming from all kinds of different organizations, and we've been committed to ensuring that everyone on campus has access to the resources they need to function. Don't be bought by scare tactics - the way USAC is set up right now, organizations are entitled to apply for funds and will still get equal shot at money. It's the way the system is set up. And SF! isn't trying to take that away - plus, we're going to try to ensure that USAC is as transparent as possible, so that there won't be times when people think that our student government is shady or pulling some backdoor deals for certain groups. And for a bit of history for the near-sighted, funding was officially opened up during Student First! president Allende Palmo/Saracho's tenure in the 2004-2005 school year, when SF! candidates held the majority of seats on council. That was the first year when every organization on campus was allowed to apply for funds, and that was the first year every org received funds. Then the following year, SF! president Jenny Wood and other council members re-tooled the funding process to make it more transparent and cleaner. So when the other side goes on and on about how they opened up funding for all groups, it's a bit of revisionism. Sure, they pushed for it, but it took the leadership and the effort of Students First! to make it happen. Clear? Do you guys hate the Greeks? Uh no. And we're not really sure how this big myth came about. In fact, Gilberto Chacon, one of our candidates for General Representative, is from the Gamma Zeta Alpha fraternity. We're lovers, not haters. Actually, we're committed to making sure Greek life is connected to the rest of UCLA, and making sure that the rest of UCLA knows about Greek life. For example, we have hosted Greek Mixers in the past to connect the greek system with other campus organizations and help the greek community to come up with effective fundraising methods. The Cultural Affairs Commission this year even co-sponsored the Annual Battle of the Bands along with PiKapp and the Community Service Commission. Next year, we plan on promoting student engagement with our 'GREEK OUT!' to build the relationship that the Greek system has with on-campus service organizations and student groups. Hm. I guess... But why are you BLUE this year?! I thought GREEN was your color! We're from all over the rainbow, man. (What, not corny enough for you?) Seriously though, we figured we'd change the color to blue simply because we felt like the campus can get divided based on different shirt colors. Instead, we want some real dialogue on the issues between us and Bruins United, not some superficial hating on both sides just because the color that either of us wears. At the end of the day, we're all students, regardless of whom we support. So why not have a real conversation about the issues or our platforms, and forget all of the divisiveness? Good point. I know. Anyway, you've convinced me. How can I support SF! now? Easy. Log on to my.UCLA.edu and vote for all of your Students First! candidates. Or, if you're still not sure, browse around this site and check us out more. Hell, look at the Bruins Uniteds site too if you want. We're pretty sure you'll make the right decision once you figure out which slate really puts the students first! |
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