If a three-peat defines a sports dynasty, Donna Bean is on
the tail end of a political dynasty — one that has often tread into new
territory for student government. As this year’s lone A.S. presidential
candidate, the Student Voice! leader will presumably be the slate’s third
consecutive chief to occupy the office and continue a political period that saw
renovations of the A.S. constitution, the Sun God Festival and
But innovation has stoked uncertainty: As the first
councilmembers to employ former A.S. President Harry Khanna’s constitution,
this year’s politicians were what Bean called “guinea pigs;” complete
operational reformation of the campus’ flagship event has bred caution as it
returns for its 26th run this May; and protests over the campus’ political
representation of students have flared up in several communities, from Thurgood
Marshall College to the RIMAC Annex.
Bean will inherit an extended history, but also looming problems.
In 2006, Khanna, an
alumnus and founding member of the SV! slate, molded today’s configuration of
the A.S. Council, a move that drew both relief and criticism. Khanna’s
structure downsized college senators’ powers and consolidated many of the
council’s departments under a trio of vice presidents.
This year, Bean was the first full-term vice president of
student life, overseeing the departments of programming, diversity affairs and
athletic relations. Bean’s term was lively within those divisions. Administrators
and student officials teamed to re-evaluate and rebuild the Sun God Festival.
Also, the athletics department put to work a windfall of referendum money it
received the previous year by student vote.
Aside from the progress forged by SV!, Bean lamented bumps
the council has encountered.
“There are some kinks to be worked out,” she said of the
constitution.
Some of the problems stem from broken links, according to
Bean. While the installment of academic senators allowed students to identify
with their politicians by areas of study instead of by college, the prominence
of student groups is unbalanced between the divisions. While physical and biological science
senators have established resources such as the Triton Engineering Student
Council, social science senators lack a similar support base. The problem, Bean
said, illustrates that the disconnect between UCSD voters and politician still
exists — one that she would like to bridge in her presidency.
And although she lauds the new constitution’s benefits, she
also expressed a strong desire to move past its implementation stage. She said
she plans to revisit the document to “hammer out” lingering constitutional
issues by fall 2008.
“A lot of times it’s a lot easier for organizations to just
focus internally,” she said.
“[They] do a lot of revisions and feel like they
accomplished something when really they didn’t do anything but waste time on
internal revisions.”
Of the three original principles of SV! — college
accessibility, campus climate and student political power — Bean is most
vehement about student representation. Students not only lack control over
their own resources, she said, but wield little political power on vital campus
committees. The majority of the committees have only one student representative,
and even those select few have difficulty staying involved because
unaccommodating staff and administration.
“Students don’t check their e-mails every … second,” she
said. “There have been so many times where I barely get an e-mail about scheduling
… the next hour or two and I have class. That’s a critical flaw.”
Student members are often overlooked within committees, Bean
said. TMC drew fire this past year when students decried the addition of a
non-voting student to a committee selecting the college’s next dean. Bean also
fingered the Transportation Policy Committee as problematic, as only two of the
nine representatives are undergraduates.
“Students are invited to those committees but they really
have no input,” she said. “They allow the students to sit on the committees but
they don’t ever really listen to their input.”
Bean’s SV! slate aims to change the campus’ attitude to its
students by making their collaborative voice heard, Bean said.
But if the origins of SV! are any indication of the slate’s
ability to fuse different campus communities, Bean will absorb support from a
wide and varied selection of student groups. SV! politically consolidated two
of the previous year’s slates, Revolution! and Student Empowerment! and united
the campus’ largest voting bases, the former serving Greek constituents and the
latter representing diversity and outreach interests. The process of nominating
a SV! presidential candidate involves a coalition of student officials,
including the Student Affirmative Action Committee and Interfraternity Council.
The goal, Khanna said, was to ensure the slate’s longevity
and preserve its ideology.
“We wanted, as a slate, to be able to a long-term vision and
set of principles that future slate members could follow,” he said.
