Online voting would be better than current
method
As I walked away from the USAC voting booth last Thursday, I
could not help but laugh at those who assert online voting would be
less secure and promote less voter independence than paper ballots.
At my booth, people voted shoulder to shoulder without any
partitions, and small slate advertisements were littered on the
table. Although the apartment I share with three others is quite
small, I’d feel a lot “safer” voting there than
at a small table with twice the amount of people.
Corey Chapman
Third-year
English and history
USAC election coverage too dramatic
I like the new format of the paper, although don’t you
think it’s a bit unorthodox to move the editorial section to
the front page (“Dahle
triumphs by fraction of percent,” News, May 3)? For just
a second I confused author Marcelle Richards’ article with
the climax of a Tom Clancy novel. My advice to Richards: put music
behind your patriotic account of the elections and perform it at
next year’s Spring Sing.
John Matthews Fourth-year Political science
Voters shouldn’t be turned off to
Empowerment!
It is tragic that a large number of students were either in fear
of or otherwise turned away from voting their conscience last week
during the undergraduate elections. As a campaigner for Student
Empowerment and as a candidate running with the slate, I came up
against a number of people within the Greek system who had been
told in one way or another not to vote for our slate. This is
without regard to whether or not those students agreed with our
principles, or just did not agree with those of the opposing slate.
Student Empowerment! does not hold a grudge against the individual
members of the Greek system on this campus. In many of the offices
that we hold, members of the Greek system are valued members,
working with other students of all ideologies and predispositions
in the interest of the greater student body.
As individuals, we all have the right to think for ourselves and
not be coerced into group-think tactics. Please feel empowered next
year to come to the various USAC offices held by Student
Empowerment! members and see for yourself how inclusive of thoughts
and affiliations we truly are.
Christopher R. Neal Third-year Chief of staff ““
USAC EVP
Abercrombie outcry overblown
Contrary to what Emily Richards thinks (“Recognize
privilege, admit racist T-shirts are wrong,” Viewpoint, May
3), I am not ignorant. She was right however, in assuming that I
have a lack of empathy (“Racism exaggerated,”
Viewpoint, May 1). Perhaps it stems from something relating to the
old story “The Boy Who Cried Discrimination.” My
original point was not to say that the shirts were wholly unrelated
to racism, but to say that the magnitude of their offense should be
considered “trivial.”
The saddest part, unfortunately, is that I was unaware of my
“white privilege.” Attending UCLA made me realize that
“white privilege” is a farce. In fact, I think that
should be reason enough for the beginnings of a white student
union. The only reason Richards could conjure up was “just
for the sake of starting one.” Why is it wrong to assume that
this theoretical student union couldn’t be formed so that we
Caucasians would have a place where we could connect on a Caucasian
level with people who know what it is like to be white? If it is
justifiable for every other race, why is it not for us?
I deal with race every day. The only difference is I deal with
other people’s race, not my own. Every day I am reminded that
I am from a low-income white family and not privileged. In lieu of
that, I received no special admissions privileges, no
“impoverished Caucasian” scholarships, no AAP tutoring,
no extra consideration for post-college employment, nothing. I did
watch many minorities around me enjoy all of those things, though,
so I hope you will excuse my humble opinions, and me.
Racism is not going to go away anytime soon, I fear. Race
happens to be how many people define themselves, and by that virtue
there will always be inherent conflicts. I just can’t
understand the severity of Wong and wrong rhyming. Wouldn’t
it be better to concentrate our efforts on more worthwhile race
issues?
Ian Marquis
UCLA alumnus
Class of 2001
A&F political cartoon makes weak
argument
Did the editors at The Bruin even think when they printed Jason
Liu’s political cartoon last Friday? Great job to Liu
for not noticing the remarkable irony he put forth in his
cartoon. Way to go on getting to the core of the matter with
Abercrombie and Fitch while at the same time depicting your
protesters as anime characters. And I’m sure that killing the
V.P. of Marketing will really help to stop racism in the
world. This is unbelievable! I think I’ll step back and
watch all these people making such a fuss about this because,
really, it’s funny to watch people argue when no one has a
justification (or a point!).
Brent Barrett First-year Aerospace engineer