Letters

Published: Friday, May 31, 2002

On-Campus Housing must address students’ concerns

Thank you for bringing to the student body’s attention the failure of UCLA Housing to serve the needs of on-campus residents with dietary restrictions (“Dining causes students to compromise beliefs,” News, May 14). It seems that not much progress has been made since I served on the 2001-02 On-Campus Housing Council.

But one issue that The Bruin didn’t address is the unavailability of a single-sex floor for residents with religious or personal needs. Until Housing truly tries to accommodate the needs of a diverse student body, on-campus housing will fail to truly serve the UCLA community.

Also, Jarrett Quon erroneously labeled “OCHC” as one of the hands squeezing the students in his cartoon (Viewpoint, May 29). The On-Campus Housing Council is a representative body of on-campus residents that focuses on all-Hill programming and housing policy. If Quon wishes to comment on the $700 housing fee hike, it is UCLA Housing & Hospitality Services who should be the target of his criticism.

Benjamin Kong Third-year Economics and international area studies

Commissioners deserve a council vote

Commissioners in USAC have a justified reason for why they have a vote on council. Normally, these apolitical offices within the Undergraduate Student Association have been the balancing portion of the council. Let me tell you what the commissioner’s power to vote does for the council. It provides insight, thought and decision-making that are not powered by slate ideology and slate infrastructure – it essentially provides independent rationale for issues and plans.

Commissions within USAC throw out undoubtedly the most programming on campus. Campus Events Commission, Community Service Commission, Cultural Affairs Commission and Student Welfare Commission combine to provide hundreds of programs each year for UCLA. From Total Wellness Newsletters, UCLA Health Symposium, ROLL AIDS, UCLA Dance Marathon, UCLA Children’s Walk for Life, Campus Events Movies and Noontime Concerts and UCLA JazzReggae to Project Literacy and much more, we provide every avenue for students to relax, enjoy college, and develop their character.

I tend to think that commissioners are instrumental in doing programs that will make students’ experience at UCLA one they can look back on and remember fondly. So if there’s been debate on whether commissioners should even have votes on the table in USA, think about it and you’ll rationally agree that they should.

Peter Trinh 2001-2002 USAC Student Welfare Commissioner

Indian mascots should be banned, changed

The mascot issue is important for many people, and it should not be merely dismissed as trivial. In a survey done by Indian Country Today, a leading publication for the American Indian community nationwide, 75 percent of respondents believed that the usage of American Indian mascots and symbols should be a violation of anti-discriminatory laws. Furthermore, 81 percent of respondents believed that these images do not honor American Indians, but merely serve to demean and miseducate.

I personally find it offensive that anyone would compare American Indian mascots with mascots from other groups, like the Minnesota Vikings, or even animal mascots. When the discussion turns to other ethnic mascots, we are dealing with groups with different histories and relationships with the larger society. When schools and alumni groups start doing faux Christian rites at football games, then we can begin to discuss who is really honoring who.

The fact is that American Indian mascots represent cartoonish figures that are reminiscent of a time in this country’s past when other ethnic groups, such as blacks, Latinos and Asians, were demeaned, disrespected, and denied their civil rights. American Indians are not being honored when caricatures of them are paraded around without knowledge of the history, culture or significance of the original inhabitants of this land. This is not some politically correct issue because this is based on moral grounds. Sacred rites, sacred feathers and whole nations are being robbed of their dignity. Everyone should be offended by this continued raping and pillaging of a fellow American community.

I would ask the UCLA community to vote in favor of any legislation that would favor true representation over discriminatory and hurtful images. Legislation of this sort would give schools a transition time to obtain new images and mascots, and so the cost to the schools would be close to zero. The legislation would ban only certain names, and “Warriors” would not be one of them.

Passing this legislation would be proof that we as a society are finally ready to realistically honor and respect the indigenous communities of this land. Support this legislation, not because of what I or a few others say, but because it is the right thing to do.

Eric Sanchez Third-year Political science