Tag Archives: UCSD Associated Students

Boulevard of Broken Promises?

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Alec Weisman, Alumni (Editor-in-Chief 2008-2011)

Originally posted on The Word From the Wise, Alec’s personal blog.

On April 13, 2011 the Associated Students at the University of California, San Diego voted to endorse a principle of neutrality on political and divisive issues and refrain from passing resolutions.

Yet this promise has faded quickly, with the announcement that the AS Vice-President External Affairs Samer Naji will be introducing a resolution on Wednesday, November 30, 2011 that will explicitly announce the Associated Students support for the Occupy movement.

Although I am generally sympathetic with some of the goals of the Occupy movement, such as their concern that big business is in collusion with government and that bailouts for banks are wrong, yet other claims, such as debt forgiveness for all and “magic” money for every pet project they could imagine are hollow demands and are stupid. In addition, the recent acts of violence in Washington DC, Oakland, and San Diego (among others) has slowly eroded their positive attributes.

In addition, the resolution conflates the recent protests that have been met in some cases with what could be characterized as “excessive force” in the UC System with the Occupy movement at large. The resolution opens with statements claiming: “reckless greed committed by Wall Street firms and Executives,” “corporations prey[ing] on the hopes and aspirations held by millions of people with the simple and selfish aim to maximize profit,” “these corporations are responsible for the eviction of millions of people from their homes due to predatory lending practices.”

Most concerning of all however, this resolution calls upon the “Associated Students [to] provide support for protests and or occupations, should students decide to set up an occupation on campus.” This means that the A.S. will be using your student fees to bring the Occupy movement to UCSD and then proceed to disrupt traffic and interrupt classes and speeches. If members of A.S. want to use their stipends to cover the “Occupy Movement,” then that is their prerogative. But it is a shame that the Associated Students at UCSD continue to try to misrepresent more than 23,000 undergraduates, display their biases in a official capacity, and for revealing their belief that they know whats best for you.

I hope that UCSD students will tell AS to keep itself out of political and controversial matters and let them get back to problems that they have direct influence over, such as improving the parking situation at UCSD, dining dollar inflation, and restoring SunGod.

To express your disapproval for the Associated Students at UCSD passing this resolution, email asvpexternal@ucsd.edu or contact the council members directly: http://as.ucsd.edu/council

Below is the Resolution in full.

***

Resolution to Support the Occupy Movement

Whereas, individuals in the United States and across the world have been severely impacted by the reckless greed committed by Wall Street firms and Executives;

Whereas, these corporations preyed on the hopes and aspirations held by millions of people with the simple and selfish aim to maximize profit1;

Whereas, the profits made by the major businesses and corporations are being used to influence the American political system and the choices it makes, regardless of the impacts to ordinary individuals2

Whereas, these corporations are responsible for the eviction of millions of people from their homes due to predatory lending practices3;

Whereas, University of California, San Diego students, faculty, staff, and workers have been deeply impacted by the 2008 Financial Crisis and following recession that was caused by reckless management of domestic and international financial systems;

Whereas, billions in taxpayer dollars were committed to bailing out selfish and predatory corporations at the cost of neglecting Main Street America and cutting public funding for vital public services4;

Whereas, funding cuts to institutions of higher education, including the University of California, have led to skyrocketing tuition and fees, service cuts, and faculty, staff, and worker layoffs;

Whereas, personal and student debt has and continues to skyrocket5;

Whereas, concerned individuals have committed to peaceful occupation of symbolic centers in protest of the symbiotic relationship between corporate and government institutions, in addition to protesting public service cuts and the continual reduction of their standards of living,

Whereas, the demands made by the various occupations are closely aligned with the demands made by the University of California Student Association, including but not limited to:
The demand for corporate accountability,
The demand for a separation between corporate money and the American political system,
The demand to reform Proposition 13 to raise corporate property tax rates,
The demand to return for public higher education to return to be fully publicly funded and affordable.

