Students must vote down OCHC plan

EDITORIAL BOARD Editor in
Chief  Timothy Kudo

Managing Editor
 Michael Falcone

Viewpoint Editor
 Cuauhtemoc Ortega

Staff Representatives
 Maegan Carberry
 Edward Chiao
 Kelly Rayburn

Editorial Board Assistants
 Maegan Carberry
 Edward Chiao

  Unsigned editorials represent a majority opinion of
the Daily Bruin Editorial Board. All other columns, letters and
artwork represent the opinions of their authors.   All
submitted material must bear the author’s name, address, telephone
number, registration number, or affiliation with UCLA. Names will
not be withheld except in extreme cases.   The Bruin
complies with the Communication Board’s policy prohibiting the
publication of articles that perpetuate derogatory cultural or
ethnic stereotypes.   When multiple authors submit
material, some names may be kept on file rather than published with
the material. The Bruin reserves the right to edit submitted
material and to determine its placement in the paper. All
submissions become the property of The Bruin. The Communications
Board has a media grievance procedure for resolving complaints
against any of its publications. For a copy of the complete
procedure, contact the Publications office at 118 Kerckhoff Hall.
Daily Bruin 118 Kerckhoff Hall 308 Westwood Plaza Los Angeles, CA
90024 (310) 825-9898

Massive media corporations have been seeking gullible campus
student governments in order to advance a smart marketing campaign
““ last night, the On Campus Housing Council, led by Adam
Harmetz, was the latest victim to be duped.

The scheme would provide USA Today, the Wall Street Journal, and
the L.A. Daily News at a cost of thousands of dollars to be laid on
the backs of students in on-campus housing. OCHC decided to allow
students to vote to pay for the program ““ now, students must
vote this measure down.

Extending this program would have dire consequences for
UCLA’s student media which includes the Daily Bruin, TV and
Radio stations and all of the newsmagazines. The competition of
three major newspapers would devastate Daily Bruin readership and
advertising dollars that subsidize the other media. As these
programs spread to other campuses, national advertisers will see no
need to pay for ads in The Bruin if they know students can see them
in other papers. The Bruin and other student media provide
invaluable services to the UCLA community by informing them and
covering news only a campus paper knows. This would mean that the
administration, both student governments and other groups on campus
would have an even more difficult time making their actions known.
An already diffuse campus community could cease to be ““ and
everyone will have the OCHC to thank for it. This problem is all
too real. In 1998 this program was brought to Penn State and their
student newspaper circulation has declined by 10 percent every
year.

Steven Sutton, the Sunset Village Courtside representative, and
Harmetz acted negligently in pursuing this program. Their actions
are a gross disservice to the UCLA community; their complete lack
of foresight in pursuing this program must be held accountable.
Students must make up for their blindness by voting the measure
down.