KEITH ENRIQUEZ/Daily Bruin Senior Staff USAC President Elizabeth Houston's speech at Monday's convocation drew ire from some council members.

By Timothy Kudo

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

Undergraduate Students Association Council President Elizabeth Houston made it a point to discuss race relations in her speech at Monday’s Convocation.

“We need to focus on our similarities rather than our differences,” Houston said in her speech. “Unfortunately, not everyone on this campus holds a healthy view of our diversity.”

Though incoming students may have thought she gave just a welcoming address, for many student government members the speech addressed some of the tensions between Houston and other USAC members – specifically members of the Praxis slate.

“I actually was hoping that some students would ask me about what I said, because I think a lot of students are not really aware of what goes on in USAC and that a lot of people are really intolerant in USAC,” Houston said Wednesday night.

While council members have worked together on many issues, and hope to do so in the future, the politics that embroil many USAC meetings continue to be a sore point for Houston and other council members.

Some members of USAC have criticized Houston, claiming she is insensitive to issues of race and sexual preference. But Houston also said some council members treated her with intolerance.

At several meetings this summer, both Houston and others on the council have leveled accusations of racism against each other, and at one meeting tensions flared to the point where one council member walked out of the meeting.

Houston said some students asked her about her speech, allowing her to elaborate on what’s happening in USAC.

“I told them that there was a group in student government, they are composed of a slate, they run every year, and they tend to act this way and exclude students,” Houston said.

“It’s wrong, and we’ve had a lot of conflict at council meetings ... and I’m trying to bring some more representation in,” she continued. “The people need to know this because they are voting these people in.”

Praxis members denied her allegations.

“She wants to address the general campus,” said Elisa Sequeira, one of three general representatives who sit on USAC and a member of Praxis. “We address communities that don’t usually tend to get addressed as well as the general campus.”

Praxis is a slate similar to a political party, composed primarily of minority students belonging to the student groups African Student Union, Samahang Pilipino, Raza Women and La Familia.

Though those groups made up Praxis in the last undergraduate election, the Asian Pacific Coalition and MEChA have also lent their unofficial support since that time, according to External Vice President Portia Pedro, a Praxis member.

Though many council members did not attend convocation, they expressed concern over the content of Houston’s speech, and her accusations.

“I think that’s ridiculous, that in such a minimal amount of time we’ve been working together that she’s made such a strong accusation,” said Campus Events Commissioner Jared Seltzer, one of the independent members of USAC.

Additionally, others chided Houston for different reasons. Throughout much of the conflict, Houston has stressed the need to move beyond racial politics.

“Basically at the council table, she has told me and other council members not to pull the race card, so for her to pull the race card is hypocritical,” Pedro said.

Since being elected president, Houston and Praxis members have butted heads. On the night of her victory, former USAC President Mike de la Rocha said, “Her victory is the epitome of white privilege.”

Praxis members have criticized Houston in the past as not being sensitive to issues important to ethnic minorities and the lesbian, gay and bisexual community. Some council members also criticized her by saying Houston – who is a member of a campus Christian group – has allowed her religious beliefs to influence her decisions on these issues.

At last Tuesday’s meeting, for example, Internal Vice President Elias Enciso called Houston’s criticism of a “Queer life on campus” program in the upcoming USAC Welcome Week homophobic.

Houston denied the allegations, noting that minorities work in her staff.

“I can’t let my religious beliefs get in the way of what’s in the best interests of students,” Houston said.

She went on to say that she doesn’t feel homophobic attitudes are a problem at UCLA. “I don’t think anyone on this campus is (homophobic); maybe those people who are from wacko backgrounds or something are.”

In the middle of a summer USAC meeting Enciso called Houston a racist after she opposed an appointment to the Associated Students of UCLA Board of Directors. Houston said she feared the candidate’s decisions would be influenced by his affiliation with the student group Samahang Pilipino.

Houston’s conflict with USAC members has risen to such a level that after one meeting, she said the events that transpired were equivalent to a hate crime.

“I don’t see the racism on campus that I see in Kerckhoff,” Houston said.

But most USAC members cited the need to move beyond each other’s differences and accusations, and to work together.

“I think we need to learn from each other and work together and not instantly dismiss our colleagues because of ‘racism,’” Seltzer said. “I think that’s incredibly premature.”

In some respects council members were also sympathetic to Houston’s position.

“You’re the head of USAC so that leads to a lot of criticism,” Pedro said. “The president has to be very willing to hear criticisms and take them with some meaning. I know in talking to her that I have tried to help her understand how things she says will be viewed by the campus community.”

The council has been working together since just before summer and though many members are hopeful things will get resolved, it will be difficult, they say.

“I realize you can’t turn a ship around really, really quickly,” Houston said.