And whereas, local police departments, including the University of California Police Department, have resorted to forceful eviction and suppression of peaceful demonstrators, in violation of their First Amendment rights to peacefully assemble6;

Let it therefore be resolved that the Associated Students of the University of California, San Diego endorse the Occupy movement;

Be it further resolved that the Associated Students provide support for protests and or occupations, should students decide to set up an occupation on campus;

Be it further resolved that the University of California, San Diego Chancellor sign a pledge, ensuring students’ rights to free speech and assembly on campus;

And let it finally be resolved that the Associated Students strongly condemns and demands that the University of California, Davis, and the University of California, Berkeley Chancellors and Police Chiefs resign immediately for authorizing the use of force by the University of California Police Department on UC students, faculty, staff, and workers

1. http://www.nhi.org/online/issues/109/bradley.html
2. http://www.dailyfinance.com/2010/10/13/the-10-biggest-corporate-campaign-contributors-in-u-s-politics/
3. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12184365

4. http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/national/200904_CREDITCRISIS/recipients.html
5. http://www.npr.org/2011/05/16/136214779/college-student-debt-grows-is-it-worth-it
6. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/nov/03/occupy-militarisation-policing-protest

The Black Hole of the UCSD Libraries

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Alexander Kreedman

***Editors Note: This article was printed in the May issue of the California Review

This article is the second in an ongoing series to inform and educate the undergraduate population at UC San Diego regarding the health and longevity of the library system and how stopping services and closing down facilities affects the average student.

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Graduating Editor-in-Chief’s thoughts on the UCSD Associated Students

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By the way, for everyone who cries at AS about “gender neutral language,” you guys can suck it. – Alec

A transcript of my remarks can be found below.

***

Hello.

Thank you Mr. Thompson, I have never seen anyone filibuster AS as well as you do.

Just a heads up, I’m going to stand in front of the podium, because I’m not coming before you as a petitioner for alms, but as your equal.

By now almost all of you know who I am, often as a thorn in your side. Although I enjoy hanging out with some of you as individuals, most of you know that I view you, the Associated Students at large, as nothing more than petty bureaucrats, but that’s not quite correct. In fact, I view you as a nest of sycophants engaged in a massive circle jerk. In fact, I believe that a bunch of four your olds playing government do a better job than you. At least they don’t get paid and steal money from their constituents.

But what is worse than your ineptitude and incompetence is that you’re a gang of authoritarians & statists. This year alone you’ve sought to ban smoking, styrofoam and water bottles; and you would have tried to ban more stuff except your terms ran out and some of you are graduating.

Instead of wasting students lives and debating worthless propaganda resolutions about foreign policy, or writing up quizzes over who is most likely to wear their AS polo, how about you start censuring people and organizations that are directly responsible for the crisis we are in.

How about you censure the administration for increasing in size by 200% over the last ten years, comprising the highest payed positions at UCSD?

How about you censure Transportation and Parking Services for their lack of accountability and transparency?

How about you censure Housing, Dining, and Hospitality Services for ignoring what students want and instead limiting choice on campus, dramatically inflating prices, and for rent seeking?

You know why you won’t though? Because you’re spineless and because you think that the resolutions you pass and the bans you institute are going to lead you to the dystopia so many of you crave.

Finally, I’m terribly ashamed at how the UCSD AS continues to bend over backward to take it from the Administration regarding SunGod. You’ll never “uncage it” and the fact that you pat yourselves on the back about how “good” you’ve made SunGod is just pathetic. SunGod is not the festival of the AS, it’s the festival of the students. Thats why it should be free and campus wide. It is times like SunGod, when the students can finally let loose and act like a real college. As a good friend of mine once put it “fun first, booze second, and safety third.”

Whatever, I’ve had enough of ranting at all of you for the evening. I’m graduating, so congratulations (or my apologies) to those of you who remain on this campus, you won’t have to deal with me chastising you online whenever you do something stupid. However the staff of the California Review and the new editor are much more willing to play ball with you despots than I was at first.

I have more entertaining and enjoyable things to do with my life, so I’ll let you get back to having your asinine meeting.

Goodnight.

Mo’ Money, Mo’ Problems

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***Editors Note: This article appeared in our May issue of the California Review.

Angad Walia

In anticipation of Sun God Festival 2011, I’d like to take a second to talk about what the festival exactly is now, and what it used to be. We’ve all heard people say it before, or experienced it by comparison ourselves if we’ve been around for that long: Sun God really, really sucks now; it is nothing like what it used to be. This phenomenon, which has taken place over the past few years, is now referred to as the “caging” of Sun God, and we are reminded of this every year during Spring Quarter in the promises of those hoping to get elected to AS. Now the focus of this article will not be to inanely bash the administration and AS for taking away the most beloved event by the student body at UCSD. What I am going to do is lay out some information detailing various aspects of the festival from the past few years, in particular the scope and quality of the concert, ease of admission, and funding.

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Blast From the Past: The 2003 Attack on Students First

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***Editors Note: This piece is to be taken with a grain of salt. This piece is heavily dramatized and only those who participated in the AS elections in 2003 know exactly what happened that fateful year. We believed that this account should be told to help fill in one portion of the history of the UCSD Associated Students.

***
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AS Resolution Passed 4/13/11

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*** Editors Note: This resolution was passed on 4/13/11 with the intents of having AS restrain themselves from passing Resolutions that will divide the undergraduate student body.

Resolution Upholding Commitment to the Principles of Community

WHEREAS, the ASUCSD is dedicated to serving all students and to upholding the Principles of Community; and,

WHEREAS, on June 2nd 2010 the ASUCSD passed a Resolution for the Commitment to the Principles of Community stating that acts which “target and offend a specific community [are] a contravention of the UCSD’s Principles of Community” and resolved that such actions are unacceptable and in violation of the principles; and,

WHEREAS, past considerations of contested political resolutions brought forth to the ASUCSD have resulted in antagonization and feelings of polarization communities within UCSD, in stark contrast with the Principles of Community’s stated goal of “foster[ing] understanding and tolerance among individuals and groups…through education and constructive strategies for resolving conflict.” and,

WHEREAS, as per the ASUCSD Vision Statement, “the vision of the ASUCSD Council is to foster a cohesive community,” and the Council “will represent a diverse but unified voice”; and;

WHEREAS, divisive resolutions may target or offend certain communities, fail to promote a cohesive community, and circumvent constructive processes of conflict negotiation; and,

WHEREAS, conducive debate in professionally moderated settings is available for students at UCSD and should be encouraged; and,

WHEREAS, students should feel free and safe to hold their views, and community beliefs should not be censured by the ASUCSD; therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED, maintaining a positive campus climate and safe learning environment is an utmost concern of the ASUCSD; and,

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, concerning divisive external political issue, ASUCSD will bear respect for students of every race, ethnicity, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, religion, and political belief by remaining neutral; and,

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, the ASUCSD supports constructive dialogue for a conflict resolution among the communities of UCSD.

***

Below was the vote on the Resolution:
Roll Call Vote was follows:
Jeremy Akiyama, yes;
Andrew Ang, yes;
Anish Bhayani, yes;
Matt Bradbury, no;
Kristian Castro, no;
Baldeep Dhaliwal, yes;
Elizabeth Elman, no;
Victor Flores, no;
Benjamin Hass, yes;
Kevin Hoang, yes;
Karen Liang, yes;
Daniel Liu, yes;
Erica Morgan, yes;
Samer Naji, no;
Ryan O’Rear, yes;
Kristina Pham; no;
Thao Pham, yes;
Deyna Roberson, yes;
Parminder Sandhu, yes;
Zoe Seher, yes;
Adi Singer, yes;
Lynne Swerhone, abstain,
Shunya Wade, no;
Jacob Wisdom, no;
Leah Wong, no;
Mikey Yamane, yes;
Mac Zilber, yes;
Rena Zuabi, no;
Melissa Etehad, no.
Motion approved.

SunGod Guest Ticket Fiasco

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Alec Weisman

SunGod guest tickets were “sold out” before Box Office even opens this morning. At 7 am the line had stretched down to Round Table Pizza. By 8 am, Box Office staff told people in line that the 150 remaining tickets had been essentially “sold out” as temporary vouchers were given to the first 150 people in line, essentially insuring that no students beyond that point could get tickets.

The Lucky Few

The tickets will officially be sold out within 30 minutes of publication of this article.

The lucky few

How did these students get to be so lucky? Most of them camped out in PC, and some had been there since 1 am.

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Impeachment Roulette: An AS Council Circus

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Alec Weisman, Editor-in-Chief

Streaming Live: http://www.livestream.com/californiareview

Tonight is likely to be a great deal of fun with the announcement that AS President Wafa Ben Hassine and two members of the AS Judicial Board (Arianna Peregretti and Sarmad Bokhari) are facing impeachment. The charges against the AS President rest upon the belief that she improperly used her authority and for her failure to perform her duties, while both Judicial Board impeachments rest upon violations of the Rules and Procedures of the Associated Students Judicial Board and the Constitution of the Associated Students.

Attached are the charges of impeachment for the AS council:

Wafa
Sarmad
Arianna

UPDATE: Arianna Peregretti has resigned from Judicial Board citing her graduation in Winter 2012.

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The UCSD Bait and Switch – Transportation and Parking Services

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Alec Weisman

Two years ago, Transportation and Parking Services came crawling to the UCSD Associated Students and begged for a student fee referendum to help fund the shuttle service. In the course of their pursuit for additional student money, many documents surfaced that revealed the internal mechanisms of TPS and the methods that TPS uses to screw over their customers.

In the fiscal year of 2007-2008, TPS generated $2,977,252 in revenue from S Permit sales. Presuming that parking permits cost an estimated $600 in 2007-2008, that means that at least 4,900 S Permits were sold that year. According to the Parking Surveys located on TPS website on April 1st, 2008 there was a total of 6,223 S spaces at UCSD, with only 2,813 of those spaces located on west campus. TPS sold their parking permits with the knowledge of a shortage of spaces in west campus, but they still decided to exacerbate the problem.

According to Transportation and Parking Services, as of January 1st, 2011 there is now a total of only 4,586 S spaces at UCSD, and only 1,895 of those are located on the main campus. That is a decrease of 2,000 total spaces, 1,000 of which are located on the main campus. Undergraduate students get hit hardest, but someone has to benefit from this reallocation, right?

Wrong. Technically, everyone gets screwed.

B permits, which generate the most revenue for TPS ($4,761,953 in 2007-2008), get charged more than undergraduate students for parking permits ($972 as of March 15th, 2011). Averaging for price increases, between 5,000 and 6,000 B permits were sold in 2007-2008. Since then, the total number of B spaces has dropped from 6,314 to 5,042. On main campus, B spaces decreased in availability from 4,011 to 3,532.

A permits, which cost the most money to purchase ($1,116 as of March 15th, 2011), have the fewest available spaces and have also been disappearing from main campus. As fewer faculty exist to purchase the exorbitantly priced A permit, only $3,238,402 was generated in 2007-2008. Averaging for price increases, approximately 3,000 A permits were sold in 2007-2008. Since then, the total number of A spaces has had a slight increase from 2,078 to 2,344, although the number has slightly decreased on main campus, from 1,641 to 1,602.

Yet it is the undergraduates who get screwed the most. According to parking surveys conducted by TPS in order to determine average usage, no more than 7 S Parking Spots are vacant in main campus between 10:00 am and 3:00 pm. There are however, between 200 and 400 B Parking Spots, and between 150 and 400 A Parking Spots open and available during that same time slot on main campus. Back in 2008, there was between 15 and 60 S Parking Spots available on main campus. Undergraduate students today are lucky to find a parking spot if they arrive after 8:30am on main campus.
It is important to know where the remainder of the revenue for TPS comes from. First, the money from day permit stations and citations generate the majority of additional revenue. Why is this important? In the last four years, prices for day permit stations have increased as the number of visitor/metered spots has almost doubled from 485 to 709. In 2007-2008, $2,561,850 was generated by TPS from visitors’ spots, and in 2009-2010, TPS generated $7,238,721 from pay stations. The cost of citations has risen to $65 for most offenses and the number of total citations has also risen. In 2009-2010, TPS generated $2,600,000 in revenue from parking fines.

TPS Burning through Your Money

Finally, where did the additional spaces go? First, the entire North Campus Parking Lot has been removed. Where 1315 parking spots were once available now resides the Village and its accompanying rock garden. Only 587 B, 9 S, and 33 visitor spots now remain in the region of the parking lot next to the UCSD Rady School of Management. This new transfer housing resulted in an increase in undergraduate cars taking up space in the remaining main campus parking. The new promise of 3rd and 4th year housing is likely to continue this trend of unused cars limiting commuter access. This requires commuters to turn to the additional parking lots east of the I-5 freeway.

Undergraduate students must resort to the last available source of parking at UCSD, a major hassle in terms of time and productivity. The average shuttle ride from Regents lot to Price Center lasts between 10 and 15 minutes, and is also contingent upon the amount of waiting time, which ranges from 5 to 10 minutes on average. For those commuter students that must park in East Campus, there are between 30 minutes to 50 minutes every day that are wasted in transit between Regents/East Lot and Price Center. This time adds up. Factoring the 30 weeks of classes with approximately 270 total days of academics, between 135 and 225 hours, or between 5.6 and 9.4 days, are wasted in transit between East Campus Parking and Price Center per school year.

How does the UCSD administration seek to help commuter students? By making it harder to park in East Campus! The UCSD Radiation and Oncology Department are now converting a large segment of Parking Lot 703, also known as the Regents Lot, for construction purposes. This new interference causes the remainder of the East Campus parking lots to be even more crowded than normal, adding additional time onto a student’s commute that would be better used studying or working a job in order to pay for the seemingly constant UC fee increases.

The UCSD Administration and Transportation and Parking Services should both be held culpable for this injustice. Undergraduates are more than just a cash cow for the university, and need to be treated as more than an afterthought. Without undergraduates, there is no need for faculty, graduate students, or administrators, so start treating our time with as much value as you do yours.

Alec is a senior in Revelle College majoring in Ecology, Behavior, and Evolution.

Sources:
1. January 1st, 2011
2. April 1st, 2008
3. Parking Occupancy Fall 2010
4. Parking Occupancy Spring 2008
5. UCSD Regents Lot Construction
6. East Shuttle
7. Final Report – AS 2010 Transit Referendum
8. Review of Funding Practices
9. TPS Budget
10. TPS Citations

Students First “Guide to Winning UCSD AS Elections” – Disqualify Your Opponents

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Alec Weisman, Editor-in-Chief

An extremist political party known as Students First has attempted to hijack campus politics by trying to disqualify all other candidates.

Last week the student body at UCSD voted in an open election for their student representatives for the upcoming academic year. Results were scheduled be announced the evening of Friday April 8th, but were delayed because of Students First. Using a bureaucratic technique known as “grievances,” Students First filed 54 of these “grievances” against opposing parties and candidates (Tritons First and Board the Wing) in an attempt to get them disqualified. It was at this point that elections at UCSD took a more interesting turn.

Current Associated Students (AS) President, Wafa Ben Hassine, ran on the Students First slate in the 2009-2010 elections, and is an active supporter of Students First. Nevertheless, as AS President her duty is to represent the student body as a whole and ensure that a fair and open process exists for AS elections.

AS President Wafa cheerleading for Students First

One of the powers of the AS President is to appoint students to serve on the AS Judicial Board (“J-Board”) to settle disputes for the Associated Students. At the end of March, Wafa selected her preferred candidates and appointed them to the Judicial Board. After a review of the membership of the Judicial Board, her conflict of interest is apparent.

The seven current members of the “J-Board” are: Polina Tsvetikova (Chair), Shounak Ghosh, Kevin Hsaio, Arianna Peregretti, Sarmad Bokhari, Sarah Montgomery, and Tanner Smith. Although the Judicial Board is supposed to remain unbiased during election proceedings, the clear violations by Sarmad Bokhari due to his support of Students First poses a dangerous conflict of interests in reviewing the election results. His Facebook prominently features Sarmad’s support for the Students First candidates and he has devoted his profile picture in their support. He has also refused to recuse himself from the Judicial Board hearings, citing that “I do not have any ties to Students First.” This contradiction is self-evident and reveals the lack of integrity by Sarmad Bokhari in regards to the fairness of UCSD Associated Students judicial board.

The hostile nature of Students First toward fair and open elections shows the full extent of their corruption and manipulation. By arrogantly and deliberately seeking to disqualify their opposition, they have shown their conviction that UCSD students are incapable of making decisions free from their coercion. By violating students rights Students First have revealed their unethical nature.

Correction: Students First filed 15 (out of 18 total) grievances in writing. The additional 40 charges had been submitted incorrectly (via internet) and were invalidated