Tuesday, October 30, 2007
We'll do whatever you say
The Daily Cal decides to do what all good newspapers do: oppose rocking the boat or challenging authority. I'll just run to the money quote:
The withdrawal of UC Davis student governments does raise some issues that need to be addressed, but the ASUC must also remember that being part of UCSA is ultimately the right decision. So, we start from the conclusion that we'll remain in the UCSA no matter what, and from that position of total submission, try to convince the UCSA to make changes?
Both ASUCD and the UC Davis graduate assembly have valid reasons for rescinding membership. UCSA unfortunately does not have a stellar reputation of being an effective organization that consistently gets results. Membership is costly—every year our ASUC pays more than $31,000 to the UCSA. It sounds tempting to follow in the footsteps of ASUCD, which used the money that would have paid for membership and instead hired a professional lobbying firm. But don't worry. The Daily Cal is going to have a killer upside for remaining with the UCSA in the very next paragraph. One that will out-do spending two Senate Contingency Funds on ineffective lobbying.
However, while it does possess many problems that have affected its performance in lobbying for student interests, UCSA is an important organization that serves as the official voice of the students. Its strength comes from the fact that as a UC-wide organization it represents more than 200,000 students, a significant number that commands legislators' attention. If UC Berkeley were to follow UC Davis and leave, eventually there might be 12 smaller groups lobbying for a disarray of interests, which is even more ineffectual than UCSA's current status. That's it? The UCSA already can't stop fee increases. How much more ineffectual can things get? It apparently doesn't command enough legislators' attention to accomplish things. Is it so important to have an "official voice" if it doesn't work?
If such a committee is formed, it should focus on finding ways to improve representation of UC Berkeley interests in UCSA and what can be done to help the association reach its full potential. Like Davis did. For almost a decade. Maybe eventually we're going to have to say "enough is enough" and pull out. I suppose the UCSA can rely on folks graduating and turning over quickly enough that no one will remember when we said "maybe we should give the UCSA another chance." The new folks will then say "maybe we should give the UCSA another chance."
